Local caddies land prestigious scholarship
Neither Braddock Lalor nor Victoria Slawinski took up caddying to go to college for free.
Lalor did it to make money in the summers. Slawinski did it because she has a passion for golf.
So imagine their reactions on Jan. 15, when news arrived that each had been awarded the Western Golf Association’s Chick Evans Scholarship, a full housing and tuition grant given to select caddies around the country.
“I honestly cried,” said Slawinski, a senior at Bethel Park High.
“My mom was crying on the phone [when she told me],” added Lalor, a Fox Chapel grad and a freshman at the University of Michigan.
Winning the Evans Scholarship, the nation’s largest privately funded scholarship program, is akin to hitting the lottery.
An estimated 280 caddies will receive the honor this year. Funding for the initiative, which exceeds $10 million annually, is provided by the 32,000 members of the Evans Scholars Par Club program and the BMW Championship, part of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup competition. It is valued at $120,000. “Knowing that I can attend Michigan with no cost to my family the next three years is surreal,” Lalor said. “Not putting that financial burden on my family currently, then onto myself with debt down the line, is huge. For this reason, I will always owe something to the Western Golf Association.”
Like most caddies, Lalor and Slawinski are full of stories from the links, some unusual, some not as much.
“The Dalai Lama hasn’t been out to Fox Chapel any time recently,” Lalor said, referencing a line from the ‘80s comedy classic, “Caddyshack.”
True, but Lalor did caddie for a group that included former Pitt star and current Arizona
Cardinals great Larry Fitzgerald at Fox Chapel Golf Club. He also once carried a putter — only a putter — for a golfer who was having back problems.
“It was a really unique round; I will never forget,” Lalor said.
Slawinski has caddied for former Oakmont pro Bob Ford at Oakmont Country Club. She also made such an impression on one golfer that, after telling him that she needed to improve on her chipping (she’s a four-year member of the Bethel Park golf team), he set her up with a professional golf lesson.
“That day, with my usual payment, I also had a lesson with a very knowledgeable Oakmont PGA pro,” she said.
Lalor and Slawinski were recognized by the WGA because they met its strict criteria for the scholarship program.
Candidates must thrive in the classroom (Slawinski has a weighted gradepoint average of 3.83, Lalor attends Michigan’s prestigious Ross School of Business after graduating with a 4.5 GPA from Fox Chapel), show outstanding character (both volunteer at various charities) and demonstrate financial need (each would have mitigated the cost of college tuition by taking out loans).
“I would have had to keep applying for a lot of scholarships and would have had to take on some large student loans,” said Slawinski, who, along with Lalor, met with 30 WGA representatives at Fox Chapel Golf Club during the final phase of the interview process.
“I am not really sure what convinced them that I was a great candidate, but I hope that it was that I am a hard worker, have perseverance, and live with integrity and that I’m overall a pretty good person.”
A good caddie was described in a New York Times article as being “a packhorse, a companion, a course expert and a psychologist.” And when not juggling all those roles, the caddie is “a tireless maintenance machine, replacing divots, raking sand traps and repairing ball marks on greens.”
Both Lalor and Slawinski began caddying in their early teens. Lalor was 14 and looking for part-time work, while Slawinski was introduced to caddying through the First Tee of Pittsburgh, a nonprofit organization that she has been a part of for eight years.
They’ve been hooked ever since. “I love being outside and getting to be surrounded by the game I love,” said Slawinski, also a member of the Bethel Park diving team. “I also get to meet new people all the time and make new connections with each round.”
At Oakmont, Slawinski caddies only two days a week, mostly because there are more than 200 caddies at the club, some full-timers. She is unique because of her gender.
“There is only a handful [of women] and I don’t always see another woman caddie at the club or when I go out for a round,” she said. “I feel like I’m treated just like the male caddies in my group when I go out.”
The money isn’t bad, either. Caddies typically make $80 or more per round.
“The pay is really good compared to some of my friends’ jobs,” she said.
Lalor added that working with other caddies is a “blast.”
“They are quite the characters,” he said. “Every guy brings something unique to the table and has their own stories to share.”
For Lalor and Slawinski, their story is a free ride to college.