‘Homesick’ Kiradech Aphibarnrat admits to struggles but still inspired by Tiger Woods on PGA Tour

Kiradech Aphibarnrat has opened up on the difficulties of life on the road for a Thai golfer in America, admitting he came close to walking away from his dream.

The 33-year-old is a four-time winner on the DP World Tour, but has struggled in recent seasons on his trips across the Atlantic.

He had success earlier in his career, with top-five finishes in a number of events, but the last couple of years have been a grind with a string of missed cuts.

After failing to retain his PGA Tour card, Aphibarnrat dropped into the Korn Ferry Tour play-offs and is working to get back at the elite level.

The third round at Victoria National Golf Club was tough for Aphibarnrat, and life on the road is a problem for the Thai.

“I’ve been struggling for quite a while now,” Aphibarnrat, who carded a nine-over 81 on Saturday to drop down the field, said. “For me, my back is against the wall, so I don’t have anything to lose anymore and I think the difficult and tough thing for me is to be the only Thai player on the PGA Tour. I don’t have any friends, I mean Thai friends, so we keep speaking English and not in my language.

“To be honest I feel a little bit lonely and homesick sometimes. My family isn’t here, I’m lucky that I’ve got my Thai caddie to fly in for the last three weeks so I can communicate in Thai, which I feel more comfortable with.”

Aphibarnrat, who made two double bogeys and quad on Saturday, is hopeful a new generation of Thai players will make the leap, but he has admitted he came close to walking away.

“To be honest, here it’s hard and I was ready to give up on living in the States,” he said. “Feels too difficult for me. 22 hour flight home, no families around, when you’re playing good you are not celebrating with anyone. When you’re playing bad you’re staying with yourself again, you can’t explain anything to anyone.

“It’s not a good time for me in the whole year, but I’m coming from Thailand, a small country in Asia.”

Aphibarnrat admits to being motivated to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler.

“To be a part of the PGA Tour is such a huge honour and I think every kid in Asia, when you start playing golf, you saw Tiger, you saw Rickie, you saw Jordan, all the great players in the world play on the PGA Tour,” he said. “For sure, you want to be a part of it and I saw Tiger playing in 1999, which he dominated every single event.

“I keep dreaming that one day I’ll be part of the PGA Tour and then you know, 12-13 years later I make my dreams come true, but this road is difficult.

“You have to realise that this is the biggest Tour in the world, with the top players, so it’s a lot of competition so you can’t stay still, you have to keep working and improve every day.”