GOLF NOW! Chicago

In 2020, the Western Amateur will be played at Crooked Stick, the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, and the Senior LPGA Championship at French Lick—in addition to The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and the RBC Heritage Classic at Harbour Town. Those big events will underscore what a great architect Dye was. French Lick's event will be played for the fourth time but will be over thirty-six instead of fifty-four holes this year. The championship rounds are July 31 and Aug. 1. For Joy and me, Dye's passing might fittingly trigger a return to the Pete Dye Golf Trail. Our first time around, we played five of the seven courses in five consecutive days. We might not try that again, but we won't forget the enjoyment received while playing Dye-designed layouts — especially the namesake version at French Lick. The legendary Walter Hagen won the first of his five straight PGA Championships on what is now the Ross layout in 1924. In 1959 and 1960 the LPGA Championship was played there, and it had some famous winners, too —Mickey Wright in 1959 and Betsy Rawls in 1960. Louise Suggs also won an LPGA event on the course—then called the Sheraton Hotel Country Club—in 1958. While the Donald Ross Course has hosted an event on the LPGA's Symetra Tour the last three years, the bigger events have been held on The Pete Dye Course. First of them was the Professional Players National Championship in 2010, with University of Illinois coach Mike Small emerging as the champion. The Senior PGA Championship was played there in 2015, with Colin Montgomerie winning, but the layout is better known as a hotbed for women's play. Not only did The Pete Dye Course host the first major championship for senior women in 2013, the course also became the site of the first Senior LPGA Championship in 2017. Additionally, the nearby West Baden Springs Hotel houses the Legends Hall of Fame. "Dye passed away in January of 2020 at age 94 but nothing has changed in my assessment of his talents."

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