With all its net proceeds benefiting the Evans Scholarship for caddies, the BMW Championship sets itself apart; this year marks the second time in a decade this unique PGA Tour event is being held in Colorado
By Gary Baines – 7/16/2024
The tournaments on the PGA Tour — along with those from affiliates such as PGA Tour Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour — note that they have donated net proceeds exceeding $3.93 billion over the years, dating back to 1938, according to PGATour.com.
It’s a very impressive number, and much good has been done with the money through the many organizations who receive such funds. A prominent example — one of many — is the Waste Management Phoenix Open, which, through the Thunderbirds, shelled out $17.5 million for Arizona Charities from the 2024 tournament. Other huge givers over the course of many years include the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am ($18 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year through the Monterey Peninsula Foundation), and The Players Championship.
When Colorado used to host an annual PGA Tour event, The International was likewise generous with its giving. But, as golf fans from the Centennial State discovered first-hand a decade ago — and will find out again this summer (Aug. 22-25 at Castle Pines Golf Club) — there’s something about the BMW Championship that sets it apart when it comes to PGA Tour-related charitable giving.
Perhaps it’s the fact that not only does the BMW Championship have one lone beneficiary, but it’s one directly tied to golf.
The Western Golf Association, which hosts the BMW Championship, administers the Evans Scholarship for caddies through the Evans Scholars Foundation. All the net proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Scholars program, with more than $50 million going from the tournament to the cause since the Western Open transformed into the BMW Championship in 2007, including $5.5 million from the 2023 event.
The Evans Scholars house in Boulder, a fixture across Broadway from CU since the 1960s.
Given that Evans Scholarships are for full tuition and housing for the caddies who earn them, it’s estimated that the scholarship is worth an average of more than $125,000 if renewed for four years. Over the years, more than 12,000 caddies have graduated from the E.S. program, with 1,130 more currently enrolled at 24 university’s nationwide. This coming school year, a record 340 caddies will begin their journey as new Evans Scholars. It all started with Chick Evans — an amateur who won a U.S. Open and two U.S. Amateurs — starting the caddie scholarship in 1930 with the help of the WGA.
And there’s a substantial Colorado connection to the Evans Scholarship as one of those E.S. schools has been located at the University of Colorado since the 1960s. There are now 540 CU Evans Scholar alums, with about 55 caddies currently in the house in Boulder.
All those numbers and facts are impressive, but what really makes the program so heartfelt for many supporters is the difference the scholarship makes for each individual who graduates from the program. For the record, teenagers are awarded the Evans Scholarship based on outstanding caddie and academic records, strong character and demonstrated substantial financial need.
I was one of those very fortunate ones to receive an Evans Scholarship to CU — in my case after/while being a caddie and caddiemaster at Columbine Country Club. So were my three daughters, all of whom went to CU after caddying at Boulder Country Club. Like so many others, receiving an Evans Scholarship changed our life paths immensely — albeit in ways that sometimes don’t become apparent for many years. At the very least, the scholarship helped guide us on a route that opened many doors that otherwise would have been closed.
In my own case, it led me to a fulfilling career as a sports writer and editor. And though I’ve covered many sports over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of reporting on and writing about golf in Colorado regularly since 1983. And the sport has become more and more of an emphasis over the years, to the point that I now spend most of my working time writing about golf in Colorado.
But there are hundreds of different stories like mine — just from CU Evans Scholar grads, not to mention the thousands from Scholars from elsewhere. The scholarship led to them becoming doctors, business owners, pilots, engineers, lawyers, executives, journalists — and just about everything in between.
The BMW Championship coming to Castle Pines Golf Club in late August is a major fundraiser for the Evans Scholarship for caddies.
For just a smattering of examples regarding CU Evans Scholars from the 1970s and ’80s — around my time in the E.S. house in Boulder — many of whom have played key roles in Colorado golf in one respect or another:
— Brothers George and Duffy Solich became very successful in the oil and gas business and both are playing integral roles at this summer’s BMW Championship — George as the chairman and president of Castle Pines Golf Club and Duffy as tournament chairman. Both are major supporters of the Evans Scholarship and are the founders of the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy as well as The Broadmoor Caddie & Leadership Academy, which together have produced 52 Evans Scholars. George Solich will be inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame on Dec. 1.
— Ed Mate has served as the highly regarded and innovative executive director of the CGA for nearly a quarter century. In recent years, he’s also has had the title of CEO of the organization.
— Kevin Laura is the longtime CEO of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation, and as such has been the point man for running the very successful Inspirato Colorado Open Championships — which include the Colorado Open, the Colorado Women’s Open and the Colorado Senior Open. Laura has also played key leadership roles at the First Tee of Green Valley Ranch and (until recently) as the president of Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. He’s a former CGA president.
— Tom Woodard and Mark Crabtree are both Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, inductees, with Woodard having retired in recent years after being the PGA director of golf at the Foothills Park & Recreation District, and Crabtree after being the longtime men’s golf coach at Louisville and before that at Colorado State. Crabtree now serves on the CGA board of directors. Woodard went into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.
— Bob Webster long served as the WGA state chairman in Colorado — before Duffy Solich took that role — and now is the president of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame board of directors.
And that just scratches the surface of CU Evans Scholar alums who have made a significant impact in Colorado golf. Outside of the golf realm, per se, CU E.S. alum Dan Caplis is a well-known attorney and radio talk show host based in the Denver metro area.
Logan Byler, a recent CU Evans Scholar alum, shared a laugh with fellow Valor Christian alum — and 2023 U.S. Open champion — Wyndham Clark earlier this summer at Castle Pines.
Earlier this summer at a BMW Championship media event at Castle Pines Golf Club, Duffy Solich was spreading the word about the lesser-known aspect of the BMW Championship.
“The BMW Championship is always a thrilling week of incredible golf,” he said. “But its lasting impact is the difference it makes in the lives of youth caddies through the funding of the Evans Scholarship … this great charity that changes the lives of so many young men and women. My brother George and I know this firsthand as this scholarship allowed us the opportunity to attend a first-class university at CU-Boulder, and we’re both devoted to this cause that forever changed the course of our lives. … The BMW Championship has played a critical role in helping us increase awareness of the Evans Scholars Foundation and send more caddies to college.”
Given that direct link to such a worthwhile golf cause, it’s little wonder why the BMW Championship has been named the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year five times since 2008, including last year, when it shared the honor with the Waste Management Phoenix Open. One of those instances was in 2014, when Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the BMW tournament, which drew more than 125,000 people for the week. George Solich served as the general chairman for that event a decade ago.
Meanwhile, the Evans Scholarship — and caddying in general — has long been a flagship program for the CGA, which partners with the WGA in supporting the scholarship at CU. Through the CGA’s membership fees and Par Club contributions, Colorado donors fully fund the year-to-year scholarship costs at the CU Evans Scholars house.
Nationwide, Evans Scholars average a cumulative 3.3 GPA and 98 percent of them graduate from the program.
Castle Pines Golf Club, home of this summer’s BMW Championship, doesn’t lack for caddies.
Each year, the WGA and its partners conduct dozens of Evans Scholar Selection Committee events across the country where finalists for the scholarship are interviewed by an often-large group of people from the local golf community and stewards of the program. One of those events is held in Colorado annually — usually in mid-winter — when the incoming class of CU Evans Scholars is selected. It often proves to be an emotional, heart-wrenching and eye-opening affair.
It’s not unusual for finalists to be the first members of their families to be headed to college. A significant number of the applicants had never been on a golf course before they began their caddie training. The number of inspirational stories told in these selection meetings — and often the amount of personal adversity the finalists have overcome — is amazing. The words “life changing” are sure to come up — and in many cases, it’s no hyperbole.
So while much of the focus and attention at the BMW Championship in late August will rightly go to the golfers, the course, the competition, etc., don’t forget the story behind the story. It’s one worth remembering — and supporting.
— BMW Championship Ticket/Parking Update: BMW Championship officials announced Tuesday that grounds tickets are sold out for the final two rounds of the tournament, Aug. 24-25, but remain available for Aug. 22 and 23. Organizers are urging ticket holders to purchase parking, which they anticipate will sell out in advance. Parking passes are $30 during championship rounds and $15 for practice rounds and can be purchased here.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com