BMW Media Site Mark Abtahi of Niles, IL Named the Recipient of the 2012 BMW Hole-In-One Scholarship  Contact: Stacy  Morris BMW 201-594-3360 (office) 201-370-5134 (cell) stacy.morris@bmwna.com     Ying Wu Rubenstein Communications (212) 843-9369 (office) (646) 387-2422 (cell) ywu@rubenstein.com Mark Abtahi of Niles, IL Named the Recipient of the 2012 BMW Hole-In-One Scholarship  Woodcliff Lake, NJ - July 13, 2013… BMW today announced that Mark Abtahi of Niles, Illinois was named the recipient of the 2012 BMW Hole-In-One Scholarship, a full, four-year tuition and housing grant for deserving young caddies. The Scholarship was awarded thanks to Steve Stricker’s perfect shot on the par 3 sixth hole at the 2012 BMW Championship, at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, IN. A caddie at Park Ridge Country Club in Park Ridge, IL, Abtahi will enter his freshman year at the University of Illinois this fall.The BMW Hole-In-One scholarship provides a four-year Evans Scholarship in honor of any player to score the first hole-in-one, on any hole during the BMW Championship. Named Tournament of the Year by the PGA TOUR in 2012, the BMW Championship is the penultimate event of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs.All proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation, one of the nation’s largest privately funded college scholarship programs, providing full university tuition and housing grants to deserving young caddies. Since BMW became a presenting sponsor of the tournament in 2007, the BMW Championship has raised over $14 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation.Abtahi was at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, IL to meet Stricker and was presented with an autographed pin flag from the 2012 BMW Championship.“Thanks to BMW and the Evans Scholars Foundation, I will be able to follow my dream of earning a degree in engineering,” said Abtahi. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I hope this will enable me to continue on the path of success.”“BMW is pleased to award Mark Abtahi a four-year scholarship to the University of Illinois to help him achieve his dreams and education goals,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO of BMW North America. “It is an honor working with the Evans Scholars Foundation to support a program that impacts the lives of exceptional young people, such as Mark and other Evans Scholars like him.”Abtahi attended Maine South High School where he graduated this past May with a 3.4 GPA. In addition to earning a spot on his high school’s high honor roll, he was named AP Scholar of the Month and has twice received the Model United National Social Science Award. Outside of the classroom, Abtahi volunteers at Resurrection Hospital, and is an avid football and tennis fan.“This commitment to send a caddie to college through the BMW Hole-in-One Scholarship is one of many ways BMW has shown its ongoing support for the Evans Scholars Foundation,” said John Kaczkowski, President and CEO of the Western Golf Association, which sponsors the Evans Scholarships. “We greatly appreciate all they have done, and continue to do, for our caddie scholarship program.”BMW couples its support for the BMW Championship and the Evans Scholars Foundation with a summer internship program that invites Evan Scholars to work for BMW. The work/study program offers the students invaluable insight into their future careers after graduation. This summer, Evans Scholar, Mary Kate McGovern [Marquette University], joined BMW of North America as a marketing intern in BMW’s Central Region Office in Schaumburg, IL.Created in 1930, the Evans Scholars Foundation started with two Northwestern University students and today is managed by the Western Golf Association. To date, the foundation has offered more than 10,500 college scholarships to golf caddies. During the 2013-2014 academic school year, 840 caddies will be enrolled in college, receiving tuition and housing benefits, totaling more than $12 million.BMW Group In AmericaBMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 139 BMW motorcycle retailers, 119 MINI passenger car dealers, and 34 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at: www.bmwgroupna.comJournalist note: Information about the BMW Group and its products is available to journalists on-line at the BMW Group PressClub at the following address: www.press.bmwna.com. Additional information, images and video may be found at www.bmwusanews.com. Broadcast quality video footage is available via The NewsMarket at www.thenewsmarket.com.Evans Scholars Foundation: Created in 1930, the Evans Scholars Foundation started with two Northwestern University students and has been managed since its inception by the Western Golf Association. To date, the foundation has offered more than 10,500 college scholarships to golf caddies, and during the 2013-2014 academic school year 840 caddies are attending college on Evans Scholarships, receiving tuition and housing benefits totaling more than $12 million.