by Stan Olenik, Editor-Publisher, The Golf Club

By Stan Olenik, Editor-Publisher, The Golf Club

South Carolina Golf Association Hall of Fame member Jackie Seawell devoted his career to helping kids fall in love with the game. Long before his passing, the former PGA professional at Cobb’s Glen Country Club made it clear that junior golf was his favorite part of the business — seeing a shy young player figure it out, then watching confidence grow with every swing.

A First Step for a Future Star

That same spirit still fills the fairways at Cobb’s Glen, where a group of Seawell’s former students, led by Matt Harbin and Cobb Oxford, created the Jackie Seawell Junior Championship in his honor. What began as a small event for beginners has grown into one of the most respected stops on the South Carolina Junior Golf Association schedule — a tournament where first-timers learn what competition feels like and proven players measure how far they’ve come.

A Champion Among Champions

This year’s overall winner, Bennett Scaletta of Anderson, added his name to a familiar list of Seawell Junior standouts. The 2023 Jay Haas Player of the Year and future Clemson Tiger fired rounds of 70–67 for a 7-under-par total, edging his Hanna High School teammate Erik Erlenkeuser, the 2024 Haas Award winner, by two shots.

Their duel was everything junior golf is supposed to be — two friends pushing one another to get better, playing fearless golf on a course where they’ve both spent countless hours practicing.

A few flights down the scoreboard, Ty Childers of Gaffney was living a moment that every champion once had. Competing in the 11–13 division, Childers shot steady rounds that earned him his first age-group victory by four strokes over Moses Zikusooka of Dorman.

“I kept the ball in play all day,” Childers said after his round. “Usually putting is what gets me, but I made some clutch ones down the stretch. I was tied for first coming in, so I knew I had to keep going and make some birdies.”

Three of those birdies came early, and momentum carried him through the finish. “It was hard not to watch the scoreboard,” he admitted, “but I just tried to stay focused and do what I had to do.”

The Gaffney Middle student, Class of 2028, already has a busy fall schedule ahead — including starts in the Jimmy Anderson Invitational, the Fall Challenge at Cheraw, and the SCJGA Players Championship. “This is my first big one,” he said. “It gives me confidence for the rest of the year.”

A Family Legacy, Still at Work

As much as the tournament honors a teacher’s memory, it also celebrates a family’s ongoing connection to the game he loved. Claire Seawell and son Jay, the head golf coach at the University of Alabama and the Seawells’ youngest son David attended the championship, congratulating the winners and presenting the tournament belt and trophy. Their presence was a reminder that Jackie’s legacy isn’t just etched on a plaque or trophy — it’s alive in the players still finding joy in the game he helped them discover.

In that sense, the Seawell Junior continues to create opportunities for young golfers like Childers to start their journey, and for accomplished players like Scaletta and Erlenkeuser to show where that journey can lead.

In the years ahead, most of the juniors who tee it up at Cobb’s Glen will only know Jackie Seawell as a name on the scorecard. But the simple fact that they need a scorecard — that they have a place to compete, to test themselves, and to find joy in the game — says everything about the legacy he left behind.

Scores from the Jackie Seawell Juniorhttps://scjga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/scjga25/event/scjga2524/contest/1/leaderboard.htm