Kiradech Aphibarnrat

Aphibarnrat, a native of Thailand, is known as Asia's version of John Daly due to his go-for-broke style of play. He enjoyed a strong amateur career, earning the title of World Junior Champion in 2003 and 2004. He enjoys car racing but has since given up the sport, saying it was "dangerous." He was previously known as Anujit Hirunratanakorn, but changed his name, a Thai tradition that is said to bring good luck.
Aphibarnrat is one of the most exciting young players to emerge from Thailand. In 2011, he won his first career title at the SAIL Open in India, dropping to his knees and shedding tears of joy after his last putt fell into the hole. The victory helped compensate for numerous near misses on the Asian Tour in previous years. Aphibarnrat finished in the top 10 of the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2010 and 2011. He came close to winning a second Tour victory in 2012, but lost in a three-way playoff at the Zaykabar Myanmar Open to Kieran Pratt. Aphibarnrat finished T-10th at the Avantha Masters and ended his year in fine fashion with successive T-6th results at the King's Cup and Thailand Golf Championship. He also finished runner-up at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games and 2007 Putra Cup.
2013 Notes: Aphibarnrat won the Maybank Malaysian Open in March 2013 and immediately assumed full membership on the European Tour. He closed out his victory with a final-round 70 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, where heavy storms forced the tournament to be reduced to 54 holes. His score was good enough to edge Edoardo Molinari by one shot. He made his major championship debut at the British Open in July 2013, where he missed the cut, but finished T-25th at the PGA Championship. Qualified for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, finishing T-29th. He ranked 39th in the Race to Dubai and won euro$797,868. On his native Asian Tour, Aphibarnrat played 12 events and won the Order of Merit, becoming only the second golfer (after Jeev Milkha Singh) to earn more than $1 million in a single season. He added five more top-5 finishes to his Malaysian Open victory.
2014 Notes: Aphibarnrat initially struggled to hit top form in 2014 as he coped with the death of long-time coach Natpasit Chokthanasart. He finished runner-up at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf in Japan and ended the year on a high note with four consecutive top 10s. He also played a key role in Team Asia's draw with Europe at the inaugural EurAsia Cup presented by DRB-HICOM. He finished 3rd on the Order of Merit. He played 13 European Tour events and made five cuts. His best result was T-24th at the Volvo Golf Champions. He finished 145th in the Race to Dubai. Aphibarnrat also played five Japan Tour events. He finished T-28th at the PGA Championship Nissin Cupnoodles Cup, missed the cut at the Japan Golf Tour Championship, T-2nd at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup, T-11th at the Mynavi ABC Championship and T-37th at the Heiwa PGM Championship.
2015 Notes: Aphibarnrat produced a magnificent finish at the 2015 Shenzhen International to claim his second European Tour title, defeating home favorite Li Haotong with a birdie on the first playoff hole after eagling the 17th in regulation play to tie for the lead. He added another title in August at the inaugural Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play, defeating Marc Warren in the semifinals before edging Sweden's Robert Karlsson 1-up in the final. He finished the year by winning the Thongchai Jaidee Foundation on the Asian Development Tour in September, then posted four top-six finishes: T-4th at the Alfred Dunhill Links, T-5th at the British Masters, T-6th at the Venetian Macao Open, and 3rd at the Turkish Airlines Open. He finished 13th in the Race to Dubai.
2016 Notes: Earned his first top-10 result of the year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he finished T-6th. On the European Tour, he finished T-5th at the BMW International Open. Represented Thailand at the Olympics, finishing T-5th. He finished 52nd in the Race to Dubai standings.
2017 Notes: Started the year strong with a T-4th at Abu Dhabi and T-9th at Qatar Masters. Ended his year with a T-2nd at the Italian Open, T-6th at the Turkish Airlines Open and T-2nd at the DP World Dubai Championship. He won 1.9 million euro and finished 11th in the Race to Dubai. He started the year 82nd in the Official World Golf Ranking. At the end of the year, won the Thongchai Jaidee Foundation on the Asian Development Tour. The next week, he finished 5th at the Indonesian Masters with an eagle at the 72nd hole. That result lifted him to 51st in the ranking. In the last ranking of the year two weeks later, he moved to 49th, which gave him a berth at the Masters.
2018 Notes: Played 14 events on the PGA Tour, making 11 cuts. Finished in the top 10, twice. On the European Tour, he played in 22 events, making the cut in all of them. Finished in the top 10 six times and finished 15th in the Race to Dubai. Showed his match-play prowess once again at the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth, where he defeated James Nitties 2 and 1 in the final. Three weeks later, he shot a final-round 65 to finish T-5th at the WGC-Mexico Championship. He then flew halfway around the world to Brunei, a tiny nation on the island of Borneo, where he won the Richard Mille Brunei Championship. Made it to the quarterfinals of the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship, losing to the eventual winner, Bubba Watson, 5 and 3. After finishing T-44th at his second Masters, he posted a T-5th result at the BMW PGA Championship, four shots back of winner Francesco Molinari. Thanks to his T-30th finish at the Players Championship, Aphibarnrat surpassed the required total of 269 non-members FedExCup points to receive special temporary membership for the remainder of the 2017-18 PGA Tour Season. He is the first native of Thailand to accept a PGA Tour membership. Finished 15th at the U.S. Open. On the European Tour finished his year with a T-9th at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
2019 Notes: Played in 20 PGA Tour events making 13 cuts with three top-ten finishes. He finished 83rd in the final FedExCup standings. Also played on the European Tour, in 13 events made 9 cuts with one top-ten finish. He was 72nd in the Race to Dubai standings. Finished T-4th at the WGC-HSBC Champions, six shots back of the Schauffele/Finau playoff. Birdied his final three holes to finish T-3rd at the WGC-Mexico Championship. Shot 66-64 over the weekend to finish T-5th at the AT&T Byron Nelson six shots back of winner Sung Kang. He ended his PGA Tour year with a T-71st finish at the Northern Trust. On the European Tour finished his year with a T-24th finish at the NedBank Golf Challenge.
2020 Notes: Was T-8th at the CJ Cup.