Golfers throughout the county and beyond will be saddened to learn that Ayrshire Ladies County Golf Association Honorary President Mrs Phyllis Wylie passed away on Wednesday 3rd October, just a few weeks after her 101st birthday.Phyllis Wade Wylie, tnown to many simply as 'Phil' had the distinction of being the oldest surviving Curtis Cup team player, having played for Great Britain and Ireland against the United States in the fourth Curtis Cup match at Essex County Club, Massachussets in 1938, having been first reserve in attendance for the third Curtis Cup match in 1936 at Gleneagles.
In 1939, Phyllis Wade married a Scot, Surgeon-Capt J I Wylie who was a naval officer, and settled in Troon where she lived for many years. During the 2008 Curtis Cup match at the Old Course, St Andrews, Phil fulfilled an ambition when she entered the hallowed Royal & Ancent clubhouse to attend the Past Curtis Cup Players’ Dinner and was able to hold the Curtis Cup.
Amongst her many golfing successes, she was English women’s amateur champion as Phl Wade in 1934 and 1936 and 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.
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.
Survived by her only son Ian, Phil Wylie's passing ends a local link with the premier team event in ladies amateur golf, and sincere sympathy is extended to Phil's family and friends from The Ayrshire Golf Association at this sad time
