Thongchai Jaidee is from Thailand. He was the first Thai to play in a major championship at the 2001 U.S. Open, where he tied for 74th, and he was also the first Thai to play in all four majors. Thongchai joined the Thai army as a paratrooper at the age of 19 to serve two years of mandatory service. He taught himself to play golf on the Lopburi Golf Club, north of Bangkok. He remained in the Thai army for nine more years so he would have access to a golf course and could pursue his dream of becoming a pro golfer. Thongchai first began playing golf at age 16 by tying the discarded head of a 5-iron to a bamboo stick. In December, Jaidee won on the Asian Tour at the Johnnie Walker Open.
He has four career European Tour titles and in 2004, he became the first Thai golfer to win an event on The European Tour with a victory in the Malaysian Open. In 2005, he successfully defended that title. Thongchai uses an Odyssey putter.