Baker, Delaney named Evans Scholars of the Year at MGA Annual Awards Banquet

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EDINA, Minn. (Oct. 31, 2017) – University of Minnesota Evans Scholars Chapter House members Jenna Baker and Jon Delaney were named the 2017 Minnesota Golf Association’s Fritz Corrigan Evans Scholars of the Year Oct. 30 at the MGA’s 117th Annual Awards Dinner at Brackett’s Crossing Country Club in Lakeville. Along with Baker and Delaney, the MGA honored outstanding players, volunteers and club representatives for their contribution to the amateur game of golf in Minnesota. They include: Don Christ, as MGA Volunteer of the Year; and Grand View Lodge, as MGA Member Club of the Year. 

The evening’s highlights also included recognition of Sarah Burnham, Derek Hitchner, Leigh Klasse, Jerry Rose, Sammy Schmitz and Sophia Yoemans as the MGA Players of the Year (in six categories, see this link to a press release dated Oct. 23, 2017: www.mngolf.org/News ); and Nora McGuire, honored with the MGA Warren J. Rebholz Distinguished Service Award.  

The MGA Fritz Corrigan Evans Scholar of the Year award is bestowed annually to the Evans Scholar from the University of Minnesota Evans Scholars Chapter House for outstanding achievement in academics, leadership and community service. 

Baker is a senior at the University of Minnesota, double-majoring in psychology and family social science, with a 3.8 GPA and on track to graduate summa cum laude. She spent her caddie career at White Bear Yacht Club. In 2016, Baker was elected vice president of New Scholars, responsible for overseeing and advising new scholars throughout their first year as students at the U. On campus, Baker is working as a research assistant in the ANGST Lab where they analyze anxiety in an effort to better understand and treat types of mental illness. She interned as a therapist and child program coordinator at the Asian Women United’s House of Peace, a shelter for women and children affected by domestic abuse. 

She currently is interning with the Lovass Institute, which treats young children on the autism spectrum, and intends to pursue a master’s degree and become a certified family and marriage counselor following graduation in the spring of 2018.

Delaney is a senior at the University of Minnesota, with a major in math in the College of Science and Engineering. He has a 3.5 GPA, making the Dean’s list the past two semesters. Delaney caddied at Golden Valley Golf and Country Club, where members still request his services. In 2016, he was elected president of the Minnesota Evans Scholars chapter, and is responsible for all operations of the house. In addition to his academic and Evans Scholars responsibilities, Delaney studied abroad in Argentina, and led the U’s Triathlon club to a USA Midwest regional championship and a second-place finish overall. Off campus, he has been a marketing intern at PRG Financial, and served as a guide with Wilderness Inquiry, a non-profit that offers disabled and underserved children an opportunity to experience nature and camp.  

Following graduation in the spring of 2018, Delaney is considering a career as an actuary or a math teacher.

The Chick Evans Scholarship program is a four-year college scholarship for deserving caddies, sponsored by the Western Golf Association in association with the MGA. There are currently 965 Evans Scholars attending 19 universities around the country.

In 1996, the MGA renamed the Evans Scholar of the Year award in honor of Fritz Corrigan, a long-time supporter of the Evans Scholarship program who helped establish the Evans Scholars Chapter House at the University of Minnesota. 

President’s Award
Also known as the Volunteer of the Year, the MGA President’s Award was given to Don Christ of the Highland National Golf Club for his exceptional volunteer service for more than a decade. Christ, 74, of Minneapolis, is passionate about golf and the MGA. Christ got his start in golf at a young age as a caddie at The Minikahda Club. He began his relationship with the MGA back in the days when, for the purposes of calculating a golf handicap, golfer scores were reported via the postal service. Now well into his fourth decade, Christ continues to serve golfers as the handicap chair at Highland National, and as a tournament volunteer with the MGA.  

In attitude, actions and rapport with colleagues, staff, tournament players and spectators, Don Christ truly epitomizes the spirit of the MGA President’s Award, says Barb Hanson, MGA president. 

Member Club of the Year
Grand View Lodge was named the 2017 MGA Member Club of the Year in recognition of the facility’s support of the MGA Associate Members’ program, willingness to host MGA championships and qualifiers, and for its ground-breaking leadership in Minnesota’s golf tourism industry.  

Grand View Lodge holds a truly special place in Minnesota tourism and the golf resort business. The resort has won recognition from the likes of Wine Spectator, Conde Nast Traveler, Golfweek Magazine and numerous regional publications. The 100-year-old resort also features two challenging championship golf courses, the 27-hole Pines and the 18-hole Preserve, plus the par-35 Garden course, suited to juniors and the game’s shorter hitters. 

In 1916, Marvin and Harriet Baker began selling lots along the Gull Lake shoreline. To accommodate prospective buyers, Baker built the main lodge from Norway pine felled on the property. After the stock market crash in 1929, and the ensuing depression years, Baker sold the main lodge and property to Brownie Cote for the tidy sum of $85,000. In 1979, the main lodge was selected for the National Registry of Historic Places, as an example of early resort log construction.

Not long after, Fred Boos, Grand View Lodge’s general manager, revisited his plans to create a championship golf course. He persuaded the board of directors that the time was ripe for Grand View to enter the golf resort business. The Pines at Grand View Lodge opened in 1990, an 18-hole championship course designed by Joel Goldstrand. 

Eventually The Pines would add nine additional holes, and Grand View Lodge would acquire The Preserve, an 18-hole golf course in nearby Pequot Lakes. As the game’s popularity blossomed in the 1990s, Brainerd would become a nationally recognized golf tourism destination. Madden’s, Cragun’s, Breezy Point and Ruttger’s would follow Grand View Lodge’s lead in adding championship golf to their resort amenities. 

Grand View Lodge has hosted the MGA Net Team Championship since its inaugural year (1992), as well as other MGA championships including the Four-Ball, Senior Players’ and Players’ (match plays), the Women’s Senior Amateur, the State Junior Boys, and several USGA and MGA qualifiers. 

Currently, Grand View Lodge has more than 220 active MGA Associate Members using the GHIN service. The handicap committee excels in reviewing and posting scores for handicap purposes in a timely and accurate fashion. 

The club received a plaque and will be featured in the 2018 Directory issue of Minnesota Golfer, the official publication of the MGA. 

About Brackett’s Crossing Country Club
Brackett’s Crossing has been an active supporter of amateur golf and MGA championships since the early 1970s. In that time, Brackett’s Crossing has hosted numerous MGA qualifiers and championships including: the 1973 and 2009 MGA Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championships, the 1993 MGA Amateur Championship, the 2003 MGA Mid-Amateur, the 2006 MGA Mixed Amateur Team Championship, and the 2012 MGA Women’s Mid-Amateur. In addition, Brackett’s Crossing has hosted several MGA Senior Tour events, as well as MGA Junior Team qualifiers. In 2012, Brackett’s Crossing was named the MGA Member Club of the Year. 

About the MGA
Established in 1901, with the formation by seven golf clubs to organize the state’s most prestigious and storied golf championship, the MGA Amateur Championship, the Minnesota Golf Association is today the governing body over amateur golf in the state, responsible for administering the Rules of Golf, and committed to upholding and promoting the game of golf and its values for all golfers in Minnesota. 

The MGA conducts 20 major amateur championships and 15 USGA qualifying events each year. Thanks to the support of its member clubs and associate members, and the efforts of its volunteers and staff, the MGA provides a variety of services such as handicapping, course rating and measuring, an online golf news and information resource, www.mngolf.org, and an official publication, Minnesota Golfer magazine, which benefit all golfers throughout Minnesota. 

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