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Eric Sprott

Walhalla High School senior Sean Hassell signs a letter of intent to play golf at Furman University on Wednesday morning in Walhalla. He is joined by, seated, his parents Mike and Debbie Hassell; and standing from left, Mark Ernst, Walhalla principal Evie Hughes, Walhalla athletic director Hal Dunlap and Kevin Gasque.

WALHALLA — It's all in relative terms of course, but Walhalla High School senior Sean Hassell hit a couple of snags in his golf game over the past year.

Talk about a blessing in disguise.

Having earned all-region honors each of the last three years, Hassell is among the top golfers in the area, but he said he struggled over the winter, when Furman head coach Todd Satterfield was keeping a watchful eye on him.

Hassell, the reigning Skyline 2A Player of the Year, had already mulled committing to Winthrop last year and was considering Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern and Wofford as well, and was understandably disappointed by his poor play.

Satterfield, though, saw past Hassell's struggles.

"I played really bad over the winter and (Satterfield) watched me play bad, and he really liked how I handled myself," Hassell said. "He really started talking to me after that a lot, then he stuck with me and I played good in a couple of tournaments and he really started wanting me to come to Furman."

And after taking a visit, it was all over for Hassell, who made it official on Wednesday when he signed a letter of intent to continue his career in purple with the Paladins.

Hassell said his play was still lacking a bit in the summer, though he's almost worked out all the kinks, which added with his signing, has been a relief as of late.

"I had a bad summer and it turned out everything worked out," Hassell said. "Coach Satterfield has always been watching me, so I feel pretty great about it."

Already among the top students in his class, Hassell is also excited about the academic challenge in front of him at Furman, as he plans to major in engineering at the Greenville campus, which he said is the perfect size for him.

"It's going to be a tough challenge," Hassell said. "From here being in the top 15 or 10 at Walhalla, then you go to Furman and everybody's better than you or right at you, so that's going to be tough."

And with the workload ahead of him, Hassell said he's already gone to his future teammates for advice.

"I've talked to all the players over there and they said it's rough but you've just got to do your work and you'll be fine," Hassell said.

Hassell will wrap his Walhalla career this spring when he aims for a State championship after shooting a 154 at the tournament last season, which put him among the lowest scorers in the field.