Jacob Sosa likes a challenge, and he’s found it recently at Maridoe Golf Club. He’ll find it again there next week for the Dallas club’s inaugural Junior Invitational. The cast will just be a little different this time.
Maridoe has done much to support competitive golf these past few months as the game ground to halt because of the coronavirus pandemic. Owner Albert Huddleston felt it could be a good opportunity to demonstrate that golf can be played with social-distancing measures in place. The club organized two charity events over the past two months that brought together professionals and amateurs for golf and goodwill.
Among the 82-man field at the latter of those events were eight junior players – two each from the next four high school graduating classes. Sosa, an Austin resident, proudly represented the class of 2022.
In fact, he repped it with a view. Sosa climbed all the way to a tie for 16th on the final leaderboard – the best finish of any junior – with rounds of 75-72-69. That left him tied with four-time PGA Tour winner Ryan Palmer, among other players.
“My dad and I came up with a strategy during the practice round and just followed it,” he said. “We just executed the plan and it was a good outcome.”
The work went in long in advance. Sosa has sage advice for a high school sophomore: If you put in the work ahead of time, it’s easy to let go and relax when the real thing starts. For Sosa and his dad John, also his instructor, that meant working together on the TrackMan to get a handle on yardages, spin rate, etc.
“It’s definitely a placement golf course, especially going into the greens,” Jacob Sosa said of Maridoe. “Ultimately for me, I tend to spin the ball a whole bunch. If I can minimize my spin, get it a little more consistent, my distance control, my trajectory is going to be on point so I can ultimately place the ball where I need to be.”
Sosa got to play with PGA Tour player Talor Gooch at Maridoe as well as future University of Texas teammate Travis Vick. Sosa has committed to join the Texas roster in the fall of 2022, and he’ll be a fourth-generation Longhorn. His dad played golf for Texas in the early 90s and his grandfather and great-grandfather went to school there too, though they weren’t athletes.
“It’s kind of like in our blood, I guess,” Sosa said. Even though he grew up wearing burnt orange, college was his decision, and Texas always felt right.
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Junior and high school golf is intense in Texas, and Sosa should know. As a freshman at Westlake High School last year, he was a member of the Chaps’ third consecutive 6A state title team. Westlake won by 20 shots and it was the team’s third state title in a row. High school golf may feel a little more laid-back than, say, American Junior Golf Association events, but oftentimes the caliber of the field is similar.
“You’re hanging around with all your friends and it’s your team,” he said. “And so getting to see both sides of it is pretty crazy. Also fun.”
Junior golf is starting to come back now and Sosa will be headed back to Maridoe for the June 9-11 event. Considering his performance last month, he’ll be an early favorite. The course seems to suit his eye.
“I love the versatility they have tee to green,” Sosa said.
Before the pandemic set in, Sosa started 2020 by finishing 14th at the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods and 30th at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.
Sosa lumps Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio, in with Maridoe. Inverness hosted the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2019. Sosa made his debut in that event last summer, knocking off Jackson Van Paris (the 2020 Sage Valley Junior Invitational champ) in the first round and No. 1 seed William Moll in the second round.
“I love courses that give me a challenge,” Sosa said. “Visually, I like intimidating golf courses as well as approach shots into the green. Inverness, you have to be a good long iron player to perform there and you need to hit fairways and you need to be almost a wizard out of the rough.”
In match play, every round has momentum swings and as Sosa says, the goal is to make as many of those go your way as you can. You also have to make the key putts.
Interestingly, that’s what he remembers from the stroke-play titles he has won, too. His biggest goal is to keep winning.
“I don’t want to be one of those players that wins and then they’re all up in their head and they think they’re better,” he said rationally. “I want to be the best and I want to challenge my game. It’s a gift I have, and I want to make it the best I can possibly make it.”
Playing with Gooch at Maridoe last month, Sosa was keenly aware that the Tour player never altered his game plan or swung out of his shoes. He never got emotional or irrational or tried to force anything. That stuck with Sosa.
“It looked like the most boring round,” he marveled. “He was even par and (two) days before he was 3 under. His whole game plan was unwavering.”
Considering that mindset, here’s looking ahead to a “boring” summer for Sosa.
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