BOSTON, Mass – The Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund will honor LPGA Hall of Famer Juli Inkster with the 2024 Francis Ouimet Award for Lifetime Contributions to Golf at its annual fundraising banquet scheduled Thursday March 21 at Encore Boston Harbor.
“We are thrilled to have Juli Inkster as the 2024 Banquet Honoree, as her contributions to golf have been groundbreaking in her his nearly forty-year career,” said Ouimet Fund Executive Director Colin McGuire. “We look forward to hosting nearly 1,500 guests for this special evening, and we look forward to hearing from Julie who is one of the most accomplished female golfers ever.”
Juli Inkster grew up in Santa Cruz, CA, where she learned the game at Pasatiempo Golf Club after having worked in the cart barn, pro shop and snack shack. She joined the boys high school golf team and earned a scholarship to San Jose State University. This launched a prolific amateur career, including All-American honors at San Jose State University for three years, three straight U.S. Women’s Amateur titles, the California Amateur, part of the United States team win in the 1982 Curtis Cup, and the #1 ranked women’s amateur golfer in 1981 and 1982.
Inkster came out strong in her LPGA debut season of 1983, winning her first tournament in only her fifth start. She became the first LPGA rookie to win two major championships in one season, the 1984 Nabisco Dinah Shore and the du Maurier Classic. Inkster’s three wins led to being chosen as LPGA Rookie of the Year and thrust the young star into the spotlight of women’s golf. Inkster would go on to win 12 tournaments in the 1980s, including two more majors.
“The Ouimet Award is really everything I’m about,” said Inkster in a recent Legacy Ouimet Fund Podcast. “It’s about growing the game and giving people the opportunity to follow their dreams whether that be in golf, or as a lawyer or doctor or even opening up a restaurant. Scholarships help a lot of kids follow their dreams. We live in a great country where there’s a lot of people willing to help out financially and the Ouimet Fund is one of them.”
In 2019, the seven-time major champion helped create the Juli Inkster Senior Award, given annually by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association to the top-ranked female college golfer who has completed her fourth year of eligibility. She begun another career chapter in her career as golf commentator, serving in both the booth analyst and interviewer roles for Golf Channel, Fox Sports, and NBC.
The Ouimet Fund’s purpose is to help deserving young men and women, who have worked at golf courses in Massachusetts, obtain a college education. Since 1949, The Fund has awarded over $49 million in scholarships to more than 6,625 deserving men and women.
The Francis Ouimet Banquet is the largest golf dinner in the United States and has become a fixture in the New England golf community, attracting upwards of 1,500 guests most years! Previous honorees include Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, President George Bush, Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam, Ben Crenshaw, Chi Chi Rodriquez, Tom Kite, Tom Watson, Jim Nantz and more.
The Banquet is always a special evening and a wonderful opportunity to hear directly from Banquet Honorees, who represent so much of the history of the game of golf. Guests also hear from the Student Speaker, whose personal story embodies that of so many Ouimet Scholars. The Ouimet Scholarship Fund awarded $3.25 million in need-based scholarships for the 2023-24 school year.
