On behalf of the staffs of Mid Pines and Pine Needles and the Bell family, we would like to thank The Pilot and the entire community for their tremendous support of the 2001 U.S. Women’s Open Championship. It was a tremendous week capped by the stunning Saturday evening announcement of a return visit. We can think of no greater tribute to all the volunteers and others who worked so hard on this championship than the U.S. Golf Association’s unprecedented announcement prior to the end of the event that the Open will return in 2007.

Our grounds crew, led by Dave Fruchte and Jim Cola, produced a stunning championship layout under some very trying conditions, and only the champion could manage to break par. While it was Pine Needles that received many of the accolades, make no mistake that Pine Needles played the smallest role in the success of the championship. The heartbeat, soul and success of the championship depends upon its volunteers. The Sandhills is blessed to have a wealth of “professional” volunteers and more than 2,600 volunteered the most precious thing they have, their time, to help make this championship the success it was. Thank you for your support. Special thanks to Sally Loufck, Shirley Nelson, Peggy Weltner, Rich Warters, and Ron Crow, our area coordinators, who provided guidance and support to these volunteers for over 15 months.

The support we received from corporate North Carolina was unprecedented and established a record that hopefully other championships will aspire to attain. The Women’s Health Festival, with Mia Hamm serving as honorary chairwoman, and visits from Lauren Hutton, Rachel Hunter and First Lady Mary Easley created a greater awareness of women's wellness North Carolina and will donate proceeds of $250,000 to five worthy agencies. A major portion will go to our own FirstHealth of the Carolinas.

Our Women’s Open Steering Committee, chaired by Roberta Bowman of Duke Energy and made up of 12 of North Carolina’s most influential, energetic business and civic leaders, provided the vision, planning and resources necessary to achieve our ultimate goal: the return of the U.S. Women’s Open.

The staff from Pinehurst Championship Management, headed by championship director Reg Jones, provided the leadership and experience required to put on a successful event. They are the best in the business. Thank goodness for caffeine, sugar, Mountain Dew and Krispy Kreme, the primary food categories of a successful championship management team. Their hard work, plus the support of our neighbors and friends from the Pinehurst Resort, provided the foundation from which we were able to build a great team.

We appreciate The Pilot’s commitment to the U.S. Women’s Open with its daily publishing of the Championship Guide. This is the first time anything like this has been done for the Women’s Open, and it speaks volumes for the growth of women’s golf and, more important, of our community’s effort to place both these national championships on the equal ground they deserve.

We had a wonderful championship week, a gracious winner and deserving champion in Karrie Webb, but the real winner this week has been North Carolina. Everyone should be proud of the role everyone played in producing the most successful U.S. Women’s Open Championship ever. We could never have done it without you.

Our sincere thanks for making the championship such a tremendous success and we hope each of you have some great memories from a very special week.

Peggy Kirk Bell

Honorary Chairwoman

Kelly R. Miller

General Chairman

U.S. Women’s Open Championship

Southern Pines