CURTIS CUP CENTENARIAN PHIL WYLIE DIES

 GOLF'S GRAND OLD LADY HAS PASSED AWAY


By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Golf's Grand Old Lady,
Troon-based Phyllis Wylie, the oldest surviving Curtis Cup player on either side of the Atlantic, died on Wednesday (October 3). She had her 101st birthday on August 12.
Essex-born Phyllis Wade Wylie, generally known as "Phil,"  was a star life-long amateur golfer in the pre-war days when playing in a Curtis Cup match n the United States entailed crossing the Atlantic by ship and a tour of Australia and New Zealand meant six months away from home.
She played for Great Britain and Ireland against the United States in the fourth Curtis Cup match at Essex County Club, Massachussets in 1938.
She had been first reserve in attendance for the 1936 Curtis Cup match (the third) at Gleneagles.

In 1939, Phyllis Wade married a Scot, Surgeon-Capt J I Wylie who was a naval officer. They settled in Troon where she lived for many years across the road from short 17th on the Royal Troon championship links.

During the 2008 Curtis Cup match at the Old Course, St Andrews, Phil fulfilled an ambition when she entered the  Royal and Ancent clubhouse to attend the Past Curtis Cup Players’ Dinner and was able to hold the Curtis Cup.
She was originally a member of Parkstone Golf Club, three miles west of Bournemouth.

Amongst her many golfing successes, she was English women’s amateur champion as Phl Wade in 1934 and lost to Wanda Morgan in the 1936 final (they were 36-hole finals in those days). 
Phil was Hampshire county champion in 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1938, playing regularly in international matches against France from 1934 until 1949.

On a tour of Australia and New Zealand with a Great Britain team in 1935, Phil teamed up with Mrs Greenlees to win the New Zealand women's foursomes (Phil was much sought after as a foursomes partner).

After settling in Scotland, Phil won the Ayrshire Ladies County Championship in 1954.

A keen supporter of golf at all levels, Phil Wylie was honoured by the Ayrshire Ladies a number of years ago, being elected the Honorary President of the Ayrshire Ladies County Golf Association.

She is survived by her only son Ian.