One is a 45-year-old former paratrooper from Thailand who took up golf by fastening the discarded head of a 5-iron to a bamboo stick. The other followed a more conventional path in the sport, although as recently as 15 months ago, he still believed that the game’s biggest events were out of reach for a golfer like him from India.
This week, the winding roads of Thongchai Jaidee and Anirban Lahiri converge at the Presidents Cup, a meeting that could not be more timely.
As the biennial golf team event comes to Asian soil for the first time, Thongchai and Lahiri are among five Asian-born pros set to tee up for the International squad, illustrating the broadening of the game’s horizons on the continent.