By Parker Haynie, SUU Athletics
CEDAR CITY, UTAH – Jake Vincent was a member of the Southern Utah Men’s Golf team from 2016 to 2021 and left his name all over the Thunderbirds record books.
During that time, Vincent won multiple tournaments for the Thunderbirds, including a Big Sky Conference Championship his junior year, shooting nine under par to claim medalist honors.
Vincent was named the Big Sky Conference Golfer of the Year in his senior year and was an All-Conference honoree each year he played for the Thunderbirds.
Vincent holds the best single-season stroke average of 70.85 through 20 rounds played. He is also second all-time in career stroke average with 72.36 over 141 rounds played. Vincent has six of the top-10 lowest rounds shot in Thunderbird history.
“He is one of the top golfers to ever come through our program. The way he grew as a player and person was great to be a part of, and we still keep in touch today,” said Head Coach Richard Church.
Jake is now pursuing a professional golf career, which is obviously a very tough thing to do.
“My current goal is to play the best I can, work as hard as I can every day, and see where that gets me. I would obviously love to play on the PGA (Tour), but if that doesn’t happen for me, I will be content knowing that I gave it everything I had,” said Vincent.
After graduating from Southern Utah, Vincent won Canadian Q School and earned a spot on the Canadian Tour, a big moment for his career. “Winning Q school was awesome. It was a great experience. Unfortunately, I didn’t play my best on the tour, but I learned so much about myself and my game,” said Vincent.
The season after that, he was able to get status on the Dakotas Tour and really excelled. He won a couple of events and had multiple other top-tens. At the end of the year, he was awarded the Bonus Pool Player of The Year for the Tour. “It was the first time since college that I felt I really had my ‘A-game.’ Which led me to more opportunities on bigger tours.” Last year, Jake spent the season playing on the China Tour, finishing seventh in the Chinese Order of Merritt, which means he qualifies for DP World Tour events that will be held at the end of April. He played in 25 events across three different Tours: The China Tour, The Asian Development Tour, and the All Thailand Tour. He had a fair amount of success and will return to Asia this year to compete again.
Vincent gives all the credit to Coach Church and Assistant Coach John Evans for the success that he has seen throughout his career. “I have grown so much as a player and a person since I showed up to Cedar City as an 18-year-old kid. The way I approach the game and how I plot around the golf course is all thanks to John and Richard. All I ever wanted to do was prove them right, and it still is.”
Assistant Coach John Evans still works with Vincent as his swing coach, and Jake loves coming back to spend time in Cedar City. “Just going out and playing 9-holes with Coach John and his grandkids are some of my best memories,” said Vincent. “Coach Church took a chance on a kid who couldn’t even break 75, and Coach John spent hours with a kid who never listened.”
Vincent recognizes that this wasn’t something he could have achieved alone. “Reed McArthur and Nic Booth were two assistant coaches who were instrumental in helping me find confidence in myself and my game, and Jared Barnes, the head pro at Cedar Ridge, let me use thousands of range balls and move so much grass. There are so many people who played a role in helping me live out my dream, and I couldn’t be more grateful,” concluded Vincent.
The journey to becoming a professional golfer is one of the toughest out there. But Vincent has beat the odds time and time again, further proving that a relentless pursuit of improvement can lead to living out your dreams.
