Reigning Sabah Masters champ Pavit Tangkamolprasert would have loved nothing better than to defend his title this month if not for the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing travel restrictions, which have prevented this year’s event from taking place.
But here’s the silver lining – the young Thai gets to focus all his thoughts and energy on another important event, his wedding!
“My plan is I am getting married this December. I am really looking forward to it, I haven’t really played much golf, I am so busy right now,” said Pavit about his forthcoming marriage to fiancée Chorphaka.
Things are certainly on the up and up for the seven-time Asian Development Tour (ADT) winner, who added another prestigious feather to his cap last month by wrapping up the All Thailand Golf Tour Order of Merit for the first time in his career.
“There is no secret to winning but I think the most important thing is you have to trust yourself that you can win – you will never win if you don’t think you can win,” said 31-year-old Pavit.
He claimed the season-opening Boonchu Ruangkit Championship – an event jointly-sanctioned with the ADT – back in January and played consistently through the shortened season to secure top spot on the local circuit.
“I feel very excited and very happy to win the All Thailand Golf Tour Order of Merit. The reason I was able to do it was because I carried over my good form from last year (after winning the Sabah Masters) and then won the first event and that is my advantage for the whole season.”
Just prior to lockdown in March, Pavit also put together four excellent rounds to finish equal 11th in the New Zealand Open to suggest more success on the Asian Tour where he has won twice.
But his 2020 was abruptly cut short with the onset of Covid-19.
“It [lockdown] was pretty boring I guess,” shared Pavit. “I only stayed in the house because my parents did not allow me to go outside at all! All I could do was cardio at home from YouTube and stretching. I also practiced some chipping at my house in the garden. I didn’t play golf for almost three months.”
The winner of the 2014 ADT Order of Merit hopes to add more silverware to his trophy cabinet once the Asian Tour is up and running again.
“I don’t really think about the winning number, but I really want to make it to double digits. So I have eight more to make it 10!”
Both his wins on the main tour have been in sudden-death playoffs; he claimed the 2016 Venetian Macao Open after overcoming Indian star Anirban Lahiri on the first extra hole, and in last November’s Sabah Masters he sensationally chipped in on the second extra hole to win a four-man playoff at Sutera Harbour Golf & Country Club.
“I think my putter was on fire that week [in Sabah]. I think that course is not that long, so it depends on putting. I had a very bad start that week, didn’t think about winning at all. I just tried to make the cut only but somehow I managed to come back and win!”
Two weeks before that he lost to American John Catlin in extra-time at the Thailand Open.
Indeed, there aren’t many weeks in the year these days when Pavit Tangkamolprasert – a professional for 13 years – isn’t in the running.
(Story: Asian Tour)
