Jacob Immelman is currently 18 years old and just finished his first semester as a freshman at Clemson University, where he plays golf for the Tigers.
He's a great player who had a great junior career before playing in college. There aren't many young golfers who can say they won 18 amateur events in a given year. But Immelman did it in 2023, so it's possible.
Despite these impressive accolades, the young Immelman has yet to achieve any major goals. He is said to have never beaten his father, Trevor, who won the 2008 Masters by three strokes over Tiger Woods.
The story behind this story is quite interesting, and the father-son duo revealed it ahead of this week's PNC Championship.
“Basically, I've lost by one point many times,” Jacob said Thursday.
“Many times”
Now, those “many times” are essentially a secret pact between Jacob and his father, who is now the chief analyst. CBS Sports.
“When he was about 15-and-a-half years old and got his driving license, he was starting to learn how to drive, and like all kids, he wanted to have a car once he got his license.” Trevor explained.
“[Jacob] He had a growth spurt and started gaining some power and started playing better. I said, “I'll seal the deal.” We will arrange a car for you, but here's what happens. From now on, for the rest of your life, I'll take care of your gas, car, and other bills and everything else. But whenever someone asks you if you beat me, you always have to say you lost one. 'That's the story. ”
This deal was close to Jacob's heart, and he acknowledged the details simply:
“Never beat him,” he said.
Whether it's true or not, Jacob has always been fascinated by golf and the PGA Tour.
“Jake was born right after I won the Western Open, and he was 18 months old when I won the Masters. So he really grew up on the PGA Tour, went to nursery school, and loved all the players and their families. I got to know my wife and kids,” Trevor explained.
“And when you spend enough time on tour, you realize how great this sport is, how special it is, and how it has the ability, as strange as it may sound at this point, to bring so many people together. I think you'll start to understand.
“So it's interesting that he got into it and wanted to keep playing. And to me, selfishly, it was great, because for most of his teenage years, I was still competing to some degree, and when I went out to practice, I was able to spend a lot of time with him, because he was always with me, practicing and playing and doing whatever. Do you have one? So we became quite close through that.”
Now, this father and son duo will be competing together for the first time this week at the PNC Championship. However, due to the format of the event, it is unclear whether Jacob will be able to defeat his father. It's a two-person scramble. One player must have won a major, but the other player cannot hold any position on tour. That obviously applies to the Immelman family, but if Jacob continues to move in the right direction, sooner or later his position will change. And if that happens, we have to assume that, sure, at some point Jacob finally hit his father, but that he'll probably never admit it.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
