YOUNG golfer Jacob Victor Cajita is slowly making his mark in the local golfing scene, just a few years after first picking up his golf club at six years old.
Cajita, 12, has been playing golf since six but started joining tournaments when he was eight.
“I started to fall in love with it when I started playing tournaments. That was the time I realized I can do something,” said Cajita.
Inspired by his father, Victorio Cajita, who is also a golfer, he tried playing the sport until he fell in love with it. Since then, Cajita has been accompanying his father to play golf with him against other golfers who are way older than him.
His early exposure to the sport made his skills more advanced compared to other golfers his age.
Just last year Cajita made history after becoming the youngest Cebu Country Club Junior Club champion, winning in just 20 holes of the 36-hole final in May 2018.
When he was 10, years old, Cajita won the Class D title in the 2016 CCC Junior Open Championships, firing rounds of 92 and 82 for a 174.
In November 2017, Cajita finished third in Class C with 176 during the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club (AVGCC) Jungolf Challenge, scoring identicial rounds of 88 over two days.
The AVGCC Challenge had participants from various clubs all over the country and was the national-level tournament Cajita joined.
During the 14th AVGCC Jungolf challenge in May 2018, Cajita won Class C crown with 149.
Earlier last month, Cajita also participated in the CCC Annual Club and Class championship and the seventh-grader of St. Paul Learning Center impressibly won the Class A title.
Cajita said he enjoys playing golf because he sees it as a mirror of his life.
“How it’s so relatable to life. If bad things happen in life, bad things happen in golf,” said Cajita.
Cajita said his disposition in life always reflects on how he plays in his tournaments.
Cajita dreams of becoming a pro like his idol Tiger Woods, who got back to golf’s summit when he won his 15th major during the US Masters.
However, as a student, Cajita knows that to get there, he has to prioritize his studies first.
“I have to prioritize school because I’m a student,” said Cajita.
He sees to it that before his practice, he reviews all his lessons first. After the review, he will then prepare himself for his golf practice.
Cajita said he cannot imagine himself in the future not wearing a golf uniform, but if he won’t become a professional golfer, he wants to become a doctor or a priest.
Cajita hoped there will come a time when golf will be as popular as other ball games in the country and he wants to be one of the reasons when that happens.
Cajita encourages athletes his age to always look for inspiration, to never lose passion for.
“We play sports because we’re inspired. We found our cause, we found our inspiration,” said Cajita.
When SunStar Cebu asked Cajita who his inspiration are, he said “politically” his parents.
“Politically, my parents, but honestly, I just wanna beat my friends,” said Cajita while laughing.
At the rate he is going, it’s more than just his friends that he can beat.