A prestigious heartland course is back in the USGA rotation after it was announced it will host a pair of future championships
An esteemed heartland course that’s hosted several top golf tournaments in the past is back in the USGA rotation after an announcement Tuesday that it will host a pair of future championships.
Prairie Dunes Country Club, in Hutchinson, Kansas, will be the host site for the 2029 U.S. Senior Open and 2032 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, the USGA announced. Hosting high-profile events is nothing new for the course, as these tournaments will mark the ninth and 10th time the Perry Maxwell treasure will host a USGA Championship, although the last came in 2006.
“The USGA is pleased to reunite with Prairie Dunes Country Club and continue what has been a long and mutually beneficial partnership that began nearly 60 years ago,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championships officer. “We know that Prairie Dunes, its surrounding community and the entire state of Kansas will be thoroughly engaged in hosting the best senior players from around the world. In addition, Prairie Dunes remains committed in its support of both amateur and professional competition.”
The private club’s layout dates to a 1937 design by Maxwell, one of the most underappreciated of the Golden Age designers. The native Oklahoman was famous for his inventive greens contours – “Maxwell’s rolls,” as they were called – and for shaping crumpled land into fascinating playing ground that had to be interpreted and negotiated. Prairie Dunes, 55 miles northwest of Wichita and with a very modest membership, originally was only a nine-hole course; its routing was expanded by Perry’s son, J. Press Maxwell, in 1957.
Prairie Dunes has hosted five Trans-Mississippi Amateurs. Three times (most recently in 1991) the U.S. Women’s Amateur was played in Hutchinson. Also, Prairie Dunes was the venue for a Curtis Cup, a U.S. Mid-Amateur and a U.S. Senior Amateur.
Juli Simpson Inkster with the trophy after winning the 1980 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas. (Copyright unknown/Courtesy USGA Archives)
In 2002, Prairie Dunes landed the 57th U.S. Women’s Open. Hall of Fame golfer Juli Inkster engraved her name on the trophy for a second time that year when she topped the legendary Annika Sorenstam by two strokes. Inkster was no stranger to Prairie Dunes as well. Twenty-two years prior, Inkster captured the 1980 U.S. Women’s Amateur in Hutchinson.
Four years later, the United States Golf Association returned to Hutchinson for the U.S. Senior Open at Prairie Dunes. Allen Doyle snagged his second consecutive championship with a two-stroke win over native Kansan Tom Watson. Doyle also held off the likes of longtime tour staples Bruce Lietzke and Peter Jacobsen.
The Hutchinson club also hosted the NCAA Men’s Championship in 2014, which was won by the Alabama Crimson Tide, and hosted the Big 12 Championship for the 13th time last spring.
JoAnne Carner, the 84-year-old who won two U.S. Women’s Open titles in her career, shot 80 on Thursday in the opening round of the 2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Waverley Country Club in Portland, Oregon. It is the sixth time in the championship’s five-year history that Carner has shot her age or better.
She already was the oldest to play in a USGA championship. Adding to that Thursday, she just continues to impress.
“I’ve been practicing a lot and really kind of spinning my wheels, and then I started to get the move here and had it on the range this morning, and the first hole, then I fought it,” Carner said.
“Once in a while I’d hit one, but it was just work all day.”
On her final hole of the day, Carner nearly made an ace, but she tapped in for birdie and carded an 8-over 80.
“No, my eyes aren’t that good, but I appreciated the applause,” Carner said on whether she saw how close she hit it. “I knew I could finally maybe make a birdie.”
Carner has won eight USGA titles, more than any woman in history. Yet she acknowledges the challenges of playing at her age.
“I missed a lot of greens,” Carner said. “It plays long for me because I have a 9-degree driver and I’m driving right into those hills, and I can’t adjust it, so I don’t get the carry, and I’m going in with long clubs all day, 3-woods all day long second shots, and then can’t get there.”
She’s happy with her score Thursday, but it’s just off from what she was aiming for.
“Well, yeah, but it’s a little outrageous,” She said when asked if she had a target score. “Sixth-nine sounds wonderful to me.”
Catriona Matthew paces the field after an opening 3-under 69 in the Pacific Northwest.
With her U.S. Senior Women’s Open title, Jill McGill joins rarified air by winning with three different USGA titles.
KETTERING, Ohio – Jill McGill stepped up to tap in her bogey putt on the 18th green at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open when Annika Sorenstam said, “No, no, no, mark.” A confused McGill turned and asked why.
“She goes, ‘You’re going to win,’” said McGill. “I was like, what? I really had no idea.”
McGill hadn’t won a trophy of any kind since 1994, and it was somewhat fitting that the winningest player in modern LPGA history was there to make sure McGill had her moment.
“I wanted to give her a hug,” said Sorenstam, “and say, ‘This is yours, so enjoy the moment, soak it in and let me finish.’”
McGill, 50, entered rarified air with her Senior Women’s Open triumph, joining Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, JoAnne Carner and Carol Semple Thompson as the only players with three different USGA titles. McGill won the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links while a student at USC.
“It’s been a really, really long time,” said McGill, who never won as a professional. “I’d always been a little bit disappointed that I couldn’t figure out how to get it done. I was a different person out there this week, truly, in terms of just acceptance of hey, you’re making the best decision you can. You’re trying to execute the best you can. That’s all you can do.”
One of the best parts of the U.S. Senior Women’s Open is when kids watch mom win for the first time. Here’s Jill McGill’s daughter Bella, 10, taking mom’s hardware to the media room! pic.twitter.com/OFRkRPbnI8
On a day when nobody broke par at NCR Country Club, McGill shot even-par 73 to finish at 3-under 289 for the tournament. Leta Lindley, another Senior Women’s Open rookie who won once on the LPGA, in 2008, finished one stroke back.
Lindley, who like McGill now works as a teaching pro, had husband Matt Plagmann back on the bag, just like old times.
“I felt like we picked up right where we left off,” she said, “and it was like putting on really your favorite comfy sweater.”
While the rookies finished 1-2, it was three past champions—Laura Davies (2018), Helen Alfredsson (2019) and Annika Sorenstam (2021)—who entered the final round as the favorites. Together they boast 15 LPGA major titles.
For a while there, it looked like the sun might be Davies’ biggest threat. The 58-year-old felt wobbly after bending over on the sixth hole, and took out a sun umbrella to try to beat the heat.
As Annika Sorenstam—perhaps the most consistent player in the history of the women’s game—put up a shocking 40 on the front nine and Helen Alfredsson shot 39, Davies took a two-stroke lead into the back nine.
Jill McGill plays her tee shot at the 17th hole during the final round at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio. (Photo: Jeff Haynes/USGA)
McGill shot even on the front and was within striking distance until Davies blew up the leaderboard with a devastating quadruple-bogey eight on the par-4 12th. After hitting her drive left into the trees, Davies’ second shot ricocheted off a tree out of bounds and she never recovered.
She looked shattered when she walked in to meet with the press after a closing 78 that dropped her to a share of sixth.
“About as tough as I’ve ever known it, I think,” said Davies, who has battled a bruised Achilles since the AIG Women’s British Open.
Sorenstam birdied the first hole to draw into a tie with Davies and Alfredsson and looked primed to put on a show. Instead, she put on the brakes. Sorenstam said she didn’t drive the ball well enough this week, but really can’t pinpoint the why. She hit only four fairways in the final round.
When asked what her schedule might look like next year, Sorenstam said it’s too early to tell, but that she won’t play as much as did this year.
“It’s been hard to put this effort in and not get the results,” she said, “and I’m at a point in my life where I have some other fun things going, so I don’t really feel the excitement to come back and play.”
Six amateurs made the cut this week in Kettering. Patricia Ehrhart earned low-amateur honors after finishing 10 over. The 56-year-old Hawaiian is the travel and event manager for the Margaritaville Surf Team. Her three daughters, Scarlett, Lola and Mason, are all members of the team, which is captained by Jimmy Buffett.
Ehrhart has now earned a spot in next year’s field at Waverly Country Club.
McGill joined the LPGA in 1996 and compiled 24 career top 10s. She twice finished runner-up and earned over $2 million, last competing in 2013. McGill promised her two kids, Bella (10) and Blaze (6) that if she was in the top 10 after the first two rounds, they could come up from Dallas with their father to watch on the weekend.
Bella, who is eager to follow in mom’s footsteps, carried the trophy into the media tent after the round and even asked mom a question.
McGill had older sister Shelley O’Keefe, a former mogul skier turned teaching pro, on the bag this week. O’Keefe was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year and had to pull out of her own Senior Women’s Open local qualifier this year with back pain.
While McGill had no idea where things stood down the stretch, O’Keefe was well aware and fought off her emotions on the closing holes.
“Shelley has always been an amazing supportive force for me in my career,” said McGill. “I just love her.
The statuesque McGill credited the work she put in playing competitive tennis – “We think we’re playing Wimbledon” – as an important edge this week.
“The guy that I work with that coaches our team, his name is Jason Warren,” said McGill, “and I was working on my serves, and he’s like, ‘You’ve already done the hard work, so when you go like this you’ve just got to relax and let it flow and really loose arms and really loose shoulders,’ and I really drew from that today about just being loose and being relaxed.”
She also did her best to forget everything she’d felt as an LPGA pro when it counted most. The former Trojan remembers feeling sick to her stomach she was so tense down the stretch as a young pro more than 15 years ago.
Not this time.
McGill became the first American to win this championship and receives a spot in the field at next year’s historic U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. She’s also now exempt into this championship for the next 10 years, which means she’ll be back at San Diego Country Club, site of her U.S. Women’s Amateur victory, for the 2025 Senior Women’s Open.
“I love Pebble Beach,” said McGill, “it’s heaven on earth.”
Shelley O’Keefe gets emotional talking about what last year’s qualifier did for her mentally.
KETTERING, Ohio – Shelley O’Keefe signed up for a local qualifier for this year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open, but her back went out on the morning she was supposed to tee it up at Sierra View Country Club in Roseville, California. She tried to qualify last year, too, the day before her last round of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. That time was less about qualifying and more about seeing whether she could walk five miles.
O’Keefe gets emotional talking about what last year’s qualifier did for her mentally.
“It’s amazing,” she said, “when you have a goal, or you have something that gets you out of bed every day.”
This time around, O’Keefe wasn’t going to miss the chance to spend the week at NCR Country Club caddying for younger sister Jill McGill, as they often did in the summer when McGill competed on the LPGA. It was Shelley who told Jill that she was exempt into this week’s event as the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion. McGill also won the 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.
Now, heading into the final round at NCR, 50-year-old McGill finds herself one stroke behind past champions Laura Davies and Helen Alfredsson and tied with Annika Sorenstam and fellow senior rookie Leta Lindley.
“I don’t know if this makes me more nervous or going in for childbirth,” said McGill of being in contention over the weekend, “one of the two.”
McGill’s told her children Bella (10) and Blaze (6) that they could fly out from Dallas with their dad if she was in the top 10 over the weekend. They got out of school on Friday and rushed to the airport, arriving in time to watch mom shoot 2-under 71 in the third round.
This is the first time McGill’s children have watched her compete on a stage like this, and her friends warned her not to let them be a distraction.
“In my opinion, I said, it’s not very often you get an opportunity for your kids to see you do something like this,” said McGill, “especially having them later in life, so that’s the number one thing for me.”
Bella recently watched her cousin shoot 70 in a U.S. Kids event and is eager to do the same. She stood in the back of the room on Saturday after walking 18 and watched mom’s evening press conference.
Jill McGill watches her shot during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
About 15 months ago, McGill walked over to Tenison Park Golf Club near her home in Dallas and talked to the director of golf about getting involved as an instructor. Half the job, she said, is getting them to feel comfortable on the golf course. She hopes her play this week will be an encouragement to them.
“I’m trying to inspire my ladies,” said McGill, “so that’s always a motivator. And, you know, I’ve prepared as much as I could in between driving to swim team practice and teaching and school drop-off and pick-up and wouldn’t have it any other way.”
O’Keefe hopes that her story will inspire, too. Maybe even save a life.
Left to right: Shelley O’Keefe, Jill McGill, Bella, husband Patrick Byerly and Blaze (Golfweek photo)
A former college soccer player and member of the U.S. Ski Team, O’Keefe now runs junior tours for U.S. Kids in Northern California.
Diagnosed with ovarian cancer on Feb. 2, 2021, O’Keefe said she was told not to look up survival rates on the internet while going through surgery and chemo treatment. While doing recent work for the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, however, O’Keefe learned the numbers. According to ORCA, for all types of ovarian cancer taken together, roughly 72 percent of women live for at least one year after diagnosis and 46 percent are still alive at least five years after diagnosis.
“Because a lot of people don’t realize, I think this is what’s so important,” said O’Keefe, “there is not a screen test for ovarian cancer, and everyone thinks the Pap smear takes care of cancers down there. It’s only cervical.”
O’Keefe, a wife and mom, had just been to see her obstetrician six weeks before being diagnosed. She went back to the doctor at the insistence of her husband, who wanted her to get checked out again after O’Keefe began experiencing pain during intercourse.
“I don’t mind giving details,” said O’Keefe, “because I think it’s really important.”
On the first hole Saturday at NCR, McGill and her sister talked about nerves. They talked about embracing the moment, knowing better than most how quickly life can change.
For O’Keefe, the emotions of beating cancer are still fresh. The gratitude runs high. She wasn’t going to miss this.
The first three winners of the championship are 1, 2 and 3 on the leaderboard.
KETTERING, Ohio – It’s a party of past champions at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, where there’s nothing left to prove but much to gain.
Laura Davies, the first to win the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, carded a bogey-free dream round of 5-under 68 to take a share of the lead at 4-under 215, with Helen Alfredsson, whose roller-coaster day didn’t settle down til she signed for a 75. Alfredsson won the second edition of the Senior Women’s Open.
Meanwhile, Annika Sorenstam, last year’s runaway champion, was down by as many as six strokes Saturday afternoon but finished the day within one. Sorenstam’s eventful round of even par had five bogeys – including a three-putt from 5 feet on No. 6 – and five birdies.
“I felt very jittery,” said Sorenstam. “I felt very uncomfortable. I couldn’t really find anything. I felt like I had 10 cups of coffee, and I haven’t had coffee all week.”
Davies hobbled into the media room early week with tape on her right Achilles heel, an injury suffered during a massage at the AIG Women’s British Open at Muirfield. While she withdrew from three events in the lead-up to NCR Country Club, Davies wasn’t about to miss this week, though the pain had moved to her calf muscle after walking funny for several weeks.
Davies began Saturday seven shots back but credited morning acupuncture treatment with helping improve her play. While it was still painful to walk, it no longer hurt to swing.
“The feelings are exactly the same,” said Davies of being back in contention for the first time in four years. “I can assure you it would feel no different if I was in contention on the LPGA. The job would probably be 10 times harder because instead of being one of the longer hitters. I’d be waving to Nelly (Korda) about 50 yards up the fairway and definitely Lexi (Thompson). So that’s slightly different. But the feelings and the being a bit scared on the first tee tomorrow for all the ones in contention, it will be the same for all of us.”
Annika Sorenstam plays her tee shot at the first hole during the third round at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Many of the friendships, and the rivalries, this week at NCR are older than today’s stars on the LPGA.
Davies and Alfredsson met roughly four decades ago at a European Team Championship in Holland.
“She was so long, and we were like, ‘Who is this person?’” said Alfredsoon. “We were told to lay up, and by the time we hit our second shot we were at her drive, and it’s like, this is not working; we’ve got to figure out something. We’ve been friends ever since. I remember they won that year, and they had to perform something to ‘Thriller,’ and that was as bad as anything I’ve ever seen.”
Sorenstam will tee it up in the penultimate group alongside Jill McGill, a senior rookie who trials by one. McGill, 50, told her two kids, Blaze and Bella, that if she was in the top 10 after two rounds, they could fly up from Dallas for the weekend. They arrived late Friday night with dad.
Sorenstam and McGill were paired together in the final group of the 2002 U.S. Women’s Open at Prairie Dunes, won by Juli Inkster.
Only six players remain under par. Leta Lindley, another senior rookie who holds a share of third, will play alongside Catriona Matthew (1 under.)
Inkster, who has twice finished runner-up at this event, trails by five. No American player has ever won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
The top 11 players on the leaderboard boast 14 USGA titles between them, and while tour golf is no longer part of their lives, the competitive juices still flow freely.
“I’m sure like the girls that play pickleball or tennis, they are no less competitive there,” said Alfredsson.
“Play backgammon against me, it’s the same. Here we are walking the dog and you see somebody in front of you, and it’s like, yeah, I can catch him. It’s so stupid, but it’s always part of you.”
Sorenstam is seeking back-to-back wins at this championship.
KETTERING, Ohio – Helen Alfredsson’s most recent competition came last year at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, and yet, she finds herself leading the way at NCR Country Club. Alfredsson, 57, chalks it up to yoga, a strong core and the way she learned to play the game. While the 2019 Senior Women’s Open champion said she wouldn’t compare herself to Tiger Woods in any way, she can appreciate his ability to perform after long periods away from competition.
“It’s his physical abilities,” she said. “He knows where to hit it, what shots to hit, and I think we grew up in an era that we learned to play golf. We were not just hitting shot after shot after shot and trying to have a perfect golf swing, because obviously, I’ve never claimed to have one.”
Alfredsson’s back-to-back rounds of 70 put her one stroke ahead of Senior Women’s Open rookie Leta Lindley, who briefly held a two-stroke lead but dropped a couple strokes coming in. Lindley, 50, still plays with six woods in her bag and put the old putter she used to win the 2008 Corning Classic back in the bag this week.
“Our Florida greens get a little furry in the summer,” said Lindley, who works as a teaching pro, “so I’ve been really working hard the last couple weeks to work on my stroke and get it back to where I feel like it was when I was playing in 2012, and really trying to lengthen it out like you need to, to have nice tempo on these fast greens.”
Annika Sorenstam, Lindley’s freshman roommate at Arizona, sits three shots back after a second-round 70. Sorenstam, of course, won this event last year in her debut.
When asked what she remembered about meeting Lindley for the first time in college, Sorenstam said she came from Sweden with two suitcases and a golf bag while Lindley came to campus with a U-Haul.
Lindley said the U-Haul is a bit of an exaggeration, but she did remember taking Sorenstam to Target to get bedsheets and pillows.
“Yes, I think that’s like when the fish gets bigger,” Lindley said with a laugh.
Juli Inkster, twice a runner-up in this championship, birdied five holes in a row before getting derailed with a triple-bogey on the par-5 sixth. She trails by seven.
Hollis Stacy, 68, made the cut for the fourth time in this event. A total of 52 players will play the weekend, including Amy Alcott, who carded a pair of 76s to hold a share of 23rd.
Six amateurs made the cut.
JoAnne Carner, 83, shot her age for a second consecutive day but will not play the weekend. Carner, who holds the record among women with eight USGA titles, said this will be her final USGA championship appearance.
“I’ve enjoyed everything about it,” she said, “even my bad golf. I mean, I was trying just like in the old days, only it really just wasn’t there.”
JoAnne Carner makes it official. Her USGA career is over.
KETTERING, Ohio – Big Mama says this is it. After shooting her age, 83, for a second consecutive day at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, JoAnne Carner declared that her USGA career is over. While the golf world was enamored by her ability to shoot her age or better five times in this championship, Carner only wanted to make the cut.
When asked if she had any fun out there, Carner replied, “No, but I’m going to very shortly.”
Translation: Bring on the vodka tonic.
Carner said she won’t compete at Waverly Country Club next year because it took too much work to get her game in shape this year. Though she added that she has no plans to let it “go that bad” again. She quickly dismissed the idea of coming back as an honorary starter, though the job would surely be hers if she wanted it.
No woman has won more USGA titles than Carner, who has eight and collected her first in 1956. She turned professional at age 30 and won 43 times on the LPGA, her last coming in 1985.
A good round at NCR Country Club, she said, would be a couple over par, but she never got it going like she wanted this week.
“I get a lot of people talking to me as I play, even the players all congratulate me,” she said. “I’m not very enthusiastic about it because I shot 83. But it’s nice to hear from them.”
JoAnne Carner, 83, shoots her age for a second straight day. She has now shot her age or better five times in this championship. pic.twitter.com/gIUoFqf1wF
Carner hit the first tee shot at the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2018 and shot 79 in that first round – walking. She took a cart for the first time in 2021. Carner has a cart for life from the USGA and a 10-year exemption into the event by virtue of her U.S. Women’s Open victories, but walks away satisfied: “I’ve had a fantastic career.”
Her only regret is that this championship took so long to come together.
“I waited for the Senior Open forever,” she said. “I had a chance to set the record for USGA wins, and for 20 years they had the men’s Senior but never the women’s, so I missed out on 20 years of play.”
Carner won’t be hanging up her clubs, by any means. She’s excited to tee it up with older sister Helen Sherry, 91, who took up the game at 70 and walked every hole this week at NCR. Carner said Helen grins like a Cheshire Cat when she plays.
The youngest daughter of a carpenter and a housewife, Carner’s entrance in the game came when she used to hunt golf balls to pay for golf and take the neighborhood kids to the movies. From there, she learned the game by playing moonlight golf with two of her sisters after the paying customers on a nine-hole course.
She grew into a legend.
Player after player this week shared their stories of Carner giving away her short-game secrets.
“She was a great mentor to young players brave enough to ask and gladly gave her time,” said Rosie Jones, who counts a shot she learned from Carner as one of the greatest tools in her bag.
Even Carner’s not-so-subtle corrections to young players over the years are treasured memories. Everyone loved to learn from one of the all-time greats.
“She was always one of my favorite to play with because she never laid up,” said Juli Inkster.
JoAnne Carner just might be playing her final round in a USGA championship on Friday at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. No woman has won more USGA titles than Carner, who has eight, and one would be hard-pressed to find a player more beloved in any field.
Leta Lindley’s goal this week is to have her picture taken with Big Mama at NCR Country Club. The women in this field are grateful that their careers have overlapped 83-year-old Carner’s. That she shared a laugh, a drink, a fairway, maybe even a tip or two.
“She was always one of my favorite to play with because she never laid up,” said Juli Inkster. “She was always just letting it rip. She was amazing out of the trees. All of a sudden, she’d be in the trees and all of a sudden this ball would be on the green. She had a great imagination, and she was fun.”
Everyone has a good Carner story. Here are some doozies:
The living legend won her first USGA title in 1956, not long after the LPGA was founded.
KETTERING, Ohio – JoAnne Carner shot her age for a fourth time at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, but the 83-year-old legend wasn’t too happy about it. Carner’s first tee shot at NCR Country Club leaked right, and she never “found the slot” all day.
Carner shot 10-over 83 with a double-bogey on the last hole and said a good round for her these days would be a couple over par. She headed to the range after lunch. The goal every year at this championship, she said, has been to make the cut.
“The whole swing was basically off,” said Carner. “I wasn’t driving into it, I was firing and falling back, ducking into it.”
While Carner wasn’t too pleased with her effort, everyone in the field is inspired simply to be in her presence this week. Amateur Noreen Mohler, who threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game when she was Curtis Cup captain, said she’s never been more nervous than she was teeing it up alongside Carner on Thursday.
“You just think, ‘Oh gosh, I hope I don’t top it off the first tee,’” said Mohler.
JoAnne Carner reacts to missing a putt on the 18th hole (she shot her age83) during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Carner broke the record for the oldest to play a USGA championship last year at age 82. Thursday’s 83 marked the fourth time she has shot her age or better in this championship.
She hit the first tee shot at the inaugural event in 2018 and shot her age, 79, without the use of a cart.
The USGA allowed Carner to take a cart for the first time at the 2021 Senior Women’s Open because of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). She’ll have the use of a cart for as long as she competes in USGA events, though on Wednesday Carner hinted that this might be her last one.
Tammie Green holds the early lead at 5 under and a host of past champions are hot on her heels, but these first two days are all about Carner, a national treasure who makes every little thing seem cool.
Suzi Spotleson, an amateur from Ohio, stood at the back of the interview room on Wednesday to listen to Carner’s pre-tournament press conference.
“… I want to see JoAnne Carner no matter what she’s doing,” said Spotleson, “whether she’s eating lunch, whether she’s giving an interview, whether she’s out on the golf course. That’s an absolute legend in the game. There’s just nobody around like her, and I want to hear every word she’s saying every time she talks.”
Carner made one birdie in the round, on the par-3 15th, and was pleased that she didn’t get “skunked.” She kept a pack of Marlboro 100’s in the cart and hired the caddie that she used last year at Brooklawn.
Her 91-year-old sister Helen walked every hole, purposefully taking the hills for an added kick.
Helen, the oldest of five, lives on a 20-acre ranch in Washington and trained thoroughbred horses when she wasn’t working at Boeing. She went down to Florida last week to watch “Jo” put in her final preparations for the Senior Open and marveled at the work her sister put in for NCR.
“I said, that’s not the same person,” said Helen. “She was looking like her old self, instead of the last time I saw her. Her swing was getting so much like it used to be … the work was just doing her good all the way.”
Carner is a full decade older than the closest to her in age this week, 73-year-old Carol Semple Thompson. Caddie Trevor Marrs said Carner hits 7-iron 135 yards and sends it about 210 off the tee when she catches it solid.
Scenes from a fun day following Big Mama, who shot her age at a major yet again! pic.twitter.com/uoNaCHdIAX
Marrs caddied at Brooklawn Country Club for a summer while working an internship for his degree in packaging at Michigan State. The caddie master asked him to come back to work the Senior Women’s Open and sent a list of players for him to choose from.
Naturally, Marrs chose Big Mama.
“My dad was like, you’re caddying for the Arnold Palmer of women’s golf,” said Marrs with a broad smile. “It’s pretty cool.”
Marrs now lives just outside Detroit and works for a cannabis company. He said Carner emailed him about two months ago and asked if he wanted the job again: “I couldn’t turn that down.”
The leaderboard is awash in nostalgia, with past champions Helen Alfredsson (3 under), Laura Davies (2 under) and Annika Sorenstam (even) in the hunt at NCR.
Green, who leads with a 68, finished second to Patty Sheehan at the 1994 U.S. Women’s Open and called it bittersweet.
“Even at age 62,” she said, “I’m still after that U.S. Open trophy.”
Carner’s simply chasing a good round.
The living legend won her first USGA title in 1956, not long after the LPGA was founded. She didn’t turn professional, however, until age 30, and was Rookie of the Year at an age when many current LPGA stars are forming an exit plan.
“When I first came out,” said Alfredsson, “I think she was similar to my age, and she hit it farther than me, and I was like, ‘What is this old lady hitting it further than me?’ And she just loved every moment … she’s given us a lot.”
Carner ultimately won 43 times on the LPGA, her last victory coming in 1985. Her eight USGA titles is more than any other woman in history.
If tomorrow truly is the last time Carner will tee it up in a USGA event, it will be a bittersweet day in the game’s history, for there will never be another like her.
“Nothing has changed. She did that for 20 years, so why wouldn’t she come back and dust us again?”
KETTERING, Ohio – Annika Sorenstam called last year’s victory at Brooklawn Country Club a fairy-tale moment with family by her side. She came to the U.S. Senior Women’s Open 13 years removed from major championship golf and picked up alongside her peers as if she’d never left.
“Nothing has changed,” said 2018 Senior Women’s Open winner Laura Davies. “She did that for 20 years, so why wouldn’t she come back and dust us again?”
Sorenstam remains the clear favorite at NCR Country Club (South Course), a place she fell in love with during media day. Davies said she can name at least 10 players who could win this week, but much of the early-week attention will be centered on 83-year-old JoAnne Carner, a woman who boasts a record eight USGA titles. On three different occasions, Carner has shot her age or better at this championship.
“I think it’s terrific for the game,” said Sorenstam of having Carner in the field. “It just shows the longevity of the game that she has but also the passion.”
Jane Geddes speaking during a reception held in the clubhouse at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Fourteen players in the field of 120 competed in the 1986 U.S. Women’s Open at NCR, including the champion, Jane Geddes. That unforgettable week included a series of events even Hollywood couldn’t script, with an earthquake, locusts, a power outage and a train derailment that caused a phosphorus fire so big the clouds of smoke evacuated thousands of residents.
“I think it was like Saturday night, we were right in the middle of dinner and all of a sudden we’re in the restaurant and the manager was like, ‘Everybody has got to get out,’ so we just literally got up and left,” said Geddes. “It was bizarre. There were people that had to move hotels.”
Carner said those who made the mistake of wearing a yellow or green blouse during the championship would have locusts land on them on all day.
“I remember I think it was Donna Caponi had a little tap-in, maybe a foot,” Carner recalled, “and she walked up there, and as she started to hit it, the locusts were in the cup, and she whacked it almost off the green. It’s different playing with locusts.”
Juli Inkster, who tied for 69th, remembers absolutely nothing about that wacky week in Ohio. A two-time runner-up at this event, Inkster comes into NCR off a recent victory at the LPGA Land O’Lakes Legends Classic.
When asked what it means to come into a USGA major off a win, a 62-year-old Inkster said “not much.”
“It really doesn’t,” said Inkster. “I mean, it’s nice. Believe me, it’s nice to win. But it’s like, what have you done for me lately.”
