Bulger Named Evans Scholar of the Year at MGA Annual Awards Dinner

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EDINA, Minn. (Nov. 2, 2016) – University of Minnesota Evans Scholars Chapter House member Charlie Bulger (pictured at right) was named the 2016 Minnesota Golf Association’s Fritz Corrigan Evans Scholar of the Year Nov. 1 at the MGA’s 116th Annual Awards Dinner at Brackett’s Crossing Country Club in Lakeville. Along with Bulger, the MGA honored outstanding players, volunteers and club representatives for their contribution to the amateur game of golf in Minnesota. They include: Skip Hambright, as MGA Volunteer of the Year; and the Medina Golf & Country Club, as MGA Member Club of the Year. 

The evening’s highlights also included recognition of John Anderson, Frankie Capan, Anni Heck, Olivia Herrick, Leigh Klasse, and Sammy Schmitz as the MGA Players of the Year (in six categories, see this link to a press release dated Oct. 28, 2016: www.mngolf.org/News); and Cal Simmons, 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. Charlie Bulger, Austin Peters, Daniel Quinn, Melanie Smith, and Shannon Tracy, all seniors with a group GPA of 3.68, were finalists for this year’s award. 

Charlie Bulger, who caddied at the Minnesota Valley Country Club and The Minikahda Club, is a senior at the University of Minnesota majoring in chemical engineering with a 3.6 GPA. He has served two terms as president of the Minnesota Evans Scholars Chapter (2015-2016), where he was responsible for presiding over all scholar and chapter house operations. Prior to his time as president, Bulger was the philanthropy chair for the Evans Scholars Chapter, helping to organize scholar participation in many volunteer events. For the past two years he also served as the chair of the Evans Scholars National Committee. On the university campus, Bulger has participated in intramural sports, and has been a tutor in the STEM fields at Ramsey Middle School in Minneapolis. 

In the Minnesota Evans Scholars House, Bulger received the National Committee Academic Achievement Award and the Carlton Blunt Scholarship Award. Throughout his four years, he has consistently been voted by his peers to be in the top 25 percent of the Minnesota Evans Scholars Chapter evaluations. 

Following graduation in the spring of 2017, Bulger intends to work locally in the field of chemical engineering, with future plans to pursue an MBA.

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 935 Evans Scholars attending 20 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 Skip Hambright of the Med City Golf Club for his exceptional volunteer service for more than a decade. Hambright, 70, of Rochester, is passionate about golf, the MGA and junior golf in particular. He began his service with the MGA as an ambassador for the southeast region in 2005, and soon thereafter was elected to the board of directors (in 2007). He was appointed to the management committee as a member at large in 2012, and was named a regional vice president in 2014. Hambright currently volunteers as a site captain overseeing qualifiers for the MGA, and has served more than 340 hours as a tournament volunteer since 2011. In addition, he has served as a handicap chairperson for more than two decades, and is currently the handicap chair for the Med City Golf Club. 

Hambright has kept his rules of golf knowledge sharp by attending six MGA Rules Workshops in the past nine years, and has passed that knowledge on to his fellow golfers at the Maple Valley Golf & Country Club in Rochester. He has attained certification as a First Tee Coach through the First Tee of Rochester where he has volunteered since the chapter was established in 2010.  

In attitude, actions and rapport with colleagues, staff, tournament players and spectators, Skip Hambright truly epitomizes the spirit of the MGA President’s Award, says Kip Colwell, MGA president. 

Member Club of the Year
Medina Golf & Country Club was named the 2016 MGA Member Club of the Year in recognition of the facility’s support of the MGA Associate Members’ program, involvement with the MGA Junior Program, and willingness to host MGA championships and qualifiers.  

Medina truly embraces the modern golf and country-club lifestyle model. Not only does the suburban club feature a swimming pool and tennis facility, it also features a challenging 18-hole championship golf course, able to accommodate the game’s longer hitters, and an adjacent 9-hole par-3 suited to juniors and the game’s shorter hitters. 

Established in 1968 under the name Rolling Green Country Club by members who had departed Superior Country Club in Golden Valley (now the Brookview Golf Course), in 2006 the membership opted to change the name of the club to the Medina Golf & Country Club, reflecting the growing prominence of the affluent community west of the Twin Cities. The golf course architect is Charles Maddox, also credited with designing Brookview, Majestic Oaks (North) and Olympic Hills. The club has seen continual general improvements to the course, including the recontouring of fairways and a redesign of its bunkers. The club’s large rolling greens provide a variety of challenging hole locations to test the short-game skills of the state’s best amateur players. 

Beginning with the 1970 MGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship, Medina has hosted numerous MGA amateur championships, including the 110th State Amateur in 2013 and most recently, the 29th MGA Mid-Amateur in 2016. In addition, Medina has hosted multiple USGA and MGA qualifiers. 

Currently, Medina has 588 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 2017 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 15 major amateur championships and 16 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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