Jake is Living the Dream

By Danny Lockwood

What a year it’s been for The Oaks golfer Jake Sowden. A ‘winter’ season playing top quality courses around Australia, heading to play in Dubai and caddying on tour for pal Josh Berry, then winning the England Under 25 Championship – and adding the Yorkshire Amateur to it.

Oh, did we mention a couple of course records, and being nominated to represent England Golf in an International Series professional event at which he made the cut?

Talk about living the dream.

Speaking after edging out Bailey Hird in a nerve-shredding play-off at Ganton, Jake was quick to thank his sponsors, FTSE 100-listed Howdens Joinery – he lives close to their HQ in the town of Howden – for making his virtually full-time golf possible.

“Howdens Joinery have supported me for the past three or four years and they have been fantastic. It allowed me to have three months wintering in Australia.”

While everyone back home was squelching through sodden fairways – if at all – Jake was setting a course record in New South Wales, amongst other adventures. He certainly sees the advantages it’s given him. “When you are having time off you are actually having time off. I probably ‘work’ as much as anyone, but take the Yorkshire Amateur – finishing in all that wind and I had the next day to actually recover as opposed to going back to work behind a bar or in a pro shop.”

Reflecting on a stunning season he said: “It’s definitely been good and it all stemmed from that Australia trip, being out there playing and competing in their season with some of the best players in the world, and especially with England having such a bad winter. And then to stop off at Dubai on the way back...’ He finished second at the Jumeirah Men’s Amateur.

“Annoyingly, the winner got an invite to the Challenge Tour. When I got home I went back out there with my friend Josh Berry and I caddied for him for two weeks.

“I was on the range and the lad that beat me by one shot was there. I said ‘what are you doing here?’ He said ‘oh, the winner got a Challenge Tour invite!’

“So I got a lot of experience of caddying with Josh and seeing what tour life’s like and then I came back and played The Berkshire and got a course record there [a 62 and 4th overall]. That gave me confidence and then came the England Under-25s win and England Golf gave me the call-up to represent them at the International Series.”

That event at Foxhills in Surrey saw Jake rubbing shoulders with LIV-tour professionals like Harold Varner and Branden Grace.

“My experience with Josh meant I was comfortable with how professional tournaments work, the layout, the procedures ... it’s such a big difference to amateur golf but I sort of had a heads up on what was coming. I didn’t play great but I made the cut.”

There were also still golf lessons to be learned: “I got penalised a shot which wasn’t fun.”

After having to mark his ball on the fringe a caddie held his hand out and took and cleaned Jake’s ball.

“It was already pretty clean but I didn’t think about it. He just cleaned it with his towel. I didn’t think you could do that but didn’t know. Anyway, later he told the referee about it and I got a one shot penalty – because I handed him the ball it was my responsibility. Better to do it then than if I turned pro!

“I was fortunate enough to get the maximum you can win, about £700, but I would have got about $5,000 if I’d been professional.”

Jake started his golf at The Eagles 9-hole centre next door to Boothferry Golf Club which he joined aged eight, before moving up the road to The Oaks a few years later and coming under the guidance of master-coach Graham Walker from the age of 12. After winning the England Schools Championship in 2022, he won the Yorkshire Matchplay in 2023.

Reflecting on his Yorkshire Amateur win, he said: “That Thursday morning at Ganton with 50 miles an hour winds, it was brutal.

“Bailey [Hird] is a great guy and he has brilliant etiquette. On the Thursday morning he found my ball on the 6th with about 10 seconds left on the clock. It was a shame it ended like it did for him, but we had a great battle considering the conditions we were playing in.”

And going forward?

“The dream is to play for England that would be amazing. Obviously representing England this year – it’s been a dream of mine for years.

“Who knows, if my game’s ready, maybe look at turning pro next year. It depends where my game’s at and how I’ m progressing.

“A lot of what I learned from down at Foxhills was that I didn’t play great at all, but still made the cut in a big event, which is great for my potential.

“The guy that does the pins for the US Open and The Masters set our pins up and I found myself putting on slopes that I’d never normally putt on. So my putting struggled that week but I still made it through, so it was a good experience.

“Moving forward I think my bad golf needs to get better – as does everyone’s. Maybe I was being a bit hard on myself!”

Try not to be too tough on yourself Jake, it’s not going too badly...