Joe Gibala

Senior Brian Ingberg walks to the next hole at Forest Hills Country Club for the varsity district tournament.

Staring at a room of 60 committee members, senior Brian Ingberg prepares for an interview to receive a scholarship from the Western Golf Association (WGA) Evans Scholars Foundation.

In 1929, golfer Chick Evans Jr. worked with the WGA to establish the scholarship for caddies to go to Northwestern University. The first caddies received this scholarship in 1930, and the program has branched out to multiple colleges, more than 500 directors and receives about $12 million in donations each year.

Ingberg plans to play Intramural or Club Golf at the University of Missouri, where will attend college with the aid of the Evan’s Scholarship. He also plans on majoring in Chemistry or Biology with the hope of one day going into Pre-med.

“Mizzou was in the top three. I was looking at Alabama and Ohio State too but it was in the top three,” Ingberg said.

The information about the scholarship came through Ingberg’s caddying job at Meadowbrook Country Club. The process for applying included financial information and an essay about hobbies and plans for the future.

“Mrs. Townsend helped me a lot with the essay part because it was an assignment for class,” Ingberg said.

The procedure continued with a meeting in December going over details about the scholarship and then an interview in January before a committee of about 60 people.

“In the interview, they just asked me questions about myself, like what the scholarship would mean to me. They asked me about the golf team and what my interests are. They asked me mostly about extracurriculars, what I’m going to major in and why I’m interested in that,” Ingberg said.

After finding out that he received the money, Ingberg solidified his choice to go to the University of Missouri.

“My parents are really happy because it is a lot of money saved for them. I was obviously really excited when I found out because it’s almost a full ride, and I’ve just looked forward to being in a house next year and making friends because I was going to join a fraternity anyway,” Ingberg said.

Ingberg has participated in golf for the West team all four years of high school, playing in the varsity player pool since freshman year. He will continue to play through college.

“I’ll probably play golf until I’m pretty old, as old as I can play until my back gives out.”