Arizona State’s golf program has two pillars: out-of-state talent and upperclassmen, which makes freshman golfer Jino Sohn’s status as an in-state recruit and an underclassman a bit different from the rest of his team.
Although Sohn may not be able to relate to those two characteristics most of his teammates have, he says it’s not impacting his relationships with anyone on the team or his place as a Sun Devil.
“Coming into this year, I was a little nervous because when I looked at the roster, it didn’t look like I fit,” Sohn said. “But from the minute I’ve been here, everyone has been great. It doesn’t matter that I’m three years younger than somebody else, or that I’m from here and most of the guys aren’t.”
Sohn was a bit of an introvert at the start of the season, letting those around him do the talking. Sohn’s shyness wouldn’t last long, though. His teammates made sure to get him out of his comfort zone.
“For the first month Jino didn’t say a word to anyone,” senior golfer Jon Rahm said. “For a while we were thinking is this kid ever going to talk? He’s playing with a bunch of guys that can’t stop talking so he’d better start. Then we tried to open him up a little and he started to make some jokes and that’s when we saw the real Jino.”
Sohn came into ASU fresh after winning the Division I State Title as a senior at Chandler High School. Sohn carried Chandler, shooting 6-under on the last two days of his last high school tournament. At that point, he was already committed to Arizona State.
Sohn redshirted his first semester as a Sun Devil to work on his development, and he said that was the best decision he could have made.
“When I decided to redshirt, I knew I would be playing with some of the best collegiate golfers in the world, and they could bring my game to a knew level,” Sohn said. “I may have been playing in some tournaments, but that isn’t my main concern as a freshman. I’m trying to improve and develop right now.”
Head coach Tim Mickelson says Sohn has already seen large improvements to his game, in large part to playing with many of the upperclassmen on the team.
“I’ve seen tremendous improvements in Jino’s work ethic and talent level,” said Mickelson. “I think it’s very important, when you have the best collegiate player in the world on your team, you’re able to watch what he does and see why he’s number one. It goes both ways though, most of our upperclassmen see that Jino has a bright future on this team and have helped him out a lot and furthered his development.”
Sohn’s first start of the year came in the Sun Devils most recent tournament, the Western Intercollegiate. He was the team’s sixth player and finished tied for 73rd. He scored a 20-over, 230, the team’s lowest score.
ASU’s next tournament is the start of the postseason, the Pac-12 Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, starting April 29th. The lineup for this event hasn’t been decided, but Sohn is in the running for the 5th or 6th spot, or he could compete as an individual.
Although Sohn might not see success immediately in these tournaments, he’s certainly headed down that road. Sohn’s been taking advantage of every opportunity he has to learn and improve off of those around him, even if he did seem to give them the silent treatment the first few months.
