This is the time of the rising Thai

Atthaya Thitikul (left) and Ariya Jutanugarn embrace the opportunity to elevate the profile and performance of women golfers from Thailand. Photo: Thananuwat Srirasant, Getty Images

In Korea, the women have always outshone the men. In Thailand, on the other hand, the men led the way while giving us a fair idea of why Thais have what it takes to be great players.

Boonchu Ruangkit, for example, once explained that Tiger Woods, even though he was not a practicing Buddhist, was thrice blessed in having a Thai mother. He said that her ways, with particular reference to her powers of meditation, had seeped from mother to son. “You see it in Tiger’s serenity and in the respect he has for his elders,” said Ruangkit, a Thai senior golfer who was a five-time winner on the Asian Tour. “He always affords people the courtesy of looking them in the eye.”

According to Voralak Suwanvanichkij, an expert on Thai ways, the phrase “mai pen rai,” which means “n...