Passings of 2009

By Cliff Schrock

February 2010

Some played, while others taught. Some planned golf's future, while others observed and wrote beautiful prose. Some fulfilled their aspirations, while others had just begun to dream them. No matter their status in the game, we chronicle the notable golf personalities who died in 2009 and reflect upon how they were fully engaged in the game.

Players: Jameson, an original LPGA-er
The blessing of longevity and the tragedy of young death are contrasted in Betty Jameson and Carolyn Cudone with Ben Enoch and Mallory Code. Elegant, graceful and charming, Jameson always seemed to reflect the era from which she emerged. Making a big splash with U.S. Women's Amateur wins in 1939 and '40, the native of Oklahoma went on to win the 1947 U.S. Women's Open. Jameson did not have a dominant record typical of a World Golf Hall of Fame member -- 12 pro victories -- but she made it there all the same. Fellow hall of famer Carol Mann said Jameson's grip was "pristine" and as good or better than anyone else's.

But the honor that carried the most heft for Jameson was being known as one of the LPGA Tour's original 13 founding members. Having been there at the start in 1950, Jameson put great effort into making sure the LPGA grew as a serious vocation for women. In 1952 she donated the Vare Trophy that goes to the tour's scoring-average leader. As she transitioned into a teaching career and then a painter, Jameson loved the art world and worked to advance it. She passed away Feb. 7 at age 89.

Cudone's (age 90, March 19) lengthy playing career put her into the record books. Her five straight U.S. Senior Women's Amateur crowns from 1968 to 1972 are the most consecutive USGA titles anyone has ever won. By then the Staten Island native was already highly accomplished as a Curtis Cup player in 1956, a five-time Metropolitan Golf Association Women's Match Play winner and seven-time South Carolina Women's Amateur champ. She captained the U.S. side in the 1970 Curtis Cup, and, starting in 1981, she earned acclaim for the junior golf program she ran in Myrtle Beach.

The fullness these two players achieved in life contrasts with the harsh reality of Enoch and Code's shorter paths. The former, a promising Welshman, had planned on following his brother, Rhys, to East Tennessee State last fall, but a car accident in England April 30 ended his life at age 19.

Code has her own special niche as one of the game's heroic sufferers, never enjoying a time when discomfort, fear and pain weren't threatening to consume her. Diagnosed at just six weeks old with cystic fibrosis, Code was only expected to live 16 to 18 years. When she died on Nov. 9, she was 25 and had long since double-eagled every obstacle. She was a proficient pianist and dancer, four-time AJGA winner, part of a state high school champion team, played on two international teams, scored 1,340 on her SAT, earned a scholarship to Florida, and from the age of 16 on was an inspirational speaker who could talk for 45 minutes without the need of notes. While her playing career at Florida had been curtailed after her freshman year, Code graduated last August with an English degree and had created a website, thedealbloodhound.com, that helped families use coupons to save on their grocery bill.

Other player deaths include 1966 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Lamont (Monty) Kaser (67, Sept. 18); Matthew Loving (30, Dec. 4), a professional on the minor circuits; Eric Monti (91, Feb. 1), a three-time PGA Tour winner and teacher in later years of Hollywood stars as an L.A. club pro at Hillcrest; Scottish player John Panton (92, July 25), a mid- and long-iron maestro who played for three Great Britain Ryder Cup squads; Australian Fiona Pike (44, March 19), who had played on the LPGA Tour in the early 2000s; Fordie Pitts Jr. (79, Oct. 27), who won throughout New England over a 50-year span; 1947 U.S. Amateur winner Robert (Skee) Riegel (94, Feb. 22), a physically strong player described in 1955 with "Tarzan" forearms but who possessed a great touch, only picked up the game at age 23 at his wife's urging, won the 1936 Virginia Amateur, played in the 1947 and 1949 Walker Cup, turned pro at 35 and the following year was second in the 1951 Masters; Riegel's golf exploits finally got him past his main notoriety: being confused with "Wrong Way" Roy Reigels of infamous 1929 Rose Bowl fame; Phyllis Semple (87, Jan. 18), a fine player in her won right who won the 1964 Pennsylvania Amateur but who also aced motherhood (mother to hall of fame member Carol Semple Thompson) and marriage (1974-75 USGA president Harton (Bud) Semple), and Toni Wiesner (62, July 27), the four-time Texas Women's Amateur champion who played in 50 USGA events but could not break into the winner's circle.

From the clubs and courses
From the familiar people we're likely to see in the golf shop, we begin with Gene Borek, one of the "unknown" players who pops up regularly at a U.S. Open. Borek (72, April 14) shot a course-record 65 in the second round of the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Johnny Miller broke the record with a 63 two days later, but Borek had his day in the sun. He was a frequent player in the majors, and a big winner on the club pro level during his 48 years as a PGA member, mainly at Metropolis in White Plains, N.Y.

Wendy Boyd (57, Feb. 24) was a pioneering African-American in the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Division who also taught golf at Alabama State. Marjorie (Marge) Burns (83, June 3) was a sensational amateur winner (10-time North Carolina Amateur winner), but she, too, was an LPGA T&CP member who was immensely successful as a teacher, earning the group's 1976 Teacher of the Year Award.