Golf of Siam

It's only 7 a.m., but sweat is already trickling down my face as I tee off on the first hole of one of Asia's toughest courses at the Laem Chabang International Country Club, laemchabanggolf.com, two hours east of Bangkok. It's not because of the heat, but the pressure: a 200-yard tunnel of bushes leaves no room for a hook or a slice; farther on, the gaping mouths of four hungry sand traps guard a tiny, fast green. And I've been grouped with three aces who fly in every year from Japan to...