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About the WGA

The WGA began in in 1899, when 11 Chicago-area golf clubs formed an organization to promote their interests in golf. It was in Golf, Illinois, where the WGA established its headquarters. At the nearby Glen View Club, the WGA held its first Western Open and Western Amateur championships to showcase the exceptional talent of golfers who called the west their home.

Today, we conduct four amateur championships – the Western Amateur, Western Junior, Women’s Western Amateur and Women’s Western Junior – and two professional events – the Korn Ferry Tour’s Evans Scholars Invitational and the BMW Championship, the penultimate event of the PGA TOUR FedExCup Playoffs.



EVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION

In 1929, famed amateur golfer Charles "Chick" Evans Jr. asked the WGA to administer the fund he had established to send deserving caddies to college. The WGA awarded its first two scholarships in 1930, sending caddies Harold Fink and Jim McGinnis to Northwestern University. Until World War II, all Evans Scholars continued to attend Northwestern, and it was there that the first Scholarship House was established.

As the Evans Scholars Foundation grew, WGA Directors realized the impact of Chick's dream on the lives of young men and women with limited access to a college education. When Chick's original investment was exhausted, the WGA Directors perpetuated the Evans Scholars Program by making contributions of their own.

Today, the Foundation is funded by contributions from Par Club members across the country as well as proceeds from our championships. The Evans Scholars Program provides academic, professional and social resources that help students maintain a cumulative 3.3 GPA and 95 percent graduation rate. There are a record 1,100 Evans Scholars enrolled in 22 leading universities for the 2022-23 academic year, and more than 11,815 young men and women have graduated as Evans Scholars since 1930.


 

chick evans 04t   fluff cowen 03t   jack nicklaus 02t