Western Golf Association
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The Western Golf Association (WGA) is one of the United States' oldest golf organizations, and its headquarters are located in Golf, Illinois. Founded in 1899, the WGA has administered the Chick Evans Scholarship Program since its inception in 1930 through the Evans Scholars Foundation. More than 500 member clubs, 36,000 WGA Par Club members and 100,000 golfers in the WGA Bag Tag Program support the Evans Scholars Foundation, the nation’s largest individually funded scholarship program. The program is also supported by 23 affiliated golf associations and proceeds from the BMW Championship, a PGA Tour event whose 2007 edition will be held September 3-9 at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Illinois.
[edit] Early years rival to USGA
Originally formed as a rulesmaking body, the WGA was born because U.S. western golf clubs (the current Midwest was "the west" in the 1890s) felt that they weren't being properly represented in the United States Golf Association, based then in New York. But after 20 stormy years followed by negotiations, the WGA officially recognized the USGA's authority as the rulesmaking body in the U.S.
Part of the WGA's purpose is to oversee and host professional and amateur events. Today the number of tournaments it has conducted exceeds 250. Its first tournaments were held at the Glen View Club. The events the WGA runs today are the Western Amateur and Western Junior championships. The 108-year run of the prestigious Western Open ended in 2007 when the PGA Tour moved the event from the Western's traditional first week of July dates to September and made it the BMW Championship, the third leg of the four-event FedEx Cup playoff series. The elimination by the PGA Tour of the word "Western" from the tournament's title has been controversial, to say the least; many longtime supporters are very upset "The Western" exists no longer.
[edit] Sending needy caddies to college
In 1930, the WGA also took over the caddie scholarship program begun by Charles "Chick" Evans, Jr. The WGA is also in charge of the Evans Scholars Alumni Association, which keeps the relationship with Evans Scholars alumni. The WGA is administered by officers that volunteer their time to operate the organization, which has put over 8,500 needy caddies through college.
Today, there are over 500 country clubs in the United States that support the WGA. All of these clubs also help support the Evans Scholar Foundation. The WGA has been able to distribute over $93 million to put derserving caddies into college. The WGA has also been able to start up and build fourteen chapter houses at 14 different universities. The fourteen chapters are as follows in order of foundation: Northwestern University (1940), University of Illinois (1951), University of Michigan (1952), University of Wisconsin (1953), Michigan State University (1955), Marquette University (1955), University of Minnesota (1958), Ohio State University (1962), Purdue University (1967), University of Colorado (1967), University of Missouri (1968), Indiana University (1969), Miami University (1974), and Northern Illinois University (1987). On top of supporting these chapter houses, the WGA also helps finance 22 different golf associations in the United States.
Roland F. McGuigan, who was the Dean of Men at Northwestern, was appointed as the WGA’s Educational Director in the year 1967. Roughly 40 years later, James E. Moore took McGuigan’s position as Educational Director in 1989. Under him, an Evans Scholar Alum from Michigan State, Jeffrey C. Harrison, was then appointed Assistant Education Director in 1990.
