University of Delaware Athletics
Arsit Areephun Relishes Time at World Amateur Team Championships
12/12/2025 4:03:00 PM | Men's Golf
NEWARK, Del. – University of Delaware men's golfer Arsit Areephun has had a great start to his junior season, leading the team with a 71.50 stroke average during the fall, recording six of his 12 rounds under par and winning his first collegiate tournament at the Blue Hen Intercollegiate. However, the highlight of Areephun's fall came in October when he travelled to Singapore to represent Thailand in the 2025 World Amateur Team Championships (WATC).
The WATC is an international tournament held every two years featuring individuals representing their respective countries. The 2025 field featured 108 players from 36 countries. Areephun was one of the three players selected to represent Thailand, joining Parin Sarasmut and Pongsapak Laopakdee, who is a junior on the Arizona State men's golf team.
"It means the world to me," Areephun said of being selected. "I used to represent Thailand all the time back in the day, and then this time in Singapore, it reminded me of really good old memories with my teammates."
The tournament had its similarities to the collegiate tournaments that Areephun competes in for Delaware. Rather than a five-player lineup, each team consisted of three players with the top two scores each round accounting for the team score. While collegiate events are typically 54 holes played over two or three days, the WATC was a 72-hole tournament with individuals playing 18 holes each day over a four-day stretch.
"It was actually really interesting playing as three people on a team. There's a little more pressure on you because there's not a lot of substitutions for your teammates. You obviously know how your teammates are doing, because it's a fairly big event, and there's team leaderboards and individual leaderboards everywhere. You have to know where you're standing, and it's very different playing with your own nation on your back."
Areephun has had plenty of experience on the international stage. Before arriving at Delaware, he was a member of the Thai national golf team and was also selected for the 2022 WATC, which was delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Paris. In 2023, he competed in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (APAC), which he qualified for by being the highest-ranked member of the Thai national team in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. This past summer, Areephun also played in multiple professional tournaments on the All-Thailand Tour as an amateur.
The first obstacle Areephun had to overcome was the long trip to get to Singapore, which took nearly 24 hours of travel. He arrived three days prior to the tournament and was on the course later that day for practice.
"The jet lag was really, really bad because it was a 12-hour time difference. The first day we got there was really hard. I tried to not take any long naps and then just get coffee in throughout the day. Once a couple days passed, it's actually not that bad."
Along with the jet lag, Areephun had to adjust to a couple of other factors – weather, course layout, and an extra 18 holes - that come into play when playing in Asia compared to his Delaware tournaments primarily on the East Coast.
"It was really hot," Areephun said. "Some of the European guys had heat exhaustion and couldn't finish the practice round because it was too hot. And then, another main factor in play was the type of grass they use. In the fairways, it was Zoysia, which is very grainy, and then on the greens it was Paspalum, which is totally different from the Northeast, which is Bentgrass."
Areephun started off the tournament with a 2-over par 74 in the first round but bounced back to go 3-under par over the next two rounds. Both of his middle two scores were used toward the team score as Thailand climbed up the team rankings.
"After the first round, I went straight to the practice facility and had a long talk with my coach on how we could improve and play better tomorrow. Then we started preparing, getting my course management and everything a little more tight, and then I was really ready to go in the second round."
In the final round, Areephun closed with back-to-back birdies to record a 1-over par 73. He finished at even par for the tournament while carding 16 birdies over the 72 holes. He climbed up to finish in a tie for 28th in the 108-player field and helped lead Thailand into a tie for seventh.
"In my opinion, I didn't really play my best," Areephun said. It wasn't a bad outcome, but it could have been a lot better. As a team, we did really well. We finished first in Asia, and that's what our federation was kind of looking for in the first place. If we were not on the podium in the top three, we had to be first in Asia, so we accomplished that."
UP NEXT
The Fightin' Blue Hens will open their spring schedule in February when they travel to Puerto Rico for the Palmas del Mar Collegiate (Feb. 8-10). Delaware will compete in five tournaments as it prepares for the program's first Conference USA Championship in April.
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