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One of the pioneers of women's golf across the world, and golf in Southwest Florida, passed away Sunday morning.

Patty Berg, 88, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease at Hope Hospice in Fort Myers. Sunday also was golf great Arnold Palmer's birthday. Berg, a former lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1943-45, passed away one day before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.

Berg, who was born on Feb. 13, 1918, was one of 13 founders of the LPGA Tour in 1950, and won 60 tournaments, including a record 15 majors. Cypress Lake Country Club in Fort Myers was her home course.

A spokesperson for Fort Myers Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home said services were pending.

"Patty was a wonderfully talented woman who was dedicated to golf, to growing the game and to making the sport fun for golfers of all ages," LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens said in a statement. "She was a pioneer, an athlete, a mentor, a friend and an entertainer. She had a sense of humor that sparked a smile in all who met her."

Another early member of the LPGA Tour, noted instructor Peggy Kirk Bell, spoke with Berg last week.

Associated Press

Patty Berg sinks a putt on the ninth green during the Carling Classic in Atlanta in this April 19, 1968 file photo. Berg, who won an LPGA Tour-record 15 major titles and was one of the 13 founding members of the tour in 1950, died Sunday morning in Fort Myers. She was 88.

"She couldn't talk but they told me that she could hear, and that all of the time that I was talking she was nodding her head and smiling," said Bell, who said that Berg had fallen and broken her shoulder recently.

Berg moved to Fort Myers in 1946. She wasn't a passive resident. Berg became heavily involved in junior golf, especially in her later years, starting the Nolan Henke/Patty Berg Junior Masters, which was played for the 14th time in late July. Henke is a PGA Tour player from Fort Myers.

Current LPGA Tour player Catherine Cartwright, an Estero High graduate, played in the Junior Masters and became friends with Berg as her own career grew.

"She definitely helped me out when I was a junior, boosting my confidence or helping me with my swing," Cartwright said after finishing her round at the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic in Tulsa, Okla., on Sunday. "(At the Henke/Berg Junior Masters), you'd see her out there riding around, and she'd say 'Just put a great swing on it,' or something like that. She always had something positive to say."

Cartwright, 23, kept in touch with Berg over the years, and visited with her for the last time a year ago.

"She's definitely going to be missed, but, boy, did she have a great life," Cartwright said.

Berg picked up the game of golf at age 13, and won her first tournament, the Minneapolis City Championship, in 1934. She quarterbacked a sandlot football team called the "50th Street Tigers" that featured former Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson, a neighbor and longtime friend.

File photo

LPGA co-founder and Hall of Famer Patty Berg, left, talks at the Nolan Henke/Patty Berg Junior Masters golf tournament awards ceremony last year at Cypress Lake Country Club in Fort Myers.

Berg was The Associated Press Athlete of the Year in 1938, 1943 and 1955. She won the 1938 U.S. Women's Amateur and the Titleholders from 1937-39. Berg was the LPGA Tour's first president, serving from 1950-52, and was its money leader in 1954, 1955 and 1957. From 1948-62, Berg won 44 of her 60 titles, including nine majors.

Berg was honored by organizations from the United States Golf Association (1963 Bob Jones Award for sportsmanship), to the Golf Writers Association of America (1959 William D. Richardson Award for contributions to golf). She was in the inaugural classes of the LPGA Hall of Fame and the LPGA Teaching & Club Professional Hall of Fame, just two of several halls of fame she is in.

Berg overcame injury and illness during her career. She missed 18 months after a car crash in 1941, had cancer surgery in 1971, major hip surgery in 1980, and back surgery in 1989. But she remained active, especially in giving clinics, which were perhaps her biggest love.

"I remember back when I was 14 going to see Patty give an exhibition," LPGA Tour veteran JoAnne Carner said. "I paid particular attention to the sand play and that's still how I play them."

"She always had a perfect golf swing and she was always in all of the right positions," said Marlene Hagge, another of the co-founders of the tour.

"She played a great game," said co-founder Betty Jameson. "She knew all of the trick shots and she wasn't just active in golf, but she loved to entertain."

Berg was the inaugural honoree for Naples' short-lived LPGA Tour event, the Naples LPGA Memorial in 1999. Berg was honored during the week, and made sure she participated in the junior clinic.

"It was definitely a pleasure and an honor to work with her, that's for sure," said Andy Chambers, the head professional then at The Strand who now works at The Golf Club of the Everglades. "She was a special lady who did an awful lot for golf, especially women's golf. That's very sad.

"Every year, too, she sends me a Christmas card. She never forgets. It's hard to believe."

Berg, who represented Wilson Sporting Goods beginning in 1940, also was an icon in her native Minnesota, and her home club, Interlachen in Edina. Berg was the honorary chair for the Solheim Cup at Interlachen in 2002, raising the American flag at the opening ceremonies.

LPGA Tour player Karen Weiss, a former Estero resident who is from St. Paul, Minn., and has moved back there, shared lunch and memories with Berg during a couple of occasions in Fort Myers, and went through the room of memorabilia at Interlachen with Berg.

"When she goes through it with you, it's amazing," Weiss said. "She can recall everything."

Weiss remembered an opening at a club called Rush Creek in Minnesota where Berg was on hand. Weiss and others involved with the opening all missed a 15-foot downhill putt. She called on Berg, who originally wasn't participating because she had trouble walking, to take a shot. Berg checked out the putter of each member of the group, then settled on Weiss'.

"She took one look at it and rolled the thing right in the hole," Weiss said. "She rose to the moment."

In 1978, the LPGA created the Patty Berg Award for outstanding contributions to women's golf, and bestowed the honor upon her in 1990.

Berg's reach went far beyond the golf course and the game itself. The Patty Berg Cancer Center at Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center was dedicated in Fort Myers in 1993. The University of Minnesota has the Patty Berg Development Fund.

Berg went public with her Alzheimer's battle in December 2004. She did not appear at the Nolan Henke/Patty Berg Junior Masters in late July this year.

"I'm saddened," said former LPGA Tour player Terry-Jo Myers of Fort Myers. "It's like losing a sister. She considered all of the players her family and I considered her family.

"Giving of herself and her time was everything she was always about. She didn't need fanfare. Patty needed fanfare when it helped others or benefited a cause. Whenever anyone called for her to do something, an exhibition or give a speech, she always said 'Yes.' It wasn't like she said 'Let me think about it' it was always 'Yes, I'll be there.'"

Berg was honored at Cypress Lake on the eve of the 29th annual Patty Berg Pro-Am on Jan. 23 earlier this year. During the dinner, she was presented with a relief sculpture of herself.

"Thank you very, very much," Berg said to the crowd of 200. "I shall never forget this evening and this lovely group of people."

"I am not prepared for a big speech," she added, "but I am prepared to tell you I love you. My, what a lucky girl I am to have each and every one of you as a friend."

Staff writer Tom Hanson (tahanson@naplesnews.com) contributed to this article.