Jamie Graham poses after winning the 2020 American Cornhole League World Singles Championship this past weekend in Rock Hill, SC.
                                 Contributed Photo

Jamie Graham poses after winning the 2020 American Cornhole League World Singles Championship this past weekend in Rock Hill, SC.

Contributed Photo

<p>Jamie Graham competes during the 2020 American Cornhole League World Championships this past weekend in Rock Hill, SC.</p>
                                 <p>Contributed Photo</p>

Jamie Graham competes during the 2020 American Cornhole League World Championships this past weekend in Rock Hill, SC.

Contributed Photo

ROCKINGHAM – When Jamie Graham was 15, he went to a family reunion and played cornhole for the first time with his father and brother.

“We saw boards out there and we had no idea what it was,” the Hamlet resident said. “We just started throwing and messing around.”

After Graham and his brother returned home from the reunion, he said they got some boards and bags and started practicing a lot.

“I thought I was good, but I wasn’t anywhere near what the competition is,” Graham said. “We went to a small tournament and got killed.”

But Graham wanted to get better. He wanted to win.

So, he started practicing 2 to 3 hours per day every day and continued going to tournaments and competing against the best players.

That hard work and dedication paid off last weekend with him winning the 2020 American Cornhole League World Singles Championship in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and taking home more than $21,000.

His path to victory wasn’t a straight line. Despite his hard work early on in his cornhole career, Graham said he struggled last year because he became complacent. He had become too comfortable thinking he wouldn’t be defeated, and ultimately didn’t put in the amount of work he should have. He said he got “creamed” by the other pros as a result.

Graham learned from these losses that he can’t take his foot off the throttle. His competition don’t miss very often, he said, so he can’t afford to have off days.

“I put in the work for another year and I started off the season great,” Graham said. “Came along to win the very first national of the year and then kept my number one seed going in [to last week] and finished the year strong. I’m thankful and it felt great.”

Graham competed in regional tournaments every month this year to build up rankings points and, for most of the year, has been the No. 1 rated male professional singles player in the American Cornhole League.

Now, Graham is at a point where he’s able to make a living as a professional cornhole player. In the next year or so, he plans to buy a house with his girlfriend.

“Just like everybody goes to work every day, I’ll be going outside to throw every day as my job to practice and be ready to compete and win, just like any other professional athlete,” he said.

Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2671 ext. 2751 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.