Seven months ago at the Watersound Invitational, William Jennings was on his way to beginning his college career with a second straight round in the 90s when Alabama head coach Jay Seawell intervened.
“He was drowning, so as his coach, I threw the life preserver in,” said Seawell, who took Jennings’ scorecard on the 18th hole and withdrew his struggling freshman.
“I remember the conversation I had with him,” Seawell added. “I said, ‘I can’t wait until these tears turn into smiles.’”
That transformational day came Wednesday in Grand Haven, Michigan, where Jennings, a sophomore from Greenville, South Carolina, opened the Tide’s season with an individual victory at the Folds of Honor Collegiate. Jennings, in just his second full college tournament, shot 4 under and held on for a one-shot win while also leading Alabama to the team title by six shots over Notre Dame.
Before Jennings could even walk off the 18th green at American Dunes, Seawell asked him, “How’s that smile feel?” He already knew the answer.
“If you told me seven months ago that I would win this, I would’ve laughed in your face,” Jennings said. “I was in a pretty low place with my golf game, and having to fight through that and keep persevering, it makes this feel a lot better.
“It’s a nice, little comeback story.”
Jennings was a highly ranked recruit – 13th in his class, per Golf Channel – when he arrived in Tuscaloosa last fall. But he quickly strayed from what got him there, and a switch from iron shafts that were 3/4 inches longer than standard to 2 inches longer had a disastrous effect on the 6-foot-6 Jennings. He couldn’t find his clubface, let alone the golf course, and before carding 92 in his college debut, he’d already known that it wouldn’t be pretty.
While Jennings departed Watersound with “zero confidence,” looking back, he’s grateful it happened.
“Coming into school, I felt like there was a lot of pressure on me, and I didn’t handle it great,” Jennings said. “Once I shot 92, it honestly put me at ease because I felt like I always was worried, like, gosh, what if people know that I’m playing this bad? People are going to talk about what happened to William Jennings. In a way, that freed me up because my life didn’t change after that, even though I thought it would. It was a big weight off my shoulders.”
Added Seawell: “As bad as it was, and as dark as it was, he knew deep down that he was still a good player.”
Seawell gave Jennings six weeks off – no tournaments, no qualifying, no pencil – to rediscover his swing. Jennings put his old irons back in the bag, and with help from Alabama assistant Forrest Schultz and his longtime instructor, Seawell’s brother Daniel, Jennings returned to the swing feels he had in high school. Though he tied for 63rd at the Azalea Invitational in March, he shot 70-73 after a first-round 81, just enough of a spark. Jennings was the sixth man for Alabama at the SEC Championship and NCAA Reno Regional, and he probably could’ve started at the latter, Seawell says.
When Seawell states that Jennings earned every bit of this resurgence, he’s right. Jennings got into the Dogwood Invitational as a late entry, then tied for sixth. He needed to open-qualify just to play in the North and South Amateur, then won the stroke play and reached the quarterfinals. After punching his ticket to the U.S. Amateur, he made match play before bowing out in the first round.
Now, he’s a college winner.
Jennings missed just one fairway through 36 holes at American Dunes before sleeping on a one-shot lead. After an early three-putt, he then rattled off four straight birdies to cap his front nine, including a near-ace at the par-3 seventh, and was cruising. But then the nerves took root, and with a PGA Tour exemption into next year’s Rocket Classic on the line, Jennings bogeyed each of his final three holes, missing a 3-footer at No. 17 and hitting his drive behind a tree at the par-5 finishing hole, where he was forced to chip out sideways before sneaking in another 3-footer for the win.
“He was as nervous as a cat,” Seawell said. “He got done and you could feel him exhale.”
And yet, Jennings still was holding the trophy – and later, a mint Oreo concrete mixer from Culver’s. That’s how the Tide celebrate victories. Not all wins are created equal, though. After what Jennings has experienced in his young college career, this one tasted a little sweeter.
And nobody could take this away from him.
