Fun-loving Aphibarnrat shares his passion for cars, shoes

Kiradech Aphibarnrat is particularly fond of his sleek gray Ferrari F12.

“It fits one golf bag,” he explains. “I can use it every day. I can play golf with it. I can go out with my wife and my friends. I mean, just one car. Takes me around all over the place.”

Granted, the Ferrari -- which costs in the multiple six figures -- isn’t exactly your run-of-the-mill-ride-about-town car. But the sports car fits the fun-loving 29-year-old’s larger-than-life personality perfectly, and is part of a growing collection on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Thailand’s first PGA TOUR member actually has eight other cars at his home in Bangkok. There’s the Ferrari F430 and the Porsche Cayenne, Porsche Boxster and Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS. Aphibarnrat also owns a Nissan GTR, Toyota Supra and Honda EK9.

And don’t forget the piece de resistance, that orange Lamborghini Aventador. But the sports cars come with a cost beyond the sticker price – every time Aphibarnrat buys a new one, his wife, Tunyatorn, which has an MBA from the University of Brighton, adds to a collection of her own.

“We have the quite strict rules that if I start buying new cars, she gets a new bag,” he says with a grin. “So, well, when I buy a new car, I make sure I have to have a budget that to buy her like Hermes bags or Chanel bags.

“So, we, we get along together quite well.”

Aphibarnrat, who has a Porsche Macan GTS in the garage of his newly-minted Orlando home, too, has loved cars – and speed – since he was a child. Cars, motorcycles, boats, even jet skis, anything that goes fast feeds his psyche and fuels his soul.

While he acknowledges it’s dangerous, Aphibarnrat has been known to coax his cars to speeds approaching 300 kilometers per hour back home in Thailand, which is about 186 miles per hour here in the United States. The F12 has 700 horsepower under the hood while the Nissan GTR is around 900.

But Aphibarnrat is quick to point that he’s been to high performance racing school, and he knows his limitations.

“Especially when you've got that powerful car, you have to really stay patient and know, but the most important thing for everyone to know is you have to know your skill,” Aphibarnrat says. “You have to know what's the maximum -- the maximum for you and what is the maximum for the cars.”

Aphibarnrat, who ranks 63rd in the FedExCup, actually finds driving therapeutic – particularly when he’s going through a bad stretch on the golf course. The end of last year as he was making the final push to earn his PGA TOUR card, competing against a lot of other “hungry” young players like himself, was one of those times.

“It just me and you know, just a car and me,” he says. “Behind the wheel, control the car is the most interesting. When I'm driving, I have nothing in my head, relieving all the stress on myself and I'm just like when you push the button; delete the trash on your laptop.

“It's gone. Somehow, it's just gone. Just gone.”

Cars aren’t the only things that Aphibarnrat, who has won 10 times around the world, collects. He also has about 40 high-end watches and upwards of 100 pairs of shoes, many of them Yeezys, the popular collaboration between Adidas and Kanye West. He’s also in the early stages of acquiring Leica cameras.

The sneaker obsession began about five years ago. One of his good friends is UrboyTJ, a hip-hop artist from Thailand. Aphibarnrat’s current pair of trainers had just given out and he asked his buddy for a recommendation and the rapper suggested Yeezys.

“I look at the price, they sell 1,500 U.S. You crazy? For a pair of trainers? It doesn't make sense,” Aphibarnrat recalls telling his friend.

“But he said if you wear that to the somewhere in the town -- shopping malls or popular area back home, people are going to recognize your shoes more than your face. Seriously? So, I go buy one. It's true. I went everywhere. I'd been walking too. I mean, all the teenagers keep looking to my shoes.”

Aphibarnrat, who has several rooms in his house set aside for his shoes, some still with the price tags attached, also has NMDs and Alphas in his collection. At one point, he was buying two pairs of every shoe – one to wear and one to keep – and he estimates he has only worn 25 percent of his collection.

Aphibarnrat is particularly drawn to limited edition shoes and says his most expensive pair cost about $15,000. But his favorite pair is the Yeezy Pirate Black, PBs first version, which he wore at the Olympics and at Augusta National last year.

“Anywhere that's special,” he says.

Aphibarnrat’s collection of watches includes Patek Phillipe and Richard Mille, one of which is worth more than $1 million. In addition, he recently signed on as a global brand ambassador with Avantist watches, which is developing the Arm (which is Aphibarnrat’s nickname in Thailand) Edition.

The watches will feature a skeletonized tourbillon movement set on a transparent sapphire crystal plate --- which makes it appear to float inside the watch. Each Arm Edition watch will take six months to create and only nine will be made, with the new owners getting to meet the golfer for whom it’s named.

Those are the kind of collectors that Aphibarnrat can appreciate.