Halloween was on Saturday, but Kiradech Aphibarnrat, a three-time champion on the European Tour, got his spook a day later.
That came in the form of a harmless looking birdie putt of less than two feet on the 72nd hole of the Turkish Airlines Open.
A birdie there would have tied the 26-year-old Thai for second place with Jaco van Zyl , just one shot behind the rampant Victor Dubuisson. But amidst a collective gasp from the spectators, Aphibarnrat missed it, the cup spitting out the ball at the last second.
The resultant par meant he finished third alone at 20-under par. It was a loss of $172,000 in terms of prize money, but more importantly, he also lost out on valuable Race to Dubai ranking points. A tied second would have taken him to seventh place instead of ninth that he is in at the moment, and substantially increased his share of the bonus pool money at the end of the DP World Championship.
It was a basic courtesy of golf that cost Aphibarnrat. Dubuisson was nearly 15 feet away from the cup with his eagle putt, but the Thai decided to make his putt and leave the grand stage of the 72nd hole for Dubuisson alone.
And the affable Thai was a gentleman to the very end. He was gracious enough to speak to Sport360 after the disaster, and instead of talking about his own issues, he began by congratulating Dubuisson and the way the Frenchman played to claim his second Turkish Airlines Open title in three years.
“I really don’t know what happened there,” said Aphibarnrat on his putt. “It is the biggest mistake of my life. I am in state of shock and I don’t know how I am going to recover from this.
“This will be tough for me to get over. Hopefully, I will feel better after I sleep over it, or when I reach Shanghai and meet my family, who are all coming there to see me play in the WGC-HSBC Champions.”
What would give Aphibarnrat some heart is the way he is playing right now. Turkey was his third top-five finish in three starts – having finished fifth in British Masters and fourth in Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
On Sunday, he was off to a hot start, making four birdies in his first four holes, before cooling down in the back nine.
“Given the way I started, I was on fire, it was a bit of a disappointment not to do better than what I did. I slowed down a bit and to have one birdie on the back, that’s not good enough to get the job done,” said Aphibarnrat.
“I am playing well at the moment. And I am back in Asia, so hopefully, I will continue with the good form.”
Was there any silver lining that he could see from the missed putt on the 72nd?
“Well…it is the biggest mistake I have made in my career so far, but I am sure there will be bigger ones in the future. At least I will learn something from this on how to handle mistakes in the future,” said Aphibarnrat.
