Golf Writers’ Association of America (GWAA) inaugural Herbert V. Kohler Jr./GWAA Scholarship recipients CCI doctoral candidate Aman Misra and Penn State’s Amanda Vogt overlooking the famous Church Pew bunkers on Oakmont Country Club’s third hole at the 2025 US Open.
When Aman Misra was 16 years old, he stayed up five nights in a row to watch the 2008 U.S. Open Golf Championship live from his hometown of Kolkata, India.
The 2008 championship left an indelible mark on golfing history—the tournament concluded following an 18-hole playoff to decide the winner—and on Misra, a current doctoral candidate in the College of Communication and Information (CCI). That exhilarating 2008 championship inspired him to pursue a career in journalism.
So, it was a surreal experience for Misra to attend the 2025 U.S. Open last month—his first ever PGA Tour major—and have unfettered access to the media and broadcast operations at the golf championship.
This opportunity was possible thanks to a scholarship from the Golf Writers’ Association of America (GWAA). Misra was selected as one of two inaugural recipients of the Herbert V. Kohler Jr./GWAA Scholarship, which awarded its recipients $5,000 to apply toward their education, in addition to welcoming them behind-the-scenes of the U.S. Open.
“My sincere thanks to CCI and the School of Journalism and Media for giving me a platform which allowed me to come to America and take advantage of opportunities such as the GWAA scholarship,” Misra said. “I have encouraged some of my undergraduate students who are aspiring golf writers to apply for the scholarship as well, so hopefully the trend of a UT GWAA scholarship recipient will continue.”
While being a GWAA scholar was “all business,” Misra said it was exciting to meet the various golf media professionals. This includes former professional golfer and veteran broadcaster Johnny Miller, whose calling of tournaments such as the 2008 U.S. Open was influential in shaping Misra’s career path.
“It was a bit of a full circle moment to meet him in person at the 2025 U.S. Open at a press conference, older but as analytical, and critical as ever,” Misra said.
He said most media members were welcoming and interested in learning more about the scholarship recipients’ work and how they could help them advance in the field. Misra plans on sharing what he learned from the experience with his students in the fall and in his doctoral research, which focuses on public memory of sport and media perception of disability sport.
“Academics in sports communication have comprehensively looked at other American sports, but golf is still one which is ripe for the taking,” Misra said. “More attention needs to be paid to the golf media from a scholarly perspective, especially the tensions that exist between the media and athletes themselves.”
Misra also attended the 2025 U.S. Adaptive Open golf championship this summer, where he worked as a broadcast volunteer for the tournament. His job included working as a ball spotter and relaying what happened on the golf course back to the broadcasters.
Misra said he signed up for the tournament to learn more about how disability in golf is covered and the role hosts play in educating journalists who cover the event and have likely never covered disability sport prior to this event.
“The tournament was an excellent example of how adaptive sports are gradually being embraced by established sporting institutions in the United States,” Misra said. “Notably, many of the 96 golfers who qualified for the fourth edition of the tournament were from abroad, creating a diverse environment for the study of both disability media and golf. Undergraduate students should take advantage of such volunteering opportunities in sport as well, because it allows for hands-on experience in the field.”
His hope is that experiences at both tournaments will greatly add to his ongoing research into disabilities and sports.
Misra’s mother, Mayura, introduced him to golf.
During the 1980s, Mayura was a ranked golfer in India and competed alongside top Indian golfers like Simi Mehra and Arjun Atwall, the first female and male Indian golfers respectively to win professional titles in America. As a child, Misra accompanied his mother to country clubs and picked up the game.
When Misra was 13 years old he was a good swimmer, competing in high school meets. But he began losing his hearing, which led to him redirecting his focus to golf.
“Golf was a refuge away from the prying judging lights of competitive swimming,” Misra said. “I didn’t have anything to prove to anyone while coping with my growing disability, which continues to worsen to this day.”
As he played, Misra dreamt of becoming a professional golfer but eventually accepted he was not skilled enough to achieve that dream. However, he continues to play while also working on his other passion of journalism. Misra worked for news organizations such as the Indian Express, ESPN India, Golf Digest, and other media outlets in India before coming to CCI to pursue his doctorate.
“While my eventual goal is to work in academia, the GWAA scholarship is meaningful because it opens doors for me in the American golf media,” Misra said. “As an academic, I want to be able to not just research and teach sports journalism, I want to also be able to continue practicing sports journalism. The goal is to try and cover all four majors each year, and bring those learnings back into the classroom to share with the next generation.”