LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- With a name like Christian Heavens, you'd figure a guy could count on a little help from above.

For the Georgetown College junior golfer, who will play in the U.S. Amateur Championships next week at Chambers Bay Golf Course near Tacoma, Wash., that help will come from his school's president, Bill Crouch.

The president, you see, is going to be his caddie for the first two days of the tournament.

Now, I know what you're saying. "Some guys will do anything to get onto the golf course."

It's not like that. Crouch is a national trustee for the First Tee organization of the PGA Tour, which strives to get young players involved with golf and has made a special effort to draw minority kids to the game.

Crouch met Heavens, a native of Fairview Heights, Ill., at a First Tee event in St.Louis and was immediately impressed. He wound up offering Heavens a scholarship through the school's First Tee Scholars program and has been closely involved with him - as he is with many Georgetown students - since then.

Heavens said at first he thought he was being offered a scholarship by Georgetown University of the Big East "until I looked on the Internet." He had been receiving NCAA DivisionI interest, including from Notre Dame, but wound up choosing Georgetown in part because of Crouch's personal effort to get him.

"There was a lot more to it than just the golf, and there were a lot of things about Georgetown that made sense," he said. "And being on a close basis with Dr.Crouch is a big part of that."

When Heavens qualified for the U.S. Amateur by shooting rounds of 71 and 70 in the one-day qualifier at Piper Glen Golf Course in Springfield, Ill., Crouch said he decided right then that he'd make the trip to Washington to watch Heavens play.

"Then I heard that he needed a caddie, so I thought, what the heck?" Crouch said.

But the decision wasn't an easy tap-in for Heavens and his grandfather, who introduced him to the game as a young child.

"They had a big debate over whether they needed to get out there and hire a local caddie who knew the course very well or choose me as a caddie because I know how to motivate Christian," Crouch said. "And that was the ultimate factor. Christian can learn the course, but I can be standing by his side and motivating him the whole way around."

Heavens is pleased that Crouch will be there.

"I think it's definitely going to be nice to experience that with him," Heavens said. "That he would do that, it definitely shows the relationship we have. I'm looking forward to it. He knows a lot of golf."

When Tiger Woods burst onto the scene, the assumption was that a slew of black players would follow him. That hasn't yet happened in golf's highest ranks. Crouch, who is committed to promoting the game to minorities, said it's as much a factor of finances as talent.

It's expensive to even begin a pro golf career, paying entry fees and traveling to events. That's why Crouch will work to raise sponsorships for Heavens when he turns pro next year, enough to cover him through his first year of pro golf. NCAA schools, by rule, could not do that. NAIA schools, like Georgetown, can.

Heavens was an NAIA All-American and the Mid-South Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore. And playing in a U.S. Golf Association event this year was a major goal.

"There's some good minority golfers coming up now," Heavens said. "You're going to see them."

Opportunities like the one Heavens will have next week are big stepping stones toward that. And while neither he nor Crouch made any grand predictions for the week, Crouch said, "he's at least given himself a chance."

With a little help from a man upstairs.