When Kevin MacLaughlan graduated from Holy Cross in 1993, his resume listed two experiences as he interviewed with a major accounting firm.
The Lowell native was a longtime caddie at Long Meadow Golf Club and a recipient of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund.
The prestigious honor didn’t just land him a job and propel him into a successful career — he serves as a chief financial officer for Century Equity Partners — it also inspired him to give back to the organization that enabled his future through his passion for education and golf.
The honor carried significant weight for MacLaughlan in the real world. And it is his mission to deliver that message across the region as president of the organization that is set to distribute $3.9 million in scholarships this year to young men and women who work at golf courses.
“I have a lot of pride in Ouimet,” said MacLaughlan, who lives in Needham with his family. “I don’t think I’d be where I was if it wasn’t for that.”
The 1989 Lowell High graduate became a junior member at Long Meadow at age 14. He lived less than a mile away from the Lowell club, riding his bike to the links nearly every day. Superintendent Dick French approached him with a job opportunity. It changed his life.
Six days a week, MacLaughlan would be seen syringing the greens and fulfilling various groundskeeping duties around the course. He even served as a caddie. For that, he was introduced to the Ouimet Scholarship Fund, which provided him with a need-based scholarship to attend his dream school, Holy Cross.
MacLaughlan is still a member at Long Meadow.
MacLaughlan now sees himself in the kids working around the courses at Long Meadow, Mt. Pleasant, Vesper and Nabnasset. In the last five years, 30 scholars have represented those four area courses. They have been awarded over $400,000.
“It’s meaningful,” MacLaughlan said, “and those kids are good kids.”
Education — and golf — are synonymous with MacLaughlan’s roots. His uncle John was a longtime golf coach at Chelmsford High. His parents, Kevin and Donna, were both teachers. His uncle Jim taught at the Moody Elementary School in Lowell. Then there’s Dave MacLaughlan, who is in his 43rd season at the helm of the baseball program at Greater Lowell Tech. He, too, is MacLaughlan’s uncle.
“Education was huge in my family, and golf and sports was,” said MacLaughlan, who was a Carney Medal recipient at LHS. “So it was kind of a natural progression.”
Since the foundation’s inception in 1949, $57 million has been awarded to almost 7,000 recipients across Massachusetts. Francis Ouimet was 20 years old when he staged an improbable win at the 1913 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline as an amateur. The self-taught linksman chose 10-year-old Eddie Lowery as his caddie as opposed to a seasoned member.
Lowell native Kevin MacLaughlan, right, had his life changed by the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund. Now he’s the organization’s president. He’s shown with, from left, Colin McGuire, Daniel O’Connell and Dick Connolly. (Courtesy photo)
Ouimet and Lowery strolling down the fairway created one of the most iconic golf photos ever.
MacLaughlan was one of the many students who achieved their goals in post-secondary education because of the four-year renewable scholarship.
“I wanted to go to Holy Cross, and it was expensive,” MacLaughlan said. “It’s still expensive, and it was expensive back then. Going through that process and that scholarship really helped me.”
MacLaughlan joined the board 10 years ago and became president in October. He joins Jim Moriarty, the de facto mayor of Mt. Pleasant, as the second Lowell native to spearhead the organization in that role.
Moriarty, who still serves on the board after his term ended in 2021 as president, invited MacLaughlan to Mt. Pleasant while recruiting him to join the board. On the very first hole, MacLaughlan dunked his first-ever hole-in-one.
“It was absolutely hysterical that I had him up, and it was his first swing and first hole-in-one,” Moriarty said.
They still laugh about how Moriarty, a Mt. Pleasant-lifer, achieved his first ace at Long Meadow, while MacLaughlan’s first and only came on Staples Street at Mt. Pleasant.
And Moriarty has had a front-row seat to the work MacLaughlan has put into the foundation in his current role.
“He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty,” Moriarty said. “He works real hard and he makes sure every kid has the opportunity to get the Ouimet Scholarship.”
On Monday, the organization is set to host its annual banquet at the Omni Boston Seaport. The sold-out event will host 1,400 guests and honor seven-time major champion Karrie Webb with the 2026 Francis Ouimet Award for Lifelong Contributions to Golf. Ian Baker-Finch will be on hand to moderate a fireside chat.
Legendary broadcaster Jim Nantz was once honored at the banquet and still shows his support for the foundation. Nantz sported an Ouimet tie on air as he narrated Rory McIlroy’s exciting victory in the final round of the Masters Tournament earlier this month.
The Ouimet Scholarship Fund is bigger than perfectly-cut greens and carefully-raked bunkers. Its initiative encapsulates everything about what makes golf so pure, and it has stuck with MacLaughlan.
For his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, he endowed an Ouimet scholarship in the MacLaughlan family name. Fittingly, the award is given to recipients pursuing a career in education.
“That’s the lasting impression,” MacLaughlan said. “That was my way of saying thank you for pushing education and the Ouimet.”