Llanerch's Smith, Merion's Arechabala earn Platt Evans Scholarships

   The Golf Association of Philadelphia’s J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust is probably the most successful program of its kind in the country with the exception of the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation that originated in the Chicago area.

   So it makes perfect sense that the two organizations got together to create the Platt Evans Scholarship, a full, four-year housing and tuition grant awarded to caddies. The J. Wood Platt Trust has always offered grants to caddies – yours truly benefited back in the 1970s – but the Platt Evans Scholarship takes it up a notch. It’s valued at more than $80,000 over the four years and in these days of skyrocketing college costs, that kind of number makes the difference between attending college or not attending college for a deserving looper.

   Just ask Llanerch Country Club caddie Jared Smith, named this week as one of three GAP loopers who will receive the Platt Evans Scholarship.

   With three siblings and a parent facing health challenges, Smith saw a Platt Evans Scholarship as possibly his only avenue to a college education. All it took was some long walks in the hot sun carrying two golf bags and some dedication in the classroom at Haverford High.

   “The Platt Evans Scholarship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to achieve all my dreams,” Smith told the GAP website this week. “It has impacted my family tremendously, as my older brother, Christian, is also a Platt Evans Scholar. We both could not be more grateful to have earned this life-changing scholarship.”

   The other two GAP caddies to have earned a Platt Evans Scholarship are Merion Golf Club looper -- as a former Merion looper I am gladdened – Stephen Arechabala of King of Prussia and Saucon Valley Country Club looper Ryan Schmidt of Bethlehem. Smith, Arechabala and Schmidt will all attend Penn State and as a proud Penn State grad (Class of ’77), I can only say, good choice guys.

   The trio was selected for the scholarships following a Feb. 24 meeting at Aronimink Golf Club.

In a recent post, I explained that Aronimink will play host to the 2018 BMW Championship, the next-to-last stop in the FedEx Cup playoffs. The BMW is a direct descendant of the Western Open, one of the oldest and most prestigious events in professional golf. The Western, a staple on the Chicago sports scene for years, always benefited the Evans Scholars Foundation and in its rebirth as the BMW Championship, it still does. The BMW rotates among some of the great golf courses in America, but still returns to its Chicago roots every three or four years, as it will this year when it’s staged at the Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill.

   The gathering at Aronimink was one of more than a dozen the Western Golf Association holds throughout the country before awarding 250 new scholarships.

   “The partnership with the Evans Scholars Foundation is fabulous and I compliment our trustees for approving the initiative,” said J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust chairman Jonathan P. Warner. “To have caddies like Christian, Jared, Ryan and Stephen involved strengthens our mission of making a difference in the educational lives of young men and women involved in golf.”