Another highly-regarded host club, a notable keynote speaker and a good cause yielded big-time results for the annual Evans Cup of Colorado fundraising event and dinner, held Monday at Denver Country Club.
The Evans Cup of Colorado raises money for the Evans Scholarship for caddies, and Western Golf Association board member and director and state chairman Geoff “Duffy” Solich said he estimates that Monday’s event will net about $165,000 for the cause, a notable increase from last year.
The University of Colorado has been home to an Evans Scholars house since the 1960s, and many of the 59 current CU Evans Scholars (left) attended the festivities at DCC.
A total of 28 foursomes played at Denver Country Club, with 150 people attending the dinner.
Golf resort developer Mike Keiser, the founder and owner of Bandon Golf Resort in southern Oregon and a major supporter of the Evans Scholars, was the keynote speaker on Monday and also participated in a Sunday night dinner fundraising event. Keiser has been inducted into the WGA-administered Caddie Hall of Fame for promoting the use of caddies and their role in golf. He’s been a WGA director since 2007 and has played a key role in developing strategies have have substantially increased fundraising for the Evans Scholarship.
As Keiser said at his Hall of Fame induction in 2014, “Caddying is the best job a teenager can have. You learn about golf but you also learn a lot about life, what it takes to be successful and what it means to work hard.”
All in all, Monday proved another very successful gathering in support of the Evans Scholarship.
“It was a great event and having Mr. Keiser there made it very special,” Solich said in an email.
The Evans Cup of Colorado dates back to the early 1980s, when it was founded as the Par Club Tournament. The full tuition and housing Evans Scholarship is awarded to high-achieving caddies with limited financial means, The WGA, which adminsters the Evans Scholarship, has long partnered with the CGA in supporting the scholarship at CU.
All told nationwide, 985 Evans Scholars are currently enrolled at 18 universities.
The next Evans Cup of Colorado event is scheduled for Oct. 14, 2019 at Castle Pines Golf Club.
