Live leaderboard: Moving day at Northern Trust

Sometimes, they’ll ask her if the bag is too heavy. But Varada Maulkhan, all 5-foot-4 and 90 pounds of her, just smiles, hoists the bag and all those golf clubs on her shoulders and goes about her business, which is caddying at places like Baltimore Country Club or Greenspring Valley Hunt Club three or four times a week. The 18-year-old has even looped occasionally at Caves Valley Golf Club, a course Maulkhan calls “absolutely gorgeous,” where the BMW Championship begins its 72-hole run on Thursday. And that’s where this story gets good. Proceeds from the second event of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, which awards full tuition and housing scholarships to caddies with outstanding character who demonstrate leadership, academic excellence and have financial need. Caddies just like Maulkhan, the daughter Guyanese immigrants who found out in March that she would be part of the inaugural Evans Scholar class at the University of Maryland. Maulkhan, an honor roll student at Catonsville (Md.) High School, will move into her dorm on Sunday. But not before a whirlwind week at Caves Valley where she will speak at the BMW Championship pro-am party and caddie for 14-time PGA TOUR champ Justin Thomas. “This is going to be a lifetime opportunity,” Maulkhan says. “Definitely a memory to remember for the rest of my life.” Maulkhan is one of a record 1,070 Evans Scholars going to school at 21 different schools this fall. The program was founded by the Western Golf Association and World Golf Hall of Fame member Chick Evans in 1930 and has since sent 12,500 caddies like her to college. She was introduced to the game when she was 7 years old by her father Kris, a recreational golfer who took her to First Tee-Greater Baltimore. The program operates from five different facilities, one of which is home to the Caves Valley Golf Club Foundation Learning Center at Forest Park that offers five target greens, practice bunkers and a putting green. Maulkhan liked being outdoors and she thrived on the life skills and core values central to the First Tee experience. She says she was shy at first but has become more comfortable in social situations and meeting new people, which has come in very handy with her part-time job. While she liked golf, though, Maulkhan didn’t begin to take the game seriously until she was a teenager. She’s competitive — earning Middle Atlantic PGA Junior Player of the Year honors in 2020 – but she’s just as comfortable playing casual rounds with friends. “For me, golf is a really good stress reliever,” she says. “If I’m really stressed, I can probably go out and make a tee time and just go play 18 holes with maybe by myself or a couple of girls that I normally play with. “But I like meeting new people. I like honing, forcing a lot of the communication skills I have to balance, and it taught me a lot about responsibility and respect.” Matt Bassler, the executive director of First Tee-Greater Baltimore, said Maulkhan was one of the first students to join the program. A decade later, he was helping the young woman he calls “very driven internally” with college applications – she applied to 14 different schools. “I’ve seen her grow from a 6-, 7-year-old young girl to now going to the University of Maryland at College Park,” he says. “And not only her golf game has got better, but she’s always been so mature. She does great in school. “I just think the world of her, and I think she’s going to do great things in the future.” Several years ago, Maulkhan became involved with the Baltimore Caddie Academy which is a collaboration between First Tee, Baltimore Country Club and the Western Golf Association, which became involved in an effort to grow the reach of the Evans Scholars program. For Maulkhan, it was a no-brainer. She liked golf, she enjoyed being outdoors and she wanted a summer job. But she’s been surprised at how much she’s learned, including honing more formal communication skills in talking with the adults whose bags she carries. “It has helped me tremendously with my golf game,” Maulkhan says. “I learned a lot of tips from the members. They’re so nice and they’re so helpful. “And it’s really enforced my aspect of responsibility because it’s not my clubs I’m carrying; I’m carrying someone else’s property. And I treat it the way I’d want my clubs to be treated.” Maulkhan first heard about the Evans Scholar program during caddie orientation. She wasn’t a rising senior, though, so it wasn’t really top-of-mind at the time. But she started to think seriously about it when an Evans alum who she’s caddied for encouraged her to apply. To be eligible Evans Scholars must have caddied regularly for two years and be evaluated by the sponsoring club. So first, Maulkhan talked with Greg Jones, the director of golf at Baltimore Country Club, about increasing her loops. The application process begins in October each year. Maulkhan had to write an essay and submit transcripts and recommendation letters. She learned she was a finalist early this year and then in March, she got a letter saying she was going to receive the scholarship. The letter took Maulkhan completely by surprise. She actually thought it was one of the credit cards her dad had recently ordered for the family. It came in the same kind of standard 8-by-11 envelope he’d gotten his in – he even told her, ‘Hey, your credit card’s here.” When Maulkhan opened the envelope, there was another smaller one inside. “I was like, okay, well it’s a credit card — maybe it’s because I’m like, a first-time user for this credit card company that they’re sending such a fancy package,” she recalls. “So, I opened it up and I kind of just pulled out the papers. “Then on the left top corner saw the Evans Scholars logo, and of course I screamed because it really shocked me.” Maulkhan’s mother, Sandy, happened to be working from home that day. When her daughter explained her outburst, Sandy called to her husband to come over. “We read it all together and it was a really big happy moment,” Maulkhan says. “It was a really good surprise for us.” Maulkhan plans to double major in secondary education and history, particularly the ancient civilizations like the Mayans and the Aztecs. Had she not gotten the Evans Scholarship, she says she might have had to take a break, find a different job or choose a more affordable college. (The average value of the scholarship is $120,000.) Instead, she’s going to attend Maryland, which is about an hour away from home and was ranked among the top 20 among public universities by U.S. News & World Report last year. She’ll finish up her packing between trips to Caves Valley this week to see favorites like Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and Jordan Spieth play. And Maulkhan will do a little more work on Wednesday, toting Thomas’ bag. All the caddies in the pro-am are current or former Evans Scholars who donate their tips to the Foundation. And who knows? Maybe Jimmy Johnson, Thomas’ regular looper who was inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame by the Western Golf Association this week, will give her some advice. “I’m a little nervous because normally when I do caddie it’s for members and they know me in some sense, or I’ve met them previously at some event,” Maulkhan says. “And as I said previously, I’m a very tiny person. So, I’m nervous on how me carrying his bag will go. “But I’m sure it will go perfectly fine.”

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Adam Scott has announced UNIQLO will donate 150,000 medical masks to the Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service as part of COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts. The 14-time PGA TOUR winner is a UNIQLO global ambassador and made the announcement that is set to help around 2,000 healthcare workers, particularly in remote areas of Australia, via Instagram. The Royal Flying Doctor Service is a non-profit organization that provides emergency and primary health care services over an area just shy of three million square miles. This effort comes as UNIQLO’s parent company, Fast Retailing, has enlisted the support of its manufacturing partners to supply 10 million masks to high-priority medical facilities worldwide. “After the golf season was suspended in March, I came home to Australia and watching the news and seeing the spread of the virus I wondered if there’s anything I can do,â€� Scott said. “I reached out to my partners at UNIQLO and they were only too happy to help. Over the past weeks we’ve been working together in sourcing personal protective equipment and today I’m pleased to announce UNIQLO Australia and I will be donating 150,000 medical marks to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. “With a global shortage of masks this donation will help the Royal Flying Doctors team of 2,000 health care staff continue in their role in overcoming COVID-19. These masks will also assist the team in providing much needed medical services to those in remote areas across Australia.â€� Scott also revealed UNIQLO will be providing the team with Ultra Light Down jackets to keep them warm on the job as the Southern Hemisphere approaches winter and colder weather. “I hope you are all staying safe as we continue to fight the coronavirus. I’m so proud of our efforts as Aussies so far but we must keep going and together we could knock this virus for six,â€� Scott added. “I’d like to recognize those working tirelessly to protect our health and safety at this time and thank you for your immense sacrifice. On behalf of UNIQLO we wish you and your families stay healthy and safe.â€�

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