All proceeds from the 2023 BMW Championship will benefit the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation (ESF), which provides full college tuition and housing scholarships to students with financial need and strong caddie, academic and leadership records.
In addition, a group of Evans Scholars will have an important presence at the 2023 BMW Championship, held Aug. 15-20 at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Illinois.
Evans Scholars will help kick off tournament week on Tuesday, Aug. 15, at the Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am Pairings Party, featuring legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus. Evans Scholar Diego Origel, a junior at the University of Illinois Chicago, will speak about how caddying and earning the Evans Scholarship changed his life.
On Wednesday, Aug. 16, a group of about 50 current Scholars and Evans Alumni will caddie for the PGA TOUR professionals during the Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am, the largest single fundraising event of the year for the Evans Scholars Program. Evans Scholars Alumni will continue the tradition of donating their tips to the Program.
New this year, Evans Scholars Alumni Par Club supporters will have exclusive access to the Looper’s Lounge, the first-ever hospitality venue for Evans Scholars Alumni at the BMW Championship, located at the ninth hole.
A group of Evans Scholars will attend a special event with BMW Executive Ilka Horstmeier on Saturday, Aug. 19, at the Northwestern Evans Scholarship House in Evanston, Illinois.
Sports broadcaster Hailey Hunter will hold a fireside chat with Horstmeier, covering topics including career exploration and leadership and her passion for golf and BMW’s support of the WGA/ESF. She also will participate in a Q&A with Scholars.
As in past years, BMW will contribute a full, four-year Evans Scholarship on behalf of the first player to record a hole-in-one during championship play.
The last hole-in-one occurred at the 2022 BMW Championship, after Viktor Hovland aced a hole, leading Diana Llamas to earn a full Evans Scholarship to the University of Illinois. The two will meet on Saturday after Hovland’s round.
On Saturday and Sunday of tournament week, Evans Scholars also will be introduced by WGA officials at the first tee between the final groups. Currently, nine Scholars caddied at Olympia Fields Country Club, and the club, a longtime supporter of the ESF, has more than 180 Evans Scholars Alumni.
This fall, a record 1,130 Evans Scholars will be enrolled at 24 leading universities nationwide, and there are more than 12,000 Evans Scholars Alumni since the Program began in 1930.
The 2022 BMW Championship, held at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, continued the tradition of raising funds for the Evans Scholars Foundation with a $4.5 million contribution.
Since 2007, the BMW Championship has raised more than $45 million and helped award more than 3,300 full tuition and housing college scholarships for caddies.
To learn more about the WGA and ESF, visit wgaesf.org.
