At six years old, Jessica Vincent ditched the swimming pool to go hit golf balls on the driving range with her dad. A few years later, her younger sister Kristin Vincent would take up the game as well.

Sometimes the two competed against each other, and since they turned double digits, Jessica, a junior, and Kristin, a freshman, entered tournaments against each other.

Monday and Tuesday’s Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C., marked their first college tournament together, as the two played alongside each other as members of the women’s golf team.

“It was always our dream to play in college together. It was kind of neat to look over and see family on the other fairway,” Jessica said. “A lot of girls were kind of amazed that we’re playing on the same team, that two sisters could actually make it to a college level. It was neat.”

In her first opportunity to do so at the college level, Kristin qualified into the tournament that her sister had been playing on for the past two years.

“It was awesome, I was kind of nervous at first but after that, we just had a really good time playing together,” Kristin said. “We were really excited when we actually qualified and found out we’d be going together because we hadn’t played together since she graduated from my high school.”

Jessica led the Wolfpack to a 9th-place finish and shot four-over, finishing 14th overall. Kristin finished 60th overall in her first ever collegiate event.

“[She wasn’t] bad, but she wasn’t satisfied with the way she played,” Jessica said. “She’s expecting great things out of herself and the team, and that’ll come. She had a great time and got to see what tournaments were like in college and how competitive they are.”

According to Kristin, the team went through qualifying for about five days, and the top five performers were taken to the tournament. Kristin was the only one of four freshman to do so, actually placing one spot ahead of Jessica, however, Kristin outdone by her older sister after three rounds.

“She is definitely more experienced being a junior,” Kristin said. “The courses are definitely more difficult than the courses I played in junior golf and high school golf.”

So she was a lot more experienced with the kind of field and the quality of playing at the tournament.”

College tournaments aren’t everything Jessica can pass along knowledge about to her younger sister. Like every other freshman, Kristin is constantly getting used to the changes that come with college.

“She helped me so much,” Kristin said. “Ever since I came to N.C. State she’s been there for me and showed me the ropes the whole time.”

Having a sibling resource for advice and support is an opportunity Jessica didn’t have when she arrived on campus in 2004.

“I definitely encourage her in everything she does, but especially it being her first tournament I wanted her to do really well,” Jessica said. “She looks to me for a lot of advice, things like classes and everything, whereas for me I had older teammates but it wasn’t like an older sister who I could ask anything.”

When Jessica signed with N.C. State to play golf, Kristin had already established herself as having the potential to follow. As a sophomore, Kristin set the state nine-hole scoring record with a score of 31.

The two talked before Jessica signed about the possibility of both of them wearing the red and white one day.

“That’s stuff we discussed when I was signing,” Jessica said. “We talked about Ôis this going to be OK for you?’ We expected to play at the same school so we worked together on that.”

When it became Kristin’s time to sign with a college, the opportunity to play on the same team again was something Kristin said she looked forward to.

“We thought it was a lot of fun playing in high school together because we played on our high school team for two years and we played in middle school together and we practiced together every day,” Kristin said. “I’m not going to say that made my decision but I thought it’d be really neat to play with her again.”

When Kristin joined the Pack, it made it easier on their parents, by not going to a separate school. But the parents must still split up to provide equal support for each golfer.

“We traveled in junior golf together and our whole family would go and one would watch her and one would watch me and they would switch,” Kristin said. “They were both there and my little sister was there. We played 36 holes the first day of the tournament and my mom watched me the first 18 [holes] and my dad watched me the second.”

The youngest sister, Caleigh, 6, is actually starting to show interest in the game as well.

“She has [started] but we’re not quite sure on her decision yet,” Kristin said of her youngest. “She’s either going to love it and be like us or hate it because she’s been so many places following us that she might get tired of it.”

According to Kristin, it is a team rule that if you finish in the top-15 you are not forced to qualify for the next event, therefore Jessica will not have to do so for the upcoming Lady Kat Tournament in Lexington, Ken.

“She won’t be qualifying but I’ll still have to qualify for the next one, but hopefully it’ll be the same thing for the next tournament, we’ll both be playing,” Kristin said.