CARLSBAD, Calif. – In his 1990 thriller “The Bourne Ultimatum,” Robert Ludlum wrote that rest is a weapon. That certainly applies to ASU’s Pongsapak Laopakdee’s performance Monday on the course.
Laopakdee, whose friends, family and coaches call “Fifa,” completed his first round of play on the North Course at the Omni La Costa Resort after playing the role of substitute during the first three days of stroke play at the NCAA men’s golf championship. Laopakdee finished the day at 1-under par 71.
“It’s been a great long week for us, and I just feel very proud of the team,” Laopakdee said. “Proud of how the team has fought and competed this week – nothing but proud.”
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The Sun Devils are now in the match play portion of the tournament, entering as the No. 1 seed. Only seven other teams advanced to Tuesday’s round of competition, and the top four teams in the morning round will move on to their second round of golf in the afternoon.
Laopakdee not competing on the first three days of the tournament is not a reflection of his talent. In fact, his ability to come into the round after sitting out the first three is a testament to the opposite. He was again added to the mix of Tuesday’s competition.
ASU men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond said that given Laopakdee’s performance throughout the entirety of the spring, anybody would think, “Why would you take him out?”
“We have six amazing players, and Fifa has been a huge part of this team all year,” Thurmond said.
Laopakdee a sophomore from Rayong, Thailand, has had great success with the team this season, including winning the 2025 Thunderbird Collegiate at Papago Golf Club in April.
And he doesn’t just perform well at home, he does it on the road, too, as was clear Monday.
“I’ve been talking about this a lot with the coaches, and we discussed that I will stay 100% ready, and whenever they want me to play, I’ll be 100% ready,” Laopakdee said.
ASU has made it to this point in the tournament four times since Thurmond joined the Sun Devils nine seasons ago. Given that the 2020 championship did not occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had led the team deep into the national championship tournament half of the seasons he has been with the program.
“One of the things that we’ve put all of our energy on this week is just focusing on right now, this round, this shot, this moment, and match play kind of forces you into that,” Thurmond said.
Given the performances of all six of the team’s athletes this week, Thurmond had a tough decision to make about Tuesday’s pairing. Making the lineup is one of the tougher decisions he’ll have to make as a coach, he said, considering that no matter how you slice it, one good golfer will not be in it.
He put his trust in Laopakdee for Tuesday.
“I feel like I’ve proved myself all season, and that I’m able to compete at the highest level of golf,” Laopakdee said. “I was extremely pumped (to play), I knew I did all the work, and I knew I was ready.”
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