For 17-year-old caddie and golfer Daniella Penaloza, the past few years felt like hell. She went through more loss and uncertainty than most teenagers could imagine. Her father died suddenly in November 2022, her uncle became quadriplegic, and her grandfather was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. Eventually, she found herself living without her immediate family to complete her senior year, even as she leaned on an extended family of her own choosing. Even golf, the sport that once connected her to her dad, became too painful to play. Yet Penaloza kept showing up.
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Her work ethic, optimism, and willingness to help others soon caught the attention of the people at Old Barnwell Golf Club in Aiken, South Carolina. Then came the good news: a $125,000 college scholarship. When the results arrived, Penaloza opened the envelope alone in a driveway, recording the moment on her phone, and this token of happiness left her struggling to hold back tears in the YouTube video by the Golf Channel. James Colgan of Golf Channel asked her what the scholarship would mean to her.
“To me, it would mean everything and more. Like me, because I know what I’ve gone through. Like I know, and it’s like an overwhelming sensation because it’s like, oh my god, like it really did pay off, like after, like, 4 years of hell, like you’re fine. Like you could just breathe,” she replied while holding back her tears.
After opening the envelope, she drove straight to work, where caddiemaster Alex Beegle, who had hired her without knowing her story, greeted her with a hug in the caddie yard.
“You earned this,” he told her.
The Evans Scholarship is a national full-tuition-and-housing grant for golf caddies. She will use it to attend the University of South Carolina beginning in fall 2026. Parker Boyd, fellow caddie from Old Barnwell, will accompany her as he also got the scholarship in the same cycle.
Getting there wasn’t easy. She and her dad had bonded over golf, so after he died she couldn’t bring herself to pick up a club for a long stretch, trying softball instead. But as her boss at Old Barnwell, Nick Schreiber, says, you would never learn about any of it from talking to her. She avoids discussing it, and always wears a smile instead.
Penaloza called on her employer at Old Barnwell to help convince her mother to let her stay in Aiken for senior year. Soon after, it was Ed Brockner, the club’s mission director, whom she credited with bringing her the Evans Scholarship opportunity.
Schreiber said that the 17-year-old caddie deserves much more than she has received. He said that good words about her had reached him before he met her. Many members had emailed him singing her praises.
It’s not just her story, though. Old Barnwell is reputed for doing good through golf, and it is all thanks to Schreiber. In fact, the mindset at the club is that caddying at Old Barnwell is not a benefit for the member, but a benefit for the caddie.
That’s how the world of golf is. It can be brutal for golfers on the course, but off the course, there’s a huge community willing to support one another.
There are many similar stories to prove just that.
More caddies who turned hardship into a full ride
Bryce has a similar story featuring the Evans Scholarship. The teen caddie was raised by a single father who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident when Bryce was only 11. He has cared for his dad and his younger brother since then. Now, he has earned the scholarship and will attend Purdue University in the fall to study engineering.
Then there’s Holden Lee, whose earliest memory is his home being raided by the FBI, when his father was arrested. He later found stability and purpose in caddying. With some help and mentorship, even from the late Steve Lapper, he won it too.
Caddying used to mean a summer job. At Old Barnwell, it’s starting to look more like a way out. Penaloza and Boyd are the third and fourth caddies from the club alone to win an Evans Scholarship, and that’s not a coincidence. It’s a program built around one idea: look after the kid carrying the bag, not just the member walking beside him. Whether that kind of care can hold up as more families lean on it is the real test ahead. But for now, at Old Barnwell, it’s working.