‘This is still her house’: Peggy Kirk Bell’s legacy reigns over U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles

President of Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club Kelly Miller plans to be standing at the first tee when the first shot is struck in the 77th US Women’s Open.

Miller recalls standing there with his late mother-in-law and the owner of the course, Peggy Kirk Bell, when the first tee shot was hit in 1996 for the first U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles.

“I was with Peg when the first shot went off,” Miller said. “It was pretty cool. She had a little tear in her eye and said her husband Bullet would have been so proud. So, we’ll all be down there on that first tee for this tournament.”

Bell was a charter member of the LPGA in 1950. She was a pioneer in buying a plane and flying herself to tournaments. When her playing days were over, she became a renowned teacher of the game, especially for women.

In an era when women golfers were not always wanted at golf courses, Bell welcomed them. She became the first woman voted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame in 2002.

In 1990, she received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the USGA in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.

In 2019, Bell was voted posthumously into the World Golf Hall of Fame. She died in 2016 at the age of 95.

“We miss her so much but yet there’s still so much of her that is still here,” Miller said. “In the end, it’s the feeling this is still her house.”

Bell was instrumental in getting the USGA to come to Pine Needles in 1996. The course had hosted a U.S. Girls Junior and was in the midst of hosting the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur in 1991.

Judy Bell, no relation, was a USGA executive sitting in the Pine Needles bar with Miller and Bell.

“Mrs. Bell said to Judy, ‘We’ve had the kids and we have these old ladies here. When are we going to get us some pros?’ ” Miller recalled. “Judy said, ‘Peg, if you want the Open, you’ve got it.’ And that’s how it happened.”

Annika Sorenstam’s relationship with Peggy Kirk Bell

Hall of Fame golfer Annika Sorenstam won the first Open at Pine Needles. She retired in 2008 but returned to competition last year when she turned 50 and won the U.S. Women’s Senior Open. That earned her a spot in the Open field this year and she will tee it up at Pine Needles.

Sorenstam forged a special relationship with Bell. Sorenstam, a native of Sweden, was playing in her first golf tournament in the US as a young amateur about 30 years ago at Pinehurst Resort.

“I met Peggy and she offered to show me around in a limousine,” Sorenstam recalled during a media event in April. “I had never been in one before. She brought me here to stay at Pine Needles and she was a great host. It brings back a lot of memories coming back here.”

Their friendship grew over the years until Bell passed away.

Sorenstam was asked if she would be playing in this U.S. Women’s Open if it was being held somewhere besides Pine Needles.

“No, I would not have,” she said. “I’m pretty sure about that. That was probably the deciding factor.

“Being a past champion here is very special and being with Peggy’s family. There was always this friendly, family-feeling environment here.”

Record number of U.S. Women’s Open entrants

Seated in front is Peggy Kirk Bell, the matriarch and founding member of the LPGA. Behind Bell is, from left, her son Kirk Bell, his wife, Holly Bell, her oldest daughter Peggy Ann Bell Miller, her husband, Kelly Miller, her youngest daughter, Bonnie Bell McGowan, and her husband, Pat McGowan.

This will be a record-setting U.S. Women’s Open in a couple of ways. First, there were a record 1,874 entries trying to qualify for the field of 156 players. Then, there is the biggest purse in women’s golf. The addition of sponsor ProMedica has allowed the USGA to nearly double the purse to $10 million. The winner will receive $1.8 million.

Those are numbers Bell could hardly have imagined when she and her husband bought Pine Needles in 1953.

“This will be our first Open without Mrs. Bell so I know she’ll be looking down,” Miller said.