SOUTHPORT, England (AP) \u2014 There have been roars of support for Fifa around the links of Royal Birkdale this week.<\/p>\n
No, not the heavily scrutinized soccer organization.<\/p>\n
Instead, they\u2019ve been directed at a college kid from Thailand who has a memorable name and has just experienced a memorable week at the British Open.<\/p>\n
OK, Fifa Laopakdee shot 80 to miss the cut on Friday but he has stood out in this corner of northwest England, not least because of a playful nickname his soccer-loving father, Peter, gave him as a baby, in keeping with Thai culture.<\/p>\n
According to the 21-year-old Laopakdee, it was a choice between two names: Fifa, after the world soccer organization, or Uefa, after European soccer\u2019s governing body.<\/p>\n
Fifa got the nod \u2014 and that\u2019s what he\u2019ll continue to call himself instead of his real first name, Pongsapak, as his golfing career progresses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I use Fifa when I turn pro, I think I\u2019ll be more memorable,\u201d he said. \u201cIt looks like people will remember my name more.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what does he think of having the same name as the soccer body run by Gianni Infantino that occasionally attracts headlines for the wrong reasons \u2014 like, for example, at the ongoing World Cup taking place in North America?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been called dictators, rigged, staged, corrupt \u2014 I just find it funny, because I\u2019m a big football fan,\u201d he said. \u201cI just find it extremely hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laopakdee, who supports English soccer team Chelsea, attends Arizona State University and is playing at the Open after winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last year. That also secured him a place at this year\u2019s Masters, where he didn\u2019t make the weekend after shooting rounds of 80 and 75.<\/p>\n
What he has experienced over the last three months has been life-changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for me, that\u2019s for sure, to feel this pressure, embrace this pressure and have an opportunity to play in this event on behalf of Asian amateurs,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge honor. I can\u2019t wait to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHPORT, England (AP) \u2014 There have been roars of support for Fifa around the links of Royal Birkdale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15446,5204,12689,44,1531,1525,15447],"class_list":["post-38391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-british-open-fifa-thai","tag-fifa-laopakdee","tag-gianni-infantino","tag-golf","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-thailand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}