Like a good wine, Thaworn Wiratchant’s game improves as he gets older. The 42-year-old Thai with the distinctive swing won three tournaments in successive weeks during the summer of 2009, including his first win on the Mercedes-Benz Tour at the Heritage Melaka Classic in Malaysia.
The last time Thaworn enjoyed such a hot streak was in 2005, when wins in the Indonesia Open, Taiwan Open, Indian Open and Carlsberg Masters Vietnam saw him deservedly crowned as Asia’s number one player.
After a relatively lean spell in 2006, Thaworn won the Midea China Classic in 2007 and entered the record books the following year with his victory in the Bangkok Airways Open. That was his 10th win on the Asian Tour and he was the first player to hit that mark.
Thaworn learned the game at the Army Golf Club in Bangkok where his parents used to work. The long hours spent on and around the practice green when he was young turned Thaworn into something of a short game genius, with his artful wedge play often leaving fellow pros open-mouthed in admiration.
His swing, while unorthodox, is amazingly effective and Thaworn has never been tempted to tinker with it saying that “it worked well for me during my amateur days and it works now.”
He regularly wears all-black golf gear in competitions believing it is his lucky colour.
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