Sean O'Hair's Hole-in-One at the BMW Championship Earns Four-Year College Scholarship for another Evans Scholar

LEMONT, Ill., Sept. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Sean O'Hair scored a hole-in-one today during the third round of the BMW Championship, the third leg in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. In recognition of O'Hair's hole-in-one, BMW donated a four-year college scholarship to the Evans Scholars Foundation, which will provide an incremental college scholarship to another deserving caddie for the 2011-2012 school year.

(Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100911/NY63270 )

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100911/NY63270 )

Evans Scholar Matthew Sachaj, a caddie at Green Acres Country Club in Northbrook, Illinois, met O'Hair and BMW of North America President Jim O'Donnell to receive the scholarship check on behalf of the Evans Scholars Foundation.  Sachaj graduated from Notre Dame College Prep and is an incoming freshman at Northwestern University.

BMW continued its Hole-In-One scholarship tradition, which grants a four-year Evans Scholarship in recognition of any player to score the first hole-in-one on any hole during the tournament. O'Hair holed his tee shot on the 211-yard, par three second hole on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club's Dubsdread course, where the top 70 golfers on the PGA TOUR are competing this week for the final 30 spots in the TOUR Championship.

All proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, one of the nation's largest privately funded college scholarship programs, providing full university tuition and housing grants to deserving young caddies. Since BMW became a presenting sponsor of the tournament in 2007, the BMW Championship has raised a total of $7.3 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation.

"One of the greatest aspects of our commitment to the BMW Championship is the ability to aid the Western Golf Association's Evans Scholars Foundation," said Jim O'Donnell, President of BMW North America. "We are thrilled that due to Sean's hole-in-one, another deserving caddie will be given the opportunity to attend college.  Evans Scholars like Matthew Sachaj embody core values of BMW – hard work, ambition and dedication."

BMW couples its support for the BMW Championship and the Evans Scholars Foundation with a summer internship program that invites Evan Scholars to work for BMW, offering them invaluable insight into their future careers after graduation. The program returned this past summer with two new BMW Evans Scholars interns joining the BMW team.

"Each year BMW's contribution to the Evans Scholars dramatically changes the course of these young lives, and we thank them for this additional commitment to the Evans Scholars Foundation," said WGA President and CEO John Kaczkowski.

Created in 1930, the Evans Scholars Foundation started with two Northwestern University students and today is managed by the Western Golf Association. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than 10,000 college scholarships to golf caddies, and during the 2010-2011 academic school year, 855 caddies are attending school on Evans Scholarships.

BMW Group In America

Additional BMW Championship information, videos and photos are available at www.bmwusanews.com/BMWChampionship.

SOURCE BMW of North America, LLC