COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Judy Bell, whose devotion to golf led her to turn out to be the primary lady to be president of the U.S. Golf Affiliation, died Monday at her dwelling in Colorado after spending 15 months in hospice care, the USGA stated. She was 89.
Bell was 15 when she took a practice from her native Kansas to California to compete within the U.S. Ladies’ Junior. She misplaced to the nice Mickey Wright within the semifinals, her highest end. However she performed on two Curtis Cup groups and was the U.S. captain of two Curtis Cup groups.
What marked her profession was volunteering on USGA committees, changing into a guidelines official and dealing her approach as much as turn out to be the primary lady on the manager committee. She was elected president in 1996.
“Judy Bell was greater than a frontrunner, she was a pressure of nature whose imaginative and prescient and compassion formed the very soul of the sport,” stated Mike Whan, the CEO of the USGA. “Judy helped open doorways for numerous younger ladies to search out their place, their confidence and their pleasure in golf. She broke obstacles not for the sake of recognition, however to make the sport higher and extra welcoming for everybody.
“All of us on the USGA mourn her passing and have fun the extraordinary lifetime of a girl whose impression will proceed to be felt for generations.”
Bell was inducted into the World Golf Corridor of Fame in 2001, and he or she was among the many first ladies to obtain honorary lifetime membership within the Royal & Historical Golf Membership of St. Andrews in 2015 when it voted to permit feminine members.
She confirmed her fast wit when requested the way it felt to be the primary lady to be USGA president.
“I do not know but the way it feels to be president as a result of I’ve solely been one for a couple of hours, however I understand how it feels to be a girl as a result of I have been one for 59 years,” she replied.
It was throughout Bell’s two-year presidency that the USGA created a grants program that now has contributed greater than $65 million to golf applications for juniors, gamers with disabilities and different various teams.
“I am passionate in regards to the sport of golf, which has given me a lot sheer pleasure and pleasure that I’ve all the time needed to provide one thing again to it,” Bell as soon as stated about devoting a lot time to the USGA. “With out query that is actually what my volunteer efforts have been about.”
