From Timely Eagle and Masters to “Bad Back” Withdrawal

Kiradech Aphibarnrat was delighted last week after making an eagle on the final hole of the Indonesian Masters to finish fifth and climb into the top-50 of the world rankings. If he held that position until the end of the year he would gain a coveted spot in the 2018 U.S. Masters at Augusta.

Just one problem... The 28-year-old Thai had accepted a spot to play in this week’s Boonchu Ruangkit Championship in his home country, on the Asian Development Tour – the final tournament offering official ranking points in 2017.

Following his fine finish in in Jakarta, however, he faced the risk of slipping out of the world top-50 in Thailand. According to calculations by Twitter “golf guru” Nosferatu (@VC606), “Here is what @kiradech is facing if he is playing this week: – will finish 2017 ranked between #49 and #43 if he finishes #BRChamps T12 or better – will drop to #52 in #OWGR if he finishes outside top 12! In this case Satoshi Kodaira will be up to #50 and will go to @TheMasters!”

So what did he decide?

In another Tweet, the AP’s Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) reported, “Kiradech Aphibarnrat has pulled out of the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship with a (very timely) back injury. Will finish year No. 49 and get into the Masters.”