Big Sky Feature: Southern Utah's Jake Vincent
Jake Vincent first arrived on the Southern Utah campus in 2016. A native of Palm Desert, Calif., Jake was wide-eyed and eager to learn in Cedar City, Utah as a freshman. Jake worked hard and made an immediate impact on the Southern Utah men’s golf team and really exploded onto the scene in his third year of competition.
As a freshman, Jake earned a spot on the Big Sky All-Conference Third Team and then proceeded to earn all-conference first team honors each year after that. Jake finished in fourth place at the 2018 Big Sky Championship during his sophomore season and continued to grow going into his junior year.
Jake became the all-time leader in Southern Utah men’s golf Division I history after claiming 3 individual championship titles during his junior and senior seasons. Jake won his first collegiate tournament as a junior at the 2019 Pizza Hut-Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational. He then finished off an impressive junior year by claiming the individual title at the 2019 Big Sky Championship. Finally, as a senior, Jake won the 2019 Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational.
Along with individual championship titles, Jake was named the 2020 Big Sky Men’s Golf Player of the Year, has been named the Big Sky Men’s Golfer of the Week eight times throughout the years, and has recorded 11 career top-10 finishes.
Through all this individual success, Jake remains incredibly humble. Southern Utah has become like a second home to him and Jake has his sights set on accomplishing their goals as a team.
To help you understand the rollercoaster that Jake Vincent has been on over these past few weeks, here’s a Q&A that covers everything from his initial reaction to the season being cancelled to his favorite memories while at Southern Utah.
Can you share some of the thoughts that were going through your head when you found out that the remainder of your senior season was cancelled?
I was bummed. However, as soon as I realized that the season was over for me, I realized that it was also over for seniors everywhere. Not only for seniors in college like myself but also, for seniors in high school. I wasn’t much of a golfer until my senior year of high school, so I would have never been playing golf at Southern Utah if it wasn’t for that last year. I feel for the kids that didn’t get the opportunity to showcase their skills, and it’s an unfortunate situation, but I believe that everything happens for a reason.
You were having a great 2020 season, a continuation from 2019, do you have a lot of “what-ifs” or are you trying to look for the positives?
Our team was young, but we were really trending in the right direction and we were starting to gain more confidence, especially among the underclassmen. I do wish we could have gotten the chance to compete for the conference title as a team because that’s something I’ve always wished for. I really want to bring one back to Southern Utah. On a more personal level, I was playing a game that I really enjoy and planning on finishing out my collegiate career. There are still some records that I want to break and things that I want to accomplish. So yeah, I was really looking forward to going out to Talking Stick and competing in another championship. But like I said, the season being cancelled affected a lot more than just me. It took me a while to recognize that, but once I did, I realized that all I can do is work as hard as I can and meet whatever comes next head-on.
What have you been doing with this extra free time?
I just got a job at the golf course closing the golf shop a couple times a week. I’m really focusing on some of the aspects of my game that I don’t do as well. I can’t work enough on my short game, so I’m doing a lot of chipping and putting for at least 2-3 hours a day.
What do you miss most about being away from campus right now?
It sounds a little funny, but I miss the coaching. I miss my teammates pushing me to be better, but a lot of my improvement has come from my coaches. Whether it’s helping me improve my golf game every day or helping me with the little mental cues, my coaches have taught me a lot. Coach Church has done a fantastic job at moving me along as a golfer and progressing my mental game by working on my confidence and thinking myself around the golf course. Coach John has helped me a lot with the mechanical part of playing golf. I really miss the opportunity to learn from them every day.
How have you been staying connected with your coaches and teammates?
I’ll play a few video games with my teammates online or I’ll FaceTime to check up on them. Then I’ll bug my coach sometimes and send him a text just to make sure he didn’t forget about me.
What made you decide to use the extra year of eligibility and return to play another year at Southern Utah? Was it an easy decision?
If I get the opportunity to play, I’m 100% going to take it. I didn’t even second-guess my decision. When I found out the season was over, it really hurt but I tried to be grown-up about it. I think I spent a couple of days feeling bad for myself, and then I heard talk about the possibility of another year of eligibility, so that’s when I started trying to practice again and I decided to give my best effort for whatever comes next. When I came to Southern Utah four years ago, I really wanted to win a conference championship, and even though I did win individually last year, my main goal was to win as a team. It means a lot to have the opportunity to give it another shot and work with my teammates to get better and learn from each other.
What are you most looking forward to for your extra year of eligibility?
Broadly, I am looking forward to the opportunity to improve and grow like I have every other year through great coaching and learning along the way. However, what I’m most looking forward to is hopefully getting around to next April with a team that’s looking to contend for a conference title. That’s absolutely the reason I’m coming back.
How has golf helped you grow as a person?
Golf is my life. I wake up in the morning, make my coffee, and think about going out to the green. Golf has helped me find ambition and has shown me what I want to do. I love to compete, and I feel like I played every sport when I was growing up. I battled some injuries in high school, and I didn’t really get to be the true competitor that I was. Nowadays, being able to play the sport I love at a high level, I feel like I’m a 10-year-old kid again having a blast.
What does Southern Utah mean to you?
Southern Utah is my new home. Everyone from the coaches to the staff at the golf course took me in and made me feel right at home. It’s meant everything to help me grow and the city has especially helped me. Everyone in the city is rooting for us and it’s nice to have a bad week of competition and have everyone back home still think it was good.
What’s been one of your favorite moments while at Southern Utah?
Winning the conference championship was the coolest one. Winning that conference title was so memorable because I was tied for the lead after the second round, and I got off to a good start in the third round and then I just blew up. Coach Church and I plotted the golf course and I hit some good shots and made some good putts to win. That was my favorite experience because of the challenge it gave me, and the way Coach Church pushed me. I’m not sure anyone else could’ve helped me get to the finish line.
Another favorite moment was winning the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational this year. That was the first college tournament I had played at and I had not done well as a freshman. It was a great experience to see how far I’ve come as a golfer from my freshman year to my senior year and to evaluate my skills against a course. That week was a very cool trip.
What are your goals for your future golf career?
Honestly, I didn’t even think that I would get this far. It’s amazing to have the opportunity to play golf and get better every day. My goals are to wake up tomorrow and become a better golfer than I am today. I would like to play well in future tournaments and yeah, who wouldn’t want to be Tiger Woods, but I’m a little more short-term in my goals. I just want to take advantage of the next time that I get an opportunity to tee one up in a tournament.