RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Freshman Jorge Martin Sampedro had quite the year for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's golf team becoming the first in program history to earn Southland Conference Golfer of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
 
Sampedro leads the Vaqueros with a 71.6 scoring average and has posted two top-three finishes, including a third place finish at the Southland Conference Championship. The success he has had in the game of golf starts and stops with his love for the game.
 
"I started golfing when I was six years old," Sampedro said. "Since then, I have been in love with the game. I am still in love, so I hope to keep loving it the rest of my life and keep playing good golf."
 
Golf runs in Sampedro's family as his sister, Paula Martin Sampedro, is ranked the No. 2 golfer in the country at Stanford. She played a big role in Sampedro's growth in the game.
 
"My sister helped me a lot," Sampedro said. "My coaches back in Spain had big part in it too and of course my parents as well."
 
Sampedro, who is from Madrid, Spain, wanted an opportunity of his own to come to the United States and compete in college golf. Sampedro chose UTRGV, which has reminded him of home.
 
"I wanted to come to America to study in college," Sampedro said. "Coach Houston Moore recruited me and I am happy to be here. The Mexican culture is similar to that of Spain. There is really good food here and the weather is also really good. It definitely feels like home."
 
Sampedro has the skills for the success he has had this season. He didn't waste much time to prove that as he set the program record for individual single round with a seven-under 63 in the final round of the JT Poston Invitational.
 
While he has the skills and the soft hand, like some like to say, Sampedro has another piece of the puzzle that not everyone masters so quickly.
 
"He's got the best attitude I have ever seen at the golf course," Associate Head Coach Joseph Kirk said. "That is hard to teach. You can learn how to do that, but it doesn't seem he had to learn how to do that. It's just kind of his personality day to day. The guy enjoys working hard and I think at the end of the day, that is the biggest part. He's enjoying every aspect of it and he's enjoying his teammates, which helps."
 
Sampedro and his teammates have been able to spend a lot of time together on and off the course. With the ability to spend time at the Vaqueros Golf Center outside of the practice hours, the chemistry gets built quickly.
 
That time with his teammates has been one of Sampedro's favorite things about the game of golf.
 
"My favorite part of golf is all the friends you can make by playing the game," Sampedro said. "We spend a lot of hours on the golf course and there are a lot of chats with your partners in your group, so that's always good."
 
Sampedro has tried to lead by example, even as a freshman. He's always happy to be out on the course working on his game, whether its early tee times or early time in the weight room. His teammates see how special Sampedro is. 
 
"Koke (Jorge) is pretty special." junior Gabriel Dulon Villoslada said. "It's been pretty fun to be around him. The guy is happy every day, every time. Even at 6 a.m. I don't know how he does that. It's been good to have him on the team. He brings a lot of happiness."
 
Sampedro's attitude has been his biggest key to success this season and will be his biggest key to more growth and more success in years to come. 
 
"I think the big thing about Koke (Jorge) is his attitude," junior Esteban Gonzalez said. "He is very levelheaded and has so much confidence in himself. When he starts working on the right things and when he is playing really good golf, he gets really good really fast. I think that is special as a golfer. He's unbelievable sometimes. I've been out here sometimes, and you'll see him make six birdies in a row. His mindset is really good."
 
Sampedro had one of his best tournaments at the Marido Collegiate, where he finished tie for eighth just five shots off the lead. The biggest thing though was he finished ahead of six golfers that were inside the top-100 of the Scoreboard rankings.
 
Even with all the recent success, Sampedro knows there is more to learn. He has been humble about all the attention he has been getting recently, keeping his focus on the task at hand with the Bryan Regional next week. 
 
"Hopefully we can do good in Regionals and make it Nationals," Sampedro said. "Hopefully we can keep those standards even though it's not always easy to do. We have to keep working hard. As a freshman, you learn a lot of things. Having the opportunity to compete next week in Regionals is really important. If we do good, good, but if we don't do that good, we are going to learn. It's a win-win situation and it should be really good."
 
The Vaqueros will tee it up at the Bryan Regional starting on Monday with an opportunity to earn a spot to the NCAA Tournament at the Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California. 
 
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