Former North Augusta football player and golfer earns prestigious Evans scholarship for caddying – Post and Courier
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Updated: July 1, 2025 @ 5:46 am
DJ Bookard started caddying at Old Barnwell after a shoulder injury ended his high school football career. The experience eventually led to him earning the Evans Scholarship for caddies.
Aiken Standard reporter
Taylor Beltz is a sports reporter for the Aiken Standard and the Post and Courier North Augusta. Beltz is a University of South Carolina graduate. Follow her on X @TaylorKaye09.
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DJ Bookard started caddying at Old Barnwell after a shoulder injury ended his high school football career. The experience eventually led to him earning the Evans Scholarship for caddies.
NORTH AUGUSTA — After having a promising football career sidelined by a shoulder injury, DJ Bookard redirected his focus to golf and caddying.
And it was that redirection in his senior year of high school that eventually led to a life-changing scholarship for the North Augusta High School alum.
“I felt really down at the time,” he said. “It was pretty much the end of my football career there. It didn’t really end the way I wanted it to. I think maybe it was three or four months later, post-surgery, I was looking for a job, needed something to do, and I love working in golf. I loved the game of golf already, and I planned on playing high school golf that year anyway. And so I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’ I looked on Instagram one day and our school Instagram page posted about an opportunity to caddy at Old Barnwell.”
Old Barnwell founder Nick Schreiber established the youth caddie program at the private course to help young golfers like Bookard find opportunities and connections through caddying. After working as a caddie himself growing up in Chicago, he saw a need for more programs in the Southeast after moving to Charleston as an adult.
Early on, Bookard got the chance to work the bag for Schreiber one day out on the course and said the experience helped him settle into his new role.
“It was very nerve-wracking,” he said. “But honestly from the moment we stepped out there and I got on his bag, we started talking, I mean it was just a completely different experience. He’s such a nice guy. He’s so down to earth, you would honestly never even know that he owns that place. I mean, it was just a great day. That kind of like helped me settle in as well as a caddie, like these people are here for a reason. The mission at Old Barnwell is to make golf more inclusive for everybody, whether that’s race, gender, age, anything. And so to see that even the owner was so into the mission, it was very helpful for me through my transition, becoming more comfortable caddying at such a sought-out place in my opinion.”
He also joined the North Augusta golf team for a season the year after they brought home a state title.
While working at Old Barnwell, Bookard learned about the Evans Scholars Program while looking for caddying scholarships but missed the deadline to apply during his senior year.
The prestigious caddying scholarship covers tuition and housing for up to four years at participating schools with a value of over $125,000. It was established by the Western Golf Association as the largest privately funded scholarship program in the United States.
Despite not being able to apply before graduation, he got another opportunity while going to school at Livingstone College in North Carolina with the help of Old Barnwell caddie master Dan Pelletier.
And the call couldn’t have come at a better time for Bookard, who was struggling to adjust to college life in Charlotte.
“He called me one day, just kind of checking out on me,” he said. “ …He was like, ‘I think you’d be a great candidate for the Evans Scholarship.’ That’s a big part of the reason why they started the youth caddie program at Old Barnwell was to eventually bring in Evans Scholars. He’s like, ‘this would be the first year that they were able to do it. I think you’d be a perfect candidate.’ So I applied and he also told me it was going to be at USC. And so he was like, ‘dude this is perfect for you.’ And so I applied in October.”
There are four criteria recipients need to fulfill to earn the scholarship: a strong caddying record, a good academic record, financial need and outstanding character. Once the initial application period ended, finalists were selected for interviews before final decisions were mailed out in February.
Bookard was chosen as one of three recipients from South Carolina to fill out the inaugural Evans Scholars class at the University of South Carolina. Of the three, Bookard and Benton Orr were the first two Evans Scholars to come from the Old Barnwell program in Aiken.
He found the decision waiting for him on his doorstep just one day after his birthday while getting ready to go for a round of golf.
“I was pretty surprised, honestly,” Bookard said. “I was super, super nervous. Like I said, I was going to the school before that I wasn’t a huge fan of, and so I was just very eager for the opportunity to be able to hopefully make my way out. And make my way to what I thought was a better situation through the Evans Scholarship. And so it was kind of like everything was on the line for me. Like winning the scholarship was everything.”
The moment was even more special for his mother, who was widowed when Bookard was just 12 years old after his father died from pancreatic cancer.
“Just to see that all the hard work she’s put in, honestly into raising me and my sister has paid off,” he said. “And that it’s going to continue to pay off hopefully as well throughout school and throughout the education that I get and what I want to do in life. It was just a great moment to know that financial burden as well has been taken off her shoulders to not have to work so hard to help me pay for school.”
Bookard will represent North Augusta as its first Evans Scholar and said he wants to get everything he can out of the opportunity. After transferring to USC in the fall with a major in biology, Bookard plans to eventually become a dentist and open a practice in the same community that helped to raise him.
“Honestly, it feels great,” he said. “It feels so great. I have to honestly give a lot of credit to the people who are around me, especially in the North August area. I mean I’ve been around Aiken of course, but mainly from North Augusta, so I have to give so much credit to honestly the people, especially in the education system through the schools. When things got really tough for me in middle school after the passing of my father, I just had so many great mentors and role models through the education system who were like, ‘Hey you’re a great kid. Things happen in life but don’t let this discourage you.’ So many of them were willing to help in some of the toughest times with giving me rides in school, helping bring food to my family after my father passed away. And even father figures that I had on the football field with coaches. I mean, it was just great. And so, honestly, I have to accredit those people for molding me into who I am today. And so to represent them and to represent what they’ve done for me, it’s just a great feeling.”
At the national level, Bookard is one of 360 caddies to be awarded the scholarship for 2025. Since the program started in 1930, over 12,000 caddies have benefited from the scholarship to get a college education, with 1,190 Evans Scholars currently seeking a higher education.
Taylor Beltz is a sports writer for the Aiken Standard. Follow her on X @TaylorKaye09.
Aiken Standard reporter
Taylor Beltz is a sports reporter for the Aiken Standard and the Post and Courier North Augusta. Beltz is a University of South Carolina graduate. Follow her on X @TaylorKaye09.
To support local journalism, sign up for a subscription. See our current offers »
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