Alice Dye, golf course architect and USGA champ, dies at 91

Golf lost one of its most influential female figures on Friday with the passing of Alice Dye. The “First Lady” of golf course architecture, who was married to legendary architect Pete Dye, was 91. She had been caring for her husband, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and to whom she had been married nearly 70 years.

Dye was a legend in her own right on the golf course from back in her days playing as a young amateur. She was born Feb. 19, 1927 in Indianapolis and began taking golf lessons early in life. She won 11 women’s city titles in Indianapolis and nine state amateur championships in Indiana plus three more in Florida. She was ranked as high as No. 2 in the U.S. early in her career and was a two-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion, in addition to winning numerous other national amateur titles.

She played on the U.S. Curtis Cup team in 1970 and captained the U.S. Women’s World Amateur Team to a tie for fifth in 1992.

Dye, nee Holliday, attended Rollins college in Orlando, Fla., to study Zoology. It was at Rollins that she met her husband.

Dye was the first female president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and the first woman to serve as a director of the PGA of America. She did not take those positions lightly. Among her legacies was the two-tee system that offered a solution for female players who normally only had one teeing option.

"I feel as a woman that it’s your responsibility to take positions and be visible so that other women can follow," Dye told IndyStar in 2016. "You need to open some doors."