OPEN MINDS: Springdale Golf Club Director of Instruction Jason Barry, right, confers with Jake Sollon at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island as the latter prepared to play in the U.S. Open last month. Barry coached Sollon on the Rider University men’s golf team from 2016-20 and has continued to work with him in his pro career. Sollon ended up carding a 13-over 153 at the event as he missed the cut by nine strokes. (Photo provided by Jason Barry)
By Bill Alden
When Jason Barry was coaching the Rider University men’s golf team in 2016, he saw something special in a struggling newcomer, Jake Sollon.
“I told him in his freshman year after playing a bad tournament that I believed he would play in majors one day,” said Barry, a former Princeton High golf standout who served as the head coach of the Rider program from 2013-24 and is currently the Director of Instruction at the Springdale Golf Club. “Jake just had a great work ethic and was unbelievable under pressure.”
Sollon showed he could handle pressure as he went on to produce a superb career at Rider, earning All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) honors in 2018-19 and PING All-Northeast Region honors in 2019-20.
“We had already shifted the culture at Rider but he really helped us push that program forward,” said Barry, a five-time Golf Digest Best Young Teacher in America.
Over the years, Barry has continued to help guide Sollon as he pushed himself up the ladder of the golf world. Sollon went on to play a season at the University of Oregon before turning pro. He has played on such pro development circuits as the PGA Tour Canada and the PGA Tour Americas.
This June, Barry’s prediction of a decade ago came true as Sollon qualified for the U.S. Open and went on to compete at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island in his majors debut.
Sollon’s journey to Shinnecock has been circuitous to say the least. “Jake was under-recruited out of high school; I saw potential in swing videos that he sent me,” recalled Barry of the 6’0, 170-pound Sollon, 28, who hails from Venetia, Pa., in the Pittsburgh area. “He had a lot of talent and was a great competitor but technically was a long way off. He needed help with swing stuff, course management, how to practice, how to play and win.”
Undaunted, Sollon, displayed the ambition to master those skills.
“He loved working at it, he had a great work ethic,” said Barry. “He would ask me to meet him at the course outside of practice hours. In the winter and offseason, he would want to link up. He was just always constantly pushing to get better. He made a lot of progress. He had a breakout year his senior fall at Rider, he averaged just a shade over 72. We had a great team that fall and then COVID happens. It canceled that spring,”
With college eligibility remaining, Sollon decided that he wanted to go to a bigger program in a better climate to test his abilities and Barry helped him land at Oregon. While competing for the Ducks in 2020-21, Sollon finished with a 74.10 scoring average over 21 rounds and earned a pair of top-20 finishes.
In August 2021, Sollon launched his pro career and Barry has remained as a key confidant for him over the last five years.
“We have been in touch the entire time,” said Barry. “We probably talk on the phone three times a week at least. He sends me videos all of the time. I would consider myself his right hand man in the golf thing and his managing coach. He has seen different people for putting or swing who have helped him along the way. But even when he sees those guys, he always sends me videos of what he is doing.”
As Sollon earned his spot in the U.S. Open by taking fourth in a sectional qualifier at the Woodmont Country Club (North Course) in Rockville, Md., on June 8, Barry played a hands-on role.
“I caddied for him at Woodmont,” said Barry. “I think there was a point in the final round where he made a bogey on 14 and he thought he needed to do a lot more to qualify. I have known him so long, I know what to say and how to say it. I told him walking down 15 that if we made birdie on 15, which was a par five and one more, we would be in outright. It just refocused him because he didn’t think we needed to set the world on fire coming in. He birdied 15 which was a par five. He made a 17-footer for par on 17 which was huge and then had a 50-footer on 18 to to get it outright and just missed that.”
Firing a five-under 137 for the two-round competition, Sollon bested Bryan Lee in a sudden-death playoff for the final spot to the U.S. Open at that qualifier.
“We went to a playoff and Jake hit it to a foot on the first hole and tapped it in,” said Barry. “When the stakes get higher, he always becomes better. It was unbelievable.”
Barry and Sollon arrived at Shinnecock on June 13, five days before the tournament started on June 18 to start their prep for the event.
“We were out on the range, we played practice rounds with guys like Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Ricky Fowler, and Sahith Theegala. I made a point to ask specific questions to these guys and they were just more than gracious with their time. Jake did everything — putting practice, range practice, short game practice. The guy he works with on putting was there. It was all of the team just getting him ready.”
Barry’s role was oversee the team as a managing coach. “I am there as his right hand man with golf,” said Barry, who was recently named as a captain, along with Annie Park, of Team New Jersey, the state’s junior team for the U.S. National Development Program (USNDP). “I was with him on the range before he went out and after the round but on the course he is doing his thing. I am just watching as a spectator and a fan. I am keeping my eye on things.”
Sollon got off to a rough start as his first round stretched from Thursday, June 18, to the next day and he carded an 12-over 82.
“He had an afternoon tee-time and got delayed until almost 5,” said Barry. “That was like a weird day. He parred his first four holes but he didn’t play well.”
After the unfinished first round, Barry gave Sollon encouragement as he headed into action that Friday.
“We had a talk after the round on Thursday and I just told him to keep doing what he was doing and trust in what he was doing in the practice rounds,” said Barry. “He was hitting it great in the practice rounds. It was just a bad day at the course and that is golf sometimes.”
Sollon rebounded with a 71 in round two for a +13 total of 153 which missed the cut by nine strokes.
“In the second round he played exactly how he had been playing in the practice rounds,” said Barry. “He probably missed five putts inside of 12 feet for birdie so that score could have been a lot better.”
For Barry, coaching at his first major made for a memorable week.
“It is the first time I have been inside the ropes at a major championship,” said Barry, noting that he has worked other sectionals for the US Open, the finals of the PGA Tour Q-School, the U.S. Amateur, and the NCAA Regionals. “All of the golfers that you see on TV were the absolute best. They were so willing to share information and very welcoming. They are always working on things; everyone has different drills. They are not wasting any of their time. That was an unbelievable experience.”
Displaying the confidence that he has had in Sollon over the last decade, Barry believes his pupil has more majors in his future.
“Even though he didn’t play well in the first round, it proves that he is good enough,” said Barry of Sollon who plans to continue playing on the PGA Tour Americas with the goal of moving up to the Korn Ferry Tour and eventually the PGA Tour. “I believe he will be back and playing majors. It proves that a kid who didn’t have many looks as far as going to college can come to a northeast school and play in a major tournament and hold status on a tour if he is doing the right stuff.”