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Ali N. Beam | PGA Professional, Riverside Golf Academy, Indianapolis, IN – Ali has been a PGA professional since 2008. She is very involved in the First Tee of Indiana serving as the Program Director of Northern Indiana. She also teaches classes within the First Tee. Her duties within the First Tee include overseeing programming at about 30 golf courses that conduct First Tee and oversee over 200 elementary schools that teach First Tee in the PE classroom.

Ali is a graduate of Lafayette Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana where her team went to the state finals three of her four years finishing tied for second in her senior year. Her team also was the North Central Conference Champion three of her four years at Jeff. She was named All-State her senior year finishing 8th in the state. Her accolades in high school included a two-time Player of the Year in the Central Indiana Junior Golf Association and the youngest person ever to win the Greater Lafayette Women’s Golf Tournament. She was 16 years old.

She is a graduate of Northern Illinois University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology and Physical Education. She has continued to use her teaching degree in the First Tee and her many lessons. She was named team captain and led the team in scoring during her time at Northern. She was also named the most valuable female athlete at Northern in 2003.

She was an assistant golf professional at Coyote Crossing golf course in West Lafayette Indiana and at Heartland Crossing Golf Links in Camby, Indiana. She later was named the head professional at Heartland Crossing. She has been with the First Tee since 2011. She is also the varsity girl’s golf coach at Bishop Chatard High School and has been there for six years.

She is a major advocate of teaching golf, but not just the game. She believes that golf is not only a physical sport, but a mental one as well. Her teaching philosophy includes a love of the sport that has been very good to her.

Indiana PGA Section Awards: 2016: Indiana PGA Player Development Award Winner 2019: Indiana PGA Youth Player Development Award Winner

Rachel Johnson | PGA Associate, The Sagamore Club, Noblesville, IN – After two beautiful days at Kokomo Country Club, Rachel Johnson of The Sagamore Club came out on top to claim the 2023 Indiana PGA Women’s Open Title.

Johnson had an impressive first round of 5-under par (65) and finished tied for the lead alongside Westfield’s Cailyn Henderson. The two players went into the final round with a two stroke lead over Westfield’s Samantha Brown (a). This neck and neck battle between Johnson and Henderson fizzled out early with Henderson struggling on the first few holes of the round. However Brown fought hard on the front nine to sit with Johnson for a quick moment after birdieing holes 1,5, and 7 but came up short with a double on hole 8. This gave Johnson some separation from the crowd where she ended up finishing 6-under par, five strokes ahead of her competition. Fort Wayne’s Madi Dabagia (a) made sure to stay in contention and created a tough fight for second. This battle ended with Brown and Dabagia finishing with a total of 1-under par and sharing the runner-up spot.

Johnson remained consistent today throughout the duration of the round, which was enough to both create a safe distance between her competition, and negate some pressure from her performance.

“I came out here just having fun. No expectations but to just enjoy two 18 rounds of golf with my dad on the bag. Having him on the bag just kind of takes me back to all the times he helped me in junior golf. Now that I am an adult, we don’t get to play together that much anymore, so it just makes it extra special to have him be able to coach me” said Johnson.

Johnson who is the Assistant Golf Professional at The Sagamore Club, noted that it has been a while since she has been in the winning circle and that it feels good to be back.

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