Seawell to Coach Team USA at Palmer Cup at Wilmington Country Club
NORMAN, Okla. – Alabama’s Jay Seawell has been selected to coach the United States at this summer’s Palmer Cup at Wilmington Country Club. The annual Ryder-cup style competition will be contested June 7-9 at the Club’s South Course. Jim Anderson of Arizona - recipient of the 2012 Jan Strickland Award presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf - will serve as Seawell’s assistant coach.
“First, it’s a great honor to be selected as coach and I’m very thankful to be part of the Palmer Cup,” said Seawell. “I’ve had many players that have played in the Palmer Cup and I’m aware of the magnitude it holds in college golf. I look forward to coaching the USA team. It’s a dream come true.”
Named Alabama’s head men’s golf coach on July 26, 2002, Seawell is in his 11th season at the helm of the Crimson Tide men’s golf program. His teams are routinely ranked among the top five in the country while he has led UA to nine NCAA Tournament appearances and six NCAA Championship berths - including six of the past eight years and a runner-up finish in 2012.
Seawell is producing headline-worthy student-athletes, on the course and in the classroom. His golfers are among the most active in the Tuscaloosa community, volunteering their time at schools and helping host athletic-department sponsored events for local children.
Men’s golf has put 54 players on the SEC Academic Honor Roll in the last 10 years and seen four players named to the Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar Team. Joseph Sykora was a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American and was voted by the league golf coaches as the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year an SEC-record three times. In 2008, Sykora won the SEC’s H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Award (all sports, all males in the league) and Alabama’s Bryant Award, as the top male student-athlete from any sport. Cory Whitsett then received the 2012 NCAA Elite 89 Award, presented annually to the golfer at the NCAA Championships with the highest GPA.
Seawell has coached 19 All-Americans during his coaching career, most recently four in 2011-12, Justin Thomas, Whitsett, Bobby Wyatt and Hunter Hamrick. His golfers at Alabama have been nominated for the sport’s highest national awards, including the Ben Hogan Award, the Jack Nicklaus Award, the Fred Haskins Award, the Phil Mickelson Award and the Byron Nelson Award. Thomas won the Nicklaus, Haskins and Mickelson awards in 2012.
Seawell has coached Alabama to 25 team tournament championships with 20 individual medalists in 10 years in Tuscaloosa.
The United States leads the Palmer Cup series 8-7-1.