Kiradech Aphibarnrat hopes a week-long stay in a Thai Buddhist temple where he learned to become a monk will propel him into a first appearance at the U.S. Open next month. The Thai swapped golf gear for a robe and shaved his head and eyebrows as he spent seven days last week at the Wat Veerachoti Thamaram in the Chachoengsao province, 80km from Bangkok. During the time, the burly Thai woke up at 4.30am every morning, learned to meditate and pray with other monks, walked bare-footed for several kilometres to gather food, cleaned the temple grounds and ate one meal a day. “In Thai culture, you have to do this once in your lifetime when you’re aged between 21 to 25. It is a mark of respect to our parents,” said Kiradech. “This was a good experience for me. You have to learn to be patient and to be cool with yourself. I learned a lot of things and hope to be able to do more things in the future. I feel like I’ve grown older in the past week and in some strange way, I feel I am able to think and do things better.” Currently ranked 83rd in the world, Kiradech hopes to break into the top-60 by May 26 or June 9 to qualify for the year’s second Major, the U.S. Open.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 08:44:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015