Page 27 - 2019 Western Amateur Championship Program

WGA_Program_2019_V3__ 6/19/2019 3:55 PM Page 25
REFLECTIONS FROM A POINT O’ WOODS
CADDIE AND EVANS SCHOLARS ALUM

Evans Alum John Singer (MSU ’95)
reflects on the lessons he learned from
caddying and earning the Evans
Scholarship — and how that foundation
affects his work today as an associate
dean for diversity and inclusion at
Texas A&M.

By Amy Fuller
It was the cold, hard cash that first
caught John Singer’s attention.
He’d suddenly noticed that his younger
brother Marcus seemed to be carrying
around a lot of money. He had just
taken up caddying, and apparently, it
was paying off — literally. With the
Western Amateur in his hometown of
Benton Harbor, Michigan, Singer heard
about a call for caddies — and off to
training he went.
It wasn’t without a few reservations. John Singer with Justin Leonard in 1993 after Leonard won his second straight Western Amateur title
“My perception was that golf was not with Singer as his caddie.
for young black kids,” he said. “Would kids each morning. The caddie manager, him about the Evans Scholarship, and
I have to put on knickers and a funny- Tom, greeted the brothers each day by Singer soon found himself at Detroit
looking hat like Payne Stewart?” affectionately calling out: “There’s the Golf Club for his selection meeting.
Singer boys, Marcus and John!” He was awarded the scholarship to
No, he soon discovered. To his surprise,
he took to caddying quickly and from Singer recalls being in awe of it all — Michigan State in 1991.
then on, his dad was dropping off two the money he was making; the access to In retrospect, he probably didn’t quite
new relationships with members; the understand the magnitude of what
role models he never imagined having. receiving the scholarship meant, he says.
Several players became fond of him, “I now knew what I was doing after
asking about future plans; one even school, so there was no more question
bought him his first set of golf clubs. of what’s next,” he says. “The Evans
Scholarship was my next.”
“Caddying really widened my perspective
on life, to see how others think and live,” That summer, Singer got to caddie
he says. “My dad worked at a local for Michael Jordan, who was playing
power plant, and we were not destitute, in the Western Amateur. It was a once-
but I’d never before seen these kinds of in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet a
privileges and financially well-off people. childhood hero. “That was awesome,”
Caddying exposed me to how education he says. “He made me feel like we were
and social networking can help in terms buddies. They played 45 holes; he
of social mobility.” asked me about playing ball and
random stuff.”
As the end of high school approached,
Singer, who once had hoop dreams on Once, while carrying for David Duval
his mind, realized he didn’t have a plan. in the Amateur, Singer was wearing a
Thoughts of joining the military came Magic Johnson T-shirt. Jordan caught
Evans Scholars Alum John Singer and went. Then his caddie manager told sight of it — he had just beat Johnson

2019 Western Amateur Championship Introduction 25