Summer Break with SCGA Junior Golf Foundation Scholars

By Charlotte Johnson

The SCGA Junior Golf Foundation Post-Secondary Scholarship Program is the culmination of its junior golf opportunities, which welcome juniors of all ages and skill levels to learn golf and achieve their potential and personal goals. Each year, scholarships are awarded to individuals who have been involved with SCGA Junior programming for at least two years, are role models in their community, hard workers in school and have shown growth in character through their experiences with golf. Since its inception in 2008, the Scholarship Program has awarded $2.5 million to nearly 200 scholars.

This summer, FORE Magazine caught up with four scholars — all of whom spent many years developing with the Junior Golf Foundation and are at different stages in their academic and golf journeys, from graduating high school to entering their junior year of college — to hear about their experiences balancing high-performance golf and academic success.

This spring, LOGAN KIM concluded his freshman season at Stanford University on the men’s golf team, playing 24 competition tournament rounds as a Cardinal. Kim helped Stanford clinch their 26th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance, where the Cardinal would go on to finish eighth at NCAA Regionals.

Kim found SCGA Junior through his frequent use of the SCGA Junior Youth on Course pass, which provides juniors affordable green fees and range buckets. He is excited to be taking his talents for the 2025-2026 academic year to UCLA as a Bruin where he hopes to continue impacting his team’s success.

“I am so thankful the SCGA Junior program exists. For almost 10 years I was able to hit balls at Altadena GC, every morning before school for $2. While our apartment and the course burned down during the fires, I have a strong appreciation for the community I built there. I am 100 percent certain that my success in golf would not have been possible without my SCGA Junior Youth on Course Pass. This summer, I will be competing in the 126th SCGA Amateur in San Diego and I can’t wait.”

SALMA IBRAHIM, who has been a part of SCGA Junior programming since 2014, is now a student-athlete on the women’s golf team at Southern University (SU) where she earned Freshman Low Medalist from the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Salma won the Hornet Invitational in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the first individual victory for the SU women’s team in over a decade. She told FORE Magazine that receiving a scholarship and making the dean’s list were points of pride.

“My parents came to the U.S. and didn’t even know about golf until they saw Tiger Woods in a tournament. So, to go from that to all my siblings playing golf in the SCGA Junior program has been the most rewarding journey. I am looking forward to having a successful college golf career and hopefully a team win soon.”

Ever since November of last year when ANDREW RODRIGUEZ announced his commitment to play golf at Fresno State University, his game has skyrocketed. This past June, Rodriguez won the Seri Pak Desert Junior Championship shooting 12-under-par over four days to land him in Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills CC. The win, his first on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Tour, catapulted Andrew to the 114th best player in the nation according to the AJGA.

A student at La Serna High School, Andrew and his team took first place at the 2025 CIF SCGA SoCal Boys HS Championship and finished fourth at the State Finals at Poppy Hills CC.

Andrew has been with the SCGA Junior family since he was six years old and grew up through SCGA Junior programming. He is a recipient of the SCGA Junior Golf Assistance Fund and the USGA’s National Development Team Grant Program, both initiatives providing high-performing individuals with financial support to compete in tournaments nationwide.

“My accomplishments reflect not only the time and effort I’ve put into the game but also the support I’ve received along the way. SCGA Junior has played a huge role in my journey, providing access to tournaments, training, outings and pursuing competitive golf.”

Entering her junior campaign at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) MITZI DUARTE wrapped up her sophomore year as a standout Highlander. In the 2024-25 season, Mitzi received All-Big West Second Team honors and UCR Student-Athlete of the Week. She also posted a scoring average of 72 over 26 rounds and played in 96 percent of the team’s competitions this season.

Mitzi started her golf career with SCGA Junior programs at age seven at Don Knabe GC and has since become a part-time coach for SCGA Junior in the community/golf course she grew up playing. Looking forward to next season, Mitzi is “incredibly excited to see where my game is going and to continue competing.”

When looking to the future, whether as a professional on the LPGA tour or otherwise, she wants to deepen her involvement within the golf industry, a game that has been instrumental in her development on and beyond the course.