Phoenix, AZ – The application portal for the Marilynn Smith Scholarship is now open. Each year, Golf It Forward® partners with the LPGA Foundation to award twenty-five $5,000 scholarships to qualified high school female seniors who apply and are selected as recipients. The fund was established by LPGA co-founder Marilynn Smith in 1999 and since its inception has granted $1,650,000 in scholarships to 325 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 United States or Canada who is committed to attend a US college, has a Letter of Intent to play Collegiate Golf, carries a strong academic background, is active in community service and has personal endorsements.
The Marilynn Smith Scholarship Fund was established by Ms. 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 or Canada 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 is welcomed in under the moniker PEARL– 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 professional development programming as well as 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.
2026 Scholarship Underwriters include Daphne’s Headcovers, Dinan & Company, LLC, Pete & Jan Goebel, Golf It Forward, LPGA Foundation, Eric & Kerrie Nelson, Tom Quinlan, Sandra Gal Foundation, Tori Totlis, and the Waitkus Family.
To learn more about the scholarship program or to help 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 Chair
