Allen Senior Awarded $25,000 College Scholarship

The Texas Golf Association Foundation is pleased to announce that Abigail Inocian, a senior at Allen High School in Allen, Texas, has been named the 2023 recipient of the $25,000 Doris Kallina / ’Nez Muhleman Scholarship.

Presented every four years, the scholarship was established in 2015 to honor Doris Kallina and ‘Nez Muhleman, two women who for many years devoted their time, energy, and resources to help promote women’s golf in Texas. The goal of the scholarship is to provide young women with additional resources to help offset the costs associated with higher learning and is awarded based on a review of demonstrated financial need, academic proficiency, extracurricular activities, and participation in an organized junior golf program.

Accompanied by her parents Claire and Malkin, Inocian received a check for $3,000 during a recent presentation ceremony at the TGA main office in Dallas, with the remainder of the renewable scholarship to be paid out in increasing amounts over the next three years.

“I want to thank everyone at the TGA Foundation for this amazing honor, it really means so much to me,” Inocian said. “I’m so grateful to have been chosen because I know there were a lot of other girls who were also deserving of this scholarship. It’s just an incredible feeling to know that I now can financially support myself while earning my undergraduate degree.”

For the 18-year-old Inocian, golf has been a family activity from an early age and has played an important role in her life from the outset. She was a preschooler when her father first introduced her to the sport when he took her along on one of his trips to the driving range. Inocian was quick to learn the fundamentals and was soon developing her nascent skills by playing the six-hole Futures Course at Watters Creek in Plano, often alongside her dad and older sister Angela, who is currently on the women’s golf team at Tarleton State University. By the age of 12, Inocian was competing on various junior tours at the regional, state, and national level where over the past six years she has notched eight wins and 14 runner-up finishes.

She has achieved similar success during her career on Allen High School’s girls’ varsity golf team, capturing four individual titles and earning Most Improved Player and Player of the Year awards. The Lady Eagles have long been a powerhouse in girls’ golf, having won state championships in 2005 and 2006 and then again in 2012 and 2014. As team captain for the past two seasons, Inocian is proud to have played a leadership role in carrying on the history of excellence.

“I’ve talked with a number of the girls that have graduated on multiple occasions, and they always have something inspiring to say,” Inocian said. “I’m now in a position they were in, and I get to mentor the younger girls on the team. I feel lucky to be part of such a great group of current and former players and to be able to pass along the team’s traditions and values.”

Equally impressive in the classroom as she is on the golf course, Inocian is a full diploma student in the school’s prestigious International Baccalaureate® program and her weighted 4.57 GPA ranks 33rd in a class size of 1,714. Her total SAT score of 1480, which included a perfect 800 in the evidence-based reading and writing section of the exam, placed her in the 97th percentile of all students who took the test. She also plays the violin in the Chamber I Varsity Orchestra, the top-ranked orchestra group in the school’s fine arts program.

Even though her daily schedule is busy with homework, golf tournaments and practice sessions, Inocian devotes as much of her free time as possible to volunteer work, including being lead altar server at her church, coaching groups of young kids during the golf team’s summer camp and leading the weekly get-together of the school’s PB & Joy Club, a student-run organization that makes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to help those struggling with homelessness.

Inocian was chosen as the 2023 scholarship recipient from a competitive statewide applicant pool for her demonstrated excellence in the classroom, on the golf course and in her community.

“We received a lot of really good applications this year from students across the state and from there narrowed the list to 10 finalists for the interview stage,” said Kelly Kilgo, Managing Director of TGA Foundation/Outreach. “All the young girls we talked to were wonderful and are on their way to doing great things. However, we were super impressed with Abigail. She was awesome and we loved everything about her.”

Inocian said she will use the scholarship money to attend Houston Christian University (formerly Houston Baptist University) where she plans to follow a pre-med track with the long-range goal of becoming a physician. She also has her sights set on earning a spot on the women’s golf team.

“My education and professional career goal is the top priority, but I also really want to see how far I can go as a competitive golfer at the college level,” Inocian said. “Houston Christian University was the best choice for me because there I have the chance to follow both dreams. And with the scholarship funds, I can devote more time to each, as well as getting a great head start for attending medical school in the future.”

Inocian perfectly embodies all the attributes the Doris Kallina / ’Nez Muhleman Scholarship is meant to encourage in the next generation of young women: drive, determination, a passion for golf, and the courage to dream big.

“We are incredibly proud and excited to have Abigail as one of our scholarship recipients,” Kilgo said. “We are honored to be able to help young girls like her pursue their educational goals, and we wish her much success in the future and look forward to following her career.”

For more information about the Doris Kallina/’Nez Muhleman Scholarship and other current TGA Foundation junior golf development programs, click here.