Aidan Kamp Is One Of Three Long Island Students Selected For Prestigious Chick Evans Scholarship

Having been involved with the sport of golf since he was 3 years old, Aidan Kamp was implored by his stepfather, Tim Luzadre, to try to become a caddie at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club when he was 13.

Directly following the 2018 U.S. Open, played at Shinnecock Hills, Kamp gave it a shot. Although it took the Hampton Bays senior a few weeks to get his first “loop” — or first round of golf as a caddie, working at Shinnecock Hills for the past four years or so has certainly paid off.

Kamp was one of three Long Island students awarded the Long Island Chick Evans Scholarship, a prestigious full housing and tuition grant offered to golf caddies, following a selection interview held on February 8. East Hampton senior Joseph Suter, who caddies at The Maidstone Club, and Shoreham-Wading River senior Abigael Sisler, who caddies at Sebonack Golf Club, were also selected.

Kamp came home on his lunch break from school with a letter from the Evans Scholars Foundation dated February 15 congratulating him that he had been selected. The application process had begun back in October, so Kamp and his entire family had been waiting anxiously for an answer.

“I came home, we all opened the letter together and we were just so happy that I got it,” Kamp said.

“We all cried,” Melissa Kamp, Aidan’s mother, added. “Everyone was there. My dad happened to be there. And Aidan came home with a friend who we had never met before that day, and, because it was so emotional, we basically now consider that friend a part of our family.”

Kamp, a four-year varsity golfer at Hampton Bays who qualified for counties twice and also plans on playing his third varsity baseball season this spring, has been accepted into two of his top three schools. He’s been accepted to Michigan State University and University of Colorado-Boulder and is waiting on his preferred choice, the University of Michigan. He plans to study criminal law.

“I can’t believe this is all coming to a head like this,” Luzadre said. “The biggest thing for Aidan, after he started caddying on a regular basis, was that he had to come though with the grades. Because a lot of the schools that are affiliated with this scholarship are Big 10 schools, so you have to be able to get into those. Thankfully, his mom was really persistent with Aidan about his grades — not just for the scholarship but in general.”

The result of a partnership between the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation and the Long Island Caddie Scholarship Fund, Long Island Evans Scholars are chosen based on strong caddie records, excellent academics, financial need and outstanding character. Candidates must meet the qualifications of both organizations in order to earn the scholarship. The scholarship is valued at an estimated $120,000 over four years.

An estimated 315 caddies from across the country are expected to be awarded the Evans Scholarship.

“Aidan is a hardworking responsible young man, and I’m sure he’ll make the most of this incredible opportunity,” Shinnecock Hills Golf Club caddie master Greg Gagliardo said.

The Western Golf Association, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois, has supported the Chick Evans Scholarship Program through the Evans Scholars Foundation since 1930. Known as one of golf’s favorite charities, it is the nation’s largest scholarship program for caddies.

“Our Long Island Evans Scholars are part of an exceptional incoming class of New Scholars from around the nation,” WGA Chairman Joe Desch said in a release posted on the organization’s website, wgaesf.org. “They represent what the Evans Scholars Program has been about since 1930.”

“The local Westchester/Long Island Caddie Scholarship Fund Evans Scholars have been awarded a life-changing opportunity,” said Johanna Gavin, director of the Metropolitan Golf Association Foundation. “We are proud of their commitment to the hard work of caddying, the lessons learned through the game and their dedication to academic achievement.”

Currently, a record 1,070 caddies are enrolled at 21 universities across the nation as Evans Scholars, and more than 11,500 caddies have graduated as Evans Scholars since the program was founded by famed Chicago amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr.

Scholarship funds come mostly from contributions by nearly 35,000 supporters across the country, who are members of the Evans Scholars Par Club program. Evans Scholars alumni donate more than $17 million annually, and all proceeds from the BMW Championship, the penultimate PGA TOUR playoff event in the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup competition, are donated to the Evans Scholars Foundation. This year, the BMW Championship will be held at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, from August 16-21.