The sticker price of college can be a shock to anyone. With schooling in the United States sometimes costing almost as much as a house, it can be difficult to finance a higher education. Luckily, the Western Golf Association is saving the pockets of thousands of students.
The Chick Evans Scholarship is a full tuition scholarship also covering housing. What’s the catch? The student must be a golf caddy.
Created 125 years ago, the Western Golf Association runs several golf championships to support and finance the Evans Scholars Foundation. Events like the BMW Championship that Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer attend raised 5.5 million dollars last year. Other events like the Birdie Ball and the Sigerfest raise funds for the WGA. In 2023 over 371 million dollars were raised, surpassing the goal of 300 million. There are currently 1,100 scholars in schools across 22 universities nationwide.
What makes an Evans Scholar? According to the Western Golf Association, all Evans Scholars “must have a strong caddie record, excellent grades, demonstrate financial need and outstanding character.”
Lake Park has the pleasure of having several alumni who are Evans Scholars and this year four scholarships were awarded to the graduating class. Seniors Gabriella Zych, Julia Kamysz, Zachary Worwa, and Joey Coella all received the scholarship after caddying at Medinah Country Club for multiple years.
Benjamin Engle is the head Caddie Master at Medinah Country Club and works alongside Roger Horrie, the assistant Caddie Master. Mr. Engle shared the great success Medinah Country Club has had with the program.
“The Medinah membership strongly supports the Evans by their generous donations to the foundation. Medinah prides itself by being one of the largest contributors to the organization in the country,” Engle said. “It is a great recruiting tool to make sure our younger caddies have an opportunity to work towards a full tuition and housing scholarship in their senior year of high school. The best part of the scholarship is, only caddies can apply for it. So it helps push younger caddies to get out and caddy in hopes of achieving the scholarship.”
There are currently 23 Evans Scholars at Medinah Country Club.
“Waking up at 5 A.M. every morning was not the most fun experience, however, caddying has taught me more than any job I could have had and I am beyond grateful,” Zachary Worwa (LP, 24) said. “Working at Medinah has opened new opportunities for me and crafted new friendships.”
Another important facet to caddying is communication.
“A huge part of the job is communication. Having to work with the other caddies in the group to make the golf round enjoyable for all is the main goal,” Mr. Engle said.
“Working as a team to help each other out in different tasks that present themselves in a golf round. It helps build confidence in communicating with adults and professionals at the club. What other summer job allows you to spend 4 plus hours with some of the most successful adults in their careers.”
Applications to caddying at Medinah Country Club are now open. If you are in need of a summer job where you can save some money then caddying may be the job for you.