Like everyone who met her, Linda Moss recalls being flabbergasted the first time she met Vi Krisker on the golf course.

“She hit it straight, and she was good,” Moss said. “I went home and told my husband that I played with a lady who was 96 years old and she almost kicked my butt. As a matter of fact, she DID kick my butt.”

Moss’ story was one of many shared by Krisker’s friends at the Clear Creek Golf Course clubhouse on Tuesday afternoon as they gathered to celebrate what would have been the local golf legend’s 100th birthday. Krisker died of natural causes on Dec. 16.

Her friends remembered her as a woman who loved golf, was a stickler for the rules, and whose old school charm shined through in everything she did.

“We always used to say that when we grow up, we want to be like Miss Vi,” said Carol Roberson, 70, a member of the Clear Creek Ladies Golf Association who often played with Krisker.

Krisker was born in Michigan, married her husband Bill in Ohio, and moved to Vicksburg as a new bride. She soon took up golfing, and it literally became a lifelong passion. Krisker was active on the links and played in tournaments until she was 98 years old.

Her last round was in May 2013, when she played 18 holes in the Clear Creek Ladies’ Laverne Russell tournament. She fell at home and broke her hip later that day and never golfed again, but remained a fan of the game.

“Right up until the end she watched the pros on TV. She followed it religiously,” said Clear Creek Ladies member Mary Harmon, who knew Krisker for nearly 30 years. “She knew every golf course she ever played, and how she did on each hole. When we’d go somewhere to play, we had to bring her back a scorecard.”

Tall tales and playful anecdotes helped grow Krisker’s legend. Able to consistently hit a straight but short tee shot, she shot in the 90s well into her 90s. She insisted on driving the cart during every round, and could accurately gauge distances to the green simply by eyeballing it.

“She’d point her club at the hole and just start counting,” Harmon said. “She was counting club lengths — seven, nine, 11 — and she was right on.”

Krisker was among the top finishers at numerous state and club tournaments in her earlier years, and was so active later in life that a doctor once suggested she care for her ailing younger sister.

Krisker was in her mid-90s at the time. Her sister was 85.

Even after her hip injury, when she was no longer able to go to the golf course, Krisker practiced putting at home.

“This is our celebration for her. She’d be jumping from table to table in here,” Harmon said with a laugh.

Although she enjoyed cutting up with her friends, Krisker was also known as a stickler when it came to the rules of golf and the game’s etiquette. She never took easy “gimme” putts and would often correct her playing partners when they committed a foul — sometimes with a phone call hours after a round.

“She could tell you what she wanted to tell you in a real good way,” Clear Creek Ladies member Mary May said. “She took us under her wing and taught us how to play golf. A lot of the rules, we learned from her.”

Krisker’s passion for golf stayed with her until the end. When she was buried alongside her husband in Ohio, a putter and one of her decorative, homemade wide-brimmed golf hats were placed in the casket with her.

It, and Tuesday’s party, were both fitting tributes to a woman no one who knew her will soon forget.

“We told her when you get up to heaven, your sister and husband are waiting for you on the first tee,” Harmon said.