As Harvard University sophomore Kevin Sze wrapped up the front nine of his second round at the Columbia Autumn Invitational on Oct. 11, he was leading the tournament with a score of 9-under-par. He had yet to make a single bogey.

Sze would eventually take first place in the event and lead Harvard to a 22 stroke win.

“That was one of my favorite memories,” Sze said. “It was a lot of fun to go out there, compete and win.”

Sze, a 2020 SHS alumnus, has enjoyed his experience playing for the Harvard University golf team and has aspirations to make it to the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour, generally the most prestigious league in golf. To advance to the PGA Tour, players can earn exemption through performing well in the Korn Ferry Tour, the developmental tour for the PGA Tour; getting a sponsor exemption; or winning a PGA Tour event.

In order to play in the Korn Ferry Tour, players have to  qualify through the PGA Tour Qualifying school (Q-school), featuring a number of qualifying events around the country, or qualify for individual tournaments through Monday qualifiers.

Amateur golfers can also get into major championships like the U.S. Open, British Open, Masters and PGA Championship, through winning prestigious amateur tournaments or qualifying through open qualifiers for the majors.

Sze started playing when he was 7 and was ranked top 35 in the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) for his class when he graduated from high school. Currently, he is 85th in the nation in scoring average among D1 golfers.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to play on [the PGA] Tour. I love every aspect about being a professional athlete,” he said. “It’s definitely something that I want to push for and I know I’ve got a lot of work to put in to get there, but I’m willing to grind it out.”

In the fall, the Harvard team finished second in its first event, third in their second event and won its last two events. They look forward to playing three more events this spring.

Sze also hopes to play four to five events in the summer individually. He enjoys being in a tight-knit nine-man team and believes the team dynamic is similar to that of high school golf. 

“We’re spending so much time together that everybody gets along and everybody’s supporting each other, which is great,” he said. “Everybody meshes together really well, which is a lot of fun.”

Academically, he hopes to maintain high grades  while balancing his golf career. He is pursuing a major in economics and a minor in computer science.

“I chose Harvard because it is great [athletically] and academically,” Sze said. “[If athletics don’t end up going well], my education is a great fallback plan to have. I try to get good grades, but also try to play as much golf as possible.”

Sze said he does not place too much emphasis on his social life, as he never went out a lot in high school or now, and he wants to stay disciplined.

“I’m fortunate to have some really great friends and we have a good time once in a while, but I just want to be really smart about when those times are and I understand that my priorities lie in golf and academics,” he said.

During the golf season, he practices with the team four hours a day from Tuesday through Thursday, about six hours on Friday and about nine hours on Saturday and Sunday, with Monday being off days, for a total of 36 hours.

“It’s a lot of golf, but it’s good and I think high school prepares you for it in a way because at Saratoga High we’re pretty academically competitive, but you still have to stay on top of your sport,” Sze said.

In comparison to high school, he now takes longer breaks from golf over the winter due to the winter weather, but he is playing more during the school year than he ever has before.

Outside of college, Sze has continued playing amateur events individually. 

Last summer, he played in the California Amateur Championship at The Preserve Golf Club and made it to the quarterfinals. The tournament featured 156 of the best amateur golfers in California who already had to pass through one qualifier round to make it to the tournament.

Later that summer, Sze shot 9 under par at Almaden Country Club to qualify for the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, which is widely regarded as the most prestigious amateur golf event in the country. Though he missed qualifying for the match play in the event by two shots, he hopes to use the experience to further improve his game.

“[Missing the match play] really, really sucked, but I learned a lot of good lessons and a lot of things I need to work on,” Sze said. “That’s the takeaway from Oakmont, and I’m going to keep pushing forward to get ready for the spring and summer.”

Specifically, he is working with his coach to improve his putting and working out more often in order to gain distance off the tee.

“I want to be a California Amateur champion and get back to the U.S. Amateur and make match play,” he said. 

He said if he were to give golf-related advice to his younger self, he would say to learn how to hit the ball farther, especially since he sees golf becoming more of an athletic game with many professional players being big hitters. 

“[Distance] is something that I realized is probably one of my biggest weaknesses,” he said. “Having 165 mph ball speed off the tee will work in the Ivy League, but it doesn’t work very well when you’re playing in the U.S. Amateur and playing against the top of the top.” 

Another lesson he has learned is to keep grinding. 

“I love playing golf and I was really lucky that my parents are very supportive,” he said. “If I could do it over, there may be some specific things that I would change, but as far as big general pieces of advice, just keep doing what you love and keep having fun.”

He believes that consistency is key and wants to make sure that he does the things he wants to get done each day, which usually includes working out, going to class, finishing assignments, practicing with a purpose and eating enough. 

“ I just want to make sure that I know what I want to accomplish so that by the end of the day, I get what I need to get done in order to achieve my big goals in the future,” he said.