Napier’s Swanwick went into the final round with a two-shot advantage but gave up the lead and ultimately the championship with a triple bogey seven at the 11th hole.
That opened the door for Laopakdee, who carded a one-under 70 and finished at six-under to capture invites to the Masters and the Open Championship for a second straight year.
“It was a huge momentum shift, that’s for sure,” Laopakdee said.
“My hands were shaking right after and it didn’t stop until I got down on the 18th. But I just kept telling myself that I’m still going to play like I’m behind. I’m still going to think in my head that he’s still leading and still playing the game of, not a leader, but just try to be aggressive but also play smart and I think I did perfectly coming down the stretch.”
Swanwick looked a strong chance to lift the trophy as his lead briefly stretched to three shots when Laopakdee bogeyed the par-three eighth hole but the Thai player backed it up with a birdie at the ninth to keep it at two shots.
The turning point of the day came at the par-four 11th hole. Swanwick stood on the tee with a two-shot lead but walked off the green two behind after a triple-bogey seven and Laopakdee making a birdie three.
Swanwick’s approach landed in the greenside bunker on the left but his next shot out rolled by the pin and off the green.
“I just probably landed that bunker shot maybe 5,7ft further, I was just trying to land on top of the slope and probably landed on the slope and just booted forward a little bit,” Swanwick said.
“It wasn’t that bad of a shot, it just ended up in not a good situation, but it’s alright.”
It got worse when he saw his fourth shot return to his feet after failing to again find the green, before eventually landing and two-putting.
Zack Swanwick isn’t happy with his putt on the green of the seventh hole in the final round at Te Arai Links, South Course. Photo / Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Christchurch’s Moore started the day in a share of second with Laopakdee at five-under but had three bogeys and a birdie on the front nine to slip back. He also had trouble at the 11th hole with a bogey and followed that with a double at 12 to drop back to even par and put him out of the mix.
“[I’m] just really proud to get myself in that situation. It doesn’t happen very often and learnings going forward is I did all the right things, just stayed patient throughout the day. Just wasn’t my day out there,” Moore said.
“A few putts didn’t drop. Felt like that was the whole week. Struggled with the putter, but hit it really well and I’m really proud of my driving this week. Kept myself in play, so yeah, pretty happy about that.”
Laopakdee was solid throughout the day, but found trouble at the par-five 13th. His drive found the waste area right and he took on the larger waste area in front of him but found more sand. He still walked off with a par after an up and down. What looked like a possible two-shot swing turned to nought with Swanwick missing a birdie from just over 2m to remain two behind.
Swanwick was eight-under through the 13th to 18th holes for the first three rounds but made bogey at the 14th after driving the green, which left him three shots back. That meant Laopakdee was able to play risk-free down the stretch but still managed to close out with a birdie at the par-three 17th.
Swanwick’s only birdie of the day came at the 18th hole to finish in second with Moore in fourth, also finishing with a birdie at the 72nd hole.
Kiwi Ryan Xie shared the low round of the day with a five-under 66 after an 80 the previous day to finish in fifth, with four New Zealanders making the top 10.
Leaderboard
1 Fifa Laopakdee (Thailand) -6
2 Zack Swanwick (New Zealand) -3
3 Kayun Mudadana (Australia) -2
4 Cooper Moore (New Zealand) -1
5 Ryan Xie (New Zealand) E
T6 Joshua Bai (New Zealand) +1
T6 Harry Takis (Australia) +1