Being a monk in a temple taught me to value the life of a professional golfer. My concentration during tournaments has also significantly enhanced.
Sadom Kaewkarnjan (27), a citizen of Thailand who is currently leading the KPGA (Korean Professional Golf) Tour's Rookie of the Year standings this season, recently shared the reason behind his impressive recent performance: his time as a Buddhist monk. Two years ago, he shaved his head and eyebrows and spent two weeks living as a monk at a temple in Thailand. In an interview with Golf Digest on the 1st (Korean time), he stated, "I used to be easily distracted by camera shutters and applause from other holes, but after going through that challenging, solitary life as a monk, my mindset and attitude toward golf changed. Now, I don't hear the noise during games."
As of the 2nd, Kaewkarnjan is among the leading players, having secured one KPGA Tour title, the lowest scoring average (68.62), and is third in earnings (around 674.5 million Korean won). With 1,649.35 rookie points, he is more than 1,200 points ahead of the second-place competitor. If he wins the rookie award, he will become the first player not born in Korea to achieve this. Earlier foreign-born rookies were of Korean heritage.
He started playing golf when he was three years old, influenced by his father who was an amateur golfer. He soon displayed exceptional skill and was chosen to join the Thai national team at the age of 14. Following his professional debut in 2019, he secured his first Asian Tour victory shortly after. His win at the 2022 Singapore Open granted him entries into major tournaments such as The Open.
He entered the temple the next year, 2023. In Thailand, where Buddhism is widely practiced, it is common for men over 20 to temporarily take monastic vows. Kaewkarnjan abruptly halted his golf career to become a monk in a forest temple. "In Thailand, the year you turn 25 is considered to bring bad luck and negative karma," he explained. "I took vows to counter this and to honor my parents."
At the temple, he rose at 5 a.m. every day, walked without shoes through villages to gather alms, and carried out cleaning, prayer, and meditation repeatedly. He consumed just one meal each day, made up of food given freely. Looking back on the experience, he mentioned, “It was a way to train the mind to stay focused on the present and maintain inner calm.”
After returning to a secular lifestyle, he has made remarkable progress and is now making his presence felt in Korea. He caught everyone by surprise when he won the Kolon Korea Open in May and made a comeback to The Open after three years. Although he didn't make the cut, simply being there was significant. Kaewkarnjan is now targeting both the KPGA Tour Rookie of the Year title and a win at the Genesis Championship on the 23rd of this month. This event is co-hosted by the KPGA Tour and the DP World Tour (Europe), and winning it would earn him a DP World Tour exemption.
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