By Sam Bernardi for The Montgomery News | Posted July 9, 2026
Heading into the South Jersey, Group IV finals, Jacob Chang had already solidified his place on the Montgomery golf team.
The senior earned the captaincy back in the fall, had regularly shot under 80 for head Coach Joe Bassford’s group, and was the model of honesty.
Jacob Chang recently graduated from Montgomery High School
Then Chang shot an 83 at the sectional final, a score most can only fathom but one that bumped him out of Bassford’s top four as they headed to the state championship.
“He’s mature, he’s a team player and he’s a leader,” Bassford said. “I told him, like, ‘You can be upset.’”
But Chang understood.
“That was his attitude, which is tough for a high school kid — or anybody for that matter — and I think it just speaks to his leadership because he could have been the other way,” Bassford said.
Jacob Chang
Chang recalls: “I really wanted to play in that because it’s my last year. But, I’ve grown, I think. Even if you don’t get to play in these tournaments or matches, you want what’s best for the team.”
Chang and his buddies will play golf for years and probably decades after their high school careers conclude. But, Chang said he will miss the team component of golf as he graduates from MHS.
“I think the important thing for me was understanding that when we go out there, the four or five or six people we send out, if they lose, the team loses together. If they win, they win together,” Chang said.
Coach Bassford said, “Golf is tricky because there’s no guarantee that you get better every year.”
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Growth is reflected in many ways though. For example, insistence on fair play. Who hasn’t kicked a ball out of the rough or taken another swing after barely grazing it the first time? It can be particularly easy to bend these rules at the high school level.
Not everyone has Chang’s strong personality to stand up for what’s right.
“He’s following the rules, which in golf, isn’t always easy to do,” Bassford said.
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Chang shows integrity; he does it the right way. He plays the right way and he bounces back after tough rounds.” Chang says he is done with his competitive golfing days (for now). He is heading to Rutgers University in the fall, where he plans on majoring in cell biology and neuroscience as part of the pre-med route.
“Because it was my last year, I made a point to enjoy it,” Chang said. “Even those times where you get upset because you’re not playing well, you’ve got to appreciate your time being there.”
