An elite group of nine caddies from across Missouri, including a Marthasville girl, will be attending college this fall as recipients of the prestigious Chick Evans Scholarship, a full four-year housing and tuition college scholarship awarded to golf caddies through the Evans Scholars Foundation.One of the recipients was Holly Swartz, a graduate of St. Francis Borgia Regional High School. She will attend the University of Missouri. She caddied at Boone Valley Golf Club.These Missouri-area caddies, part of a larger group of 247 national, newly awarded caddies, will begin school at leading universities this fall where the foundation owns and operates an Evans Scholarship House, including the University of Missouri. Evans Scholars are chosen based on demonstrating a strong caddie record, excellent academics, outstanding character and financial need. The scholarship is valued at more than $80,000 over four years.“Based on their excellence in the classroom and their service to their schools and communities, there is little doubt that these young men and women have earned this life-changing opportunity,” said John Kaczkowski, president/CEO of the Western Golf Association. “We welcome them to the Evans Scholars family.”The Evans Scholarship Program — supported by the Western Golf Association located near Chicago — is one of golf’s favorite charities and among the nation’s largest privately funded scholarship programs. One of the program’s goals is to send more than 1,000 caddies to college annually by 2020.Currently, 870 caddies are enrolled in colleges across the nation as Evans Scholars, and more than 10,000 caddies, including 450 from Missouri, have graduated as Evans Scholars since the program was founded by famed Chicago amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr.“These hardworking young men and women have personified sacrifice and dedication in the classroom, on the golf course and in their communities,” said Pat Reilly, a lead WGA director in Missouri and a Missouri Evans alum. “They are more than deserving of this life-changing opportunity, and we look forward to watching them grow over the next four years.”Scholarship funds for the Evans Scholars Program mostly come from contributions by 27,600 golfers across the country, who are members of the WGA Evans Scholars Par Club. Evans Scholars alumni donate more than $8 million annually, and all proceeds from the BMW Championship, the third of four PGA Tour Playoff events in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup competition, are donated to the Evans Scholars Foundation. Visit www.wgaesf.org for more information.Scholarship AwardedGoogle Images.