Swanwick looked a strong chance to lift the trophy as his lead briefly stretched to three when Laopakdee bogeyed the par three eighth but the Thai player backed it up with a birdie at the ninth to keep it at two shots.
The turning point of the day came at the par four 11th. Swanwick stood on the tee with a two-shot lead but walked off the green two behind after a triple bogey seven and Laopakdee making a birdie three.
Swanwick’s approach landed in the greenside bunker on the left but his next shot out rolled by the pin and off the green. It got worse when he saw his fourth shot return to his feet after failing to again find the green, before eventually landing and two-putting.
Christchurch’s Moore started the day in a share of second with Laopakdee at five-under but had three bogeys and a birdie on the front nine to slip back. He also had trouble at the 11th with a bogey and followed that with a double at 12 to drop back to even par and put him out of the mix.
Laopakdee was solid throughout the day, but found trouble at the par five 13th. His drive found the waste area right and he took on the larger waste area in front of him but found more sand. He still walked off with a par after an up and down. What looked like a possible two-shot swing turned to nought with Swanwick missing a birdie from eight feet to remain two behind.
Swanwick was eight-under through 13-18 for the first three rounds but made bogey at the 14th after driving the green which left him three back. That meant Laopakdee was able to play risk-free down the stretch but still managed to close out with a birdie at the par three 17th.
Swanwick’s only birdie of the day came at the 18th hole to finish in second with Moore in fourth, also finishing with a birdie at the 72nd hole.
Kiwi Ryan Xie shared the low round of the day with a five-under 66 after an 80 the previous day to finish in fifth with four New Zealanders making the top-10.
Leaderboard
1 Fifa Laopakdee (Thailand) -6
2 Zack Swanwick (New Zealand) – 3
3 Kayun Mudadana (Australia) -2
4 Cooper Moore (New Zealand) -1
5 Ryan Xie (New Zealand) E
T6 Joshua Bai (New Zealand) +1
T6 Harry Takis (Australia) +1