The application portal is now open for scholarship applications for a $5,000 Marilynn Smith Scholarship. Each year, Golf It Forward® and the LPGA Foundation award twenty-five $5,000 scholarships to high school female seniors who qualify and apply. The fund was established by LPGA co-founder Marilynn Smith in 1999 and since its inception has granted $1,500,000 in scholarships to 297 young women.
Applicants are expected to demonstrate a well-rounded profile, encompassing academic achievements, golf experience, and community involvement. Qualification for a scholarship includes being a female high school senior in the US or Canada who is committed to play collegiate golf in the US, carries a strong academic background, is active in community service and has personal endorsements.
The Marilynn Smith Scholarship Fund was established by Smith because as a college student, she was denied funding for a golf tournament because she was a girl. Determined to help other female golfers overcome this, she founded the scholarship program.
Any female high school senior in the United States and Canada who will play collegiate golf in the US who is interested in a scholarship and meets the qualifications can apply by going to https://www.golfitforward.org/scholarships .
Each recipient of a Marilynn Smith Scholarship welcomed in under the moniker PEARLS– reflecting on Marilynn always wearing pearls. In addition to scholarship money, the PEARLS string together to form a sisterhood with a unique set of benefits to assist in their personal and professional growth on and off the course, including the opportunity to participate in the LPGA Founders Cup. Each year a selected PEARL has the honor of sitting on the perch at the Founder’s Cup representing Marilynn Smith’s legacy, meeting LPGA players and pioneers and members of the gallery.
2025 Scholarship Underwriters include Daphne’s Headcovers, Golf It Forward, LPGA Foundation, Sandra Gal Foundation, The Pappas Family, Tori Totlis, and The Waitkus Family.
To learn more about the scholarship program or to fund a scholarship, send an email to 13Founders@golfitforward.org.
ABOUT GOLF IT FORWARD® (GIF) GOLF IT FORWARD is the public face of the Marilynn Smith and Founders’ Legacy Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. The foundation embodies the ingenuity, drive and passion of 13 women who had the foresight to see that there was a future for women in golf and golf in the future of women. For more information on GIF, please go to www.GolfItForward.org.
PRESS CONTACT Debbie Waitkus – Foundation President, 13Founders@golfitforward.org