The highest ranking junior golfer in South Carolina is on his way to Alabama.

William Jennings, currently the eighth ranked junior golfer in the country, made his verbal commitment official on Wednesday when he signed on to play at Alabama.

“Alabama has an incredible program and they are building the best golf facility in the country,” said Jennings. “I committed to them last December and I’m looking forward to be part of the team,” he said.

Jennings is arguably the highest rated player to come from the Palmetto State in the age of rankings.

PGA Tour veterans Lucas Glover and Bill Haas finished their junior careers before rankings started to matter while more recent juniors Jacob Bridgeman and Trent Phillps flirted with upper level rankings at times during their junior careers.

The Christ Church golfer decided on Alabama after taking recruiting visits to several of the top college programs in the country including Georgia and Vanderbilt.

The commitment Alabama is making to golf was important, but a bigger reason for choosing the Tide was their coach Jay Seawell.

Seawell grew up in Anderson, the son of SCGA Hall of Fame honoree Jackie Seawell. He coached the Trojan golf program before moving on to Augusta and then on to Alabama where he has guided the Crimson Tide to a pair of NCAA Championships.

“I know Coach Seawell is the coach who can help me take my game to the next level,” said Jennings .

The Alabama coach noted that he has watched the Christ Church golfer a lot longer than many of the players he has recruited.

“I’ve known William since he was nine years old as his instructor is also my older brother, Daniel. It’s been a joy to watch him develop as a young player through all these years and now he’s developed into one of the top young golfers in the United States. He is going to be an instant impact for us and we’re excited to have him on board. He brings an incredible competitiveness that I believe will have rewards for Alabama men’s golf next fall,” said Seawell.

Daniel Seawell is the head PGA professional at Hounds Lake Country Club in Aiken. He is often mentioned as one of the top junior instructors in the Southeast.

As a member of the perennial championship team at Christ Church, Jennings has helped the Cavaliers win state high school titles and claimed the individual title in 2021.

Most recently, he battled for the lead at the Bobby Chapman Junior and finished second in the prestigious junior event for the second year in a row.

“Last year I had a lot of good finishes, but I didn’t get the win I wanted so I’m still trying to get that top achievement before I go to college,” he said.

Jennings will join a pair of golfers with South Carolina ties on the Alabama team next year.

Jonathan Griz from Hilton Head was the youngest ever SCGA Amateur champion before going to Alabama and this year’s US Amateur champion Nick Dunlap spent a year in the state playing high school golf at Riverside.

“I know those guys and played golf with them before. I’m going to like being on the team with them,” he said.

Jennings intends to play out his final high school season with the team at Christ Church and is looking forward to having a lot of fun playing with his friends.

“I really know team golf is fun for me. I enjoy playing with my friends and just having a good time, ” he said.

The lanky 6’5 golfer is not like some other juniors who wake up one day and have grown a foot.

The new Alabama golfer tried to play as many sports as possible growing up. Both his parents were college tennis players and at a very young age he played tennis, baseball, football and basketball before settling in on golf when he was 10.

“Once I got started I took to the game and concentrated on learning enough and developing so I could someday play on the PGA Tour,” he said,.

The three newest members of the Alabama golf program make up what is touted by the website http://www.juniorgolf commits.com to be the top recruiting class in the country,

Jennings and the number two player on the Junior Scoreboard rankings Nick Gross from Pennsylvania and Michael Crocker from Mobile will fill the three open spots on the roster next year.

NOTE– Wednesday was the first day of the early signing period for college golf.

We hope to round up as much recruiting information about Palmetto State juniors committing and the recruits who will be joining state college teams,

If you have some information about recruiting we ask that you send it along with pictures if possible to email:golfclubsc@gmail,.com or text to 864-921-5471.

Check back this week as we gather this information and post it here at http://www.scgolfclub.com