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Behind-the-scenes look as St. Louis country club prepares to host 2026 BMW Championship

"We are going to change some lives by doing this," tournament chair Edward Glotzbach said in support of the Evans Scholarship, full collegiate caddy tuition/housing.

Get ready, local golfers, because the Bellerive Country Club will be hosting the BMW Championship in 2026.   

5 On Your Side got a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations and conversations already going on in Town and Country.

The BMW Championship is the qualifying tournament for the PGA Tour Championship much like the Super Bowl of the season. This year, Scottie Scheffler won the Tour Championship with authority on Sunday in Atlanta.

No specific August dates have been announced for 2026.

Yet, BMW Championship tournament chair and Bellerive club member Edward Glotzbach is keeping his eyes on the horizon with the potential for tens of thousands of golf fans and novices alike to come to Missouri.

"St. Louis has its up days and its down days," Glotzbach said. "We are really pleased to be part of a big event here and showing the world what St. Louis is like." 

Bellerive already has a rich history of hosting major golf tournaments. It hosted the BMW Championship in 2008 as Camilo Villegas earned the first PGA Tour win of his career. Ten years later, Bellerive was home to the PGA Championship where Brooks Koepka was victorious.

Glotzbach told Krall that attendance projections and many preparations are still in flux. 

"It depends on a lot of things, parking, entry and exit, what are the safety issues?" Glotzbach said. 

He is excited to keep conversations going with St. Louis County police and fire marshals as well as Missouri highway teams who step in to assist with traffic.

"It is an active discussion," Glotzbach said. "We're obviously going to try to accommodate as many fans as we can."

The tournament chair was in Colorado last week for this year's BMW Championship. Glotzbach was actively taking notes at Castle Pines Golf Club as Keegan Bradley went 12-under.

The 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Bradley won this year's BMW Championship, but heading into it in 50th place out of 50 players in the FedEx Cup rankings, he's showing the world that in two years at Bellerive it could be anybody's tournament.

"We love bringing big events to St. Louis because it really helps the city and the economy," Glotzbach said. "You can show it off on TV. This one is extra exciting because the Evans Scholars Foundation is a benefactor of it."

The Evans Scholarship means free tuition and housing for caddies with demonstrated financial need based on typically a B+ average and usually completing 155 rounds at their considered home course by the time they're high school seniors.

Bellerive caddy Logan Forister is one of this year's Evans Scholars. 

Playing DIII golf at Webster University during his freshman year and footing the bill himself, Forister's approximately $90,000 scholarship allowed him to transfer to his dream school at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"It's just a huge weight off my back," Forister said. "It was doable. A lot of people do it. It was doable. It just kind of puts you in a hole. It just kind of puts you down for a bit. Especially graduating and then getting into a job. You kind of have a hole to dig out of." 

A current Mizzou sophomore, Forister is one of more than 1,100 Evans Scholars actively enrolled in 24 different universities nationwide.

The Western Golf Association facilitates the Evans Scholarship which on average can total about $120,000 for a caddy in a four-year institution.

One of the WGA directors in the St. Louis chapters who has seen lives changed first hand is Sue Rector who is also a Bellerive club member.

"These kids are exceptional," Rector said. "They're hard working. They're focused. They're goal-oriented. They know what they have to do to earn this scholarship and it is hard work."

Evans Scholarship applications are accepted at the beginning of an applicant’s senior year of high school, as well as from college freshmen.

According to the Western Golf Association, the entire application, including supporting documents like evaluations, recommendation letters, transcripts, test scores and a CSS profile, is expected to be completed by Oct. 15. Because the FAFSA will not be available until Dec. 1, the deadline to submit the SAR to the Scholarship Committee will be on or before Jan. 15. To apply for the Evans Scholarship, click here.

"The money is one thing," Forister said. "Then, the networking side of the Evans Scholarship is what I'm most excited about. I live with 43 people who are all driven. They were all caddies and now they're going to get jobs in the corporate world. They're all going to be engineers, accountants or they're going to go into finance."

The BMW Championship is the largest annual fundraiser for Evans Scholars. To donate or get involved with the Evans Scholarship, you can click here.

"With the support of the Evans Scholars Foundation, we know we are going to change some lives by doing this," Glotzbach said heading into 2026. 

Tickets will go on sale soon for people to attend in St. Louis.

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