THE 154TH OPEN

July 17, 2026

Fifa Laopakdee

Mixed Zone

Q. Rough day then?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Yes.

Q. Can you just tell us a little bit about obviously the unfortunate 1st hole and what happened there.

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Yeah, it's part of golf, you know. You can call it an embarrassment, but it sucks to start like that. Today's my mom's birthday. So I wish I could have gave her a good round, but I tried my best.

Unfortunately, it didn't start the way we -- I wanted to start, but overall it's just an amazing experience. It's my first time playing on a links course. Not the result I wanted, but I'll be back here in some years.

Overall, just kind of a bad round.

Q. What's the biggest lesson you'll take from this week? Even if you didn't make the weekend, it's still an amazing experience for you, isn't it?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Yeah, it's totally an amazing experience. Playing with Sungjae and Danny, it was a pleasure to watch both of them. They're both amazing. Yeah, I mean, it's a links course, man. When you hit, it doesn't help you -- or like what's the word? Like when you hit a bad shot here, you deserve to get like a half-shot penalty. You don't really get a lucky break here on a links course, especially Birkdale here.

It demands every shot in your bag -- off the tee, approach shot, putting, short game. It requires everything to be as good as possible because when you hit a bad shot here, you're like it's leading towards more than bogey, that's for sure. That's what I learned this week, and that's what happened today.

When I hit a bad shot, it's very hard to get back to make birdie or create a momentum to get forward and try and make the cut.

Q. Does it make you want to come back again and try?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Yes.

Q. You've had five days experience here.

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Definitely. I see more positive than negative this week. I'm still young. A lot more path for me, that's for sure. I still have a long career left. I'll be back here. I've got this kind of performance in this big event, it motivates me more and more and more.

Yeah, I mean, I'm sure I'll be back here.

Q. Tell us about 14. It must have felt good to finally make that.

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Yeah, I was just joking around with my caddie, oh, my God, we finally made birdie. To finish two days without any birdies, that would be a little embarrassing.

Yeah, it was great. I hit a great tee shot. Second shot hit driver off the deck. Then hit a great third shot from the rough and tap-in birdie. It was an amazing feeling.

Q. Just tell us briefly, are you straight back to Arizona? What are your plans immediately the next month?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Yeah, so I'm heading back home on Monday, probably spend a week and a half there. Then I'll go to U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club. Yeah, just fix some little stuff, and I think I'll be ready for U.S. Amateur. I'll try to get that Masters spot again.

I still have a big schedule ahead of me this year. We have U.S. Am, a lot of big college events, trying to defend my championship in New Zealand for Asia-Pacific and have Asian game in Japan coming up. So I have a big schedule here. It's time to move on, learn from this week, and see what happens.

Q. Can you just talk a little bit about how your life has changed since winning Dubai last year and the doors that it's opened up for you, obviously the Masters and here?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Yeah, it changed a lot. That's what my coach back at Arizona kind of told me that after I won Asia-Pacific, your life's going to change. It's very easy to fall off the train when you get all these opportunities to play in these big events and a lot more media, a lot more people looking up to you, and it's very easy to fall off the train. So I'm trying very, very hard to stay on the train.

It's nothing about the past or the future. It's easier to say it than done. I try really, really hard already to stay in the present, stay where my feet has to be. Sometimes I feel like I fell off the train but got back in and fell off the train. It's a lot of ups and downs, that's for sure. It's part of the learning curve.

I think it's a great opportunity for me, that's for sure, to play and have this, feel this pressure, embrace this pressure, and have an opportunity to play in this event on behalf of Asian amateurs. Yeah, it's a huge honour. I can't wait to be back.

Q. Was your mom watching this?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: She's here. She's here, yeah.

Q. Did you see her in the crowd as you were walking up?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: I saw her. Unfortunately, I didn't -- I think I made her worry more than being happy today.

Q. Will you take her out tonight, have a nice dinner? Any plans?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: It will be a little surprise for her birthday tonight. I hope she doesn't see this media before tonight, though.

Q. In your mind, do you know a process of what your plan in turning pro or how long you're going to stay amateur?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: I have a year of college left. So after I end my college career next May, next June, I'm probably going to turn pro, see what happens from there.

Q. You said you're going back on Monday. What are you going to do this weekend? Are you going to play more golf on links courses around here?

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: No, I think I'm going to give my lower back a break. I'm probably going to come out here and watch some golf. That's what I did at the Masters.

Just watch some great golfing on the weekend, spend some time here, have a great time with family and stuff, maybe take a train to Liverpool or Manchester, take a few city views in and try to have a good weekend and be ready to get back to the grind back in Thailand.

Q. That birdie is the birthday gift to your mom.

FIFA LAOPAKDEE: Exactly.