TAMPA, Fla. — USF golfer Shubham Jaglan used the long road to find his way to Tampa.
Born in India, he started playing golf at age six. He enrolled in a local golf academy, but it shut down due to financial constraints.
To help sharpen his skills, Jaglan practiced on a homemade putting green in his backyard and watched instructional golf videos on YouTube.
"We didn’t have any phones back then, so my dad bought a big computer that we had to learn how to work," he recalls. "So I’d just look up videos there. It was basically trial and error—see if it worked, see if it didn’t."
It did. Jaglan became one of the best junior golfers in the world.
He emailed multiple college coaches about joining their programs, including Bulls head coach Steve Bradley—who wasn't going to let Jaglan get away.
"He’s a guy that works hard. He watches what he does. He watches what he puts in his body. He’s very careful with how he does things," Bradley said during practice. "He’s very cerebral with everything. I think for him, this is a great opportunity for his talents to shine through as well."
"The facilities here, the staff, everybody around is very supportive," Shubham added. "I think that’s allowed me to kind of explore how far I can take my talents and how I can improve."
Jaglan, a junior, has been on a long journey, to say the least. He says he's been able to stay focused despite having a rush of early success during his career. He says he still works with coaches back home at the Dehli Golf Club, and he's leaned on his family for support as well.
"My dad would travel to every event I played as a junior. I think just having the right people around me, just guiding me throughout that process, was very helpful."
Shubham and his teammates tee off Friday morning at the AAC championship at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair.
The Bulls are looking for their sixth conference title and their first since 2021. Senior Sam Nicholson was a part of that '21 team, and he says their mental approach will be a huge part of earning another title.
"I think your outlook on it can have a lot to do with how you play," he said before hitting the driving range. "Too much outside pressure can get to you. You gotta be able to go out there and kinda play freely. I think going into next week, that’s what we need to do."
