Carner has won more USGA titles than any other woman with eight.
KETTING, Ohio – Four years ago, JoAnne Carner rallied in her opening round of the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open, carding four birdies on the back side at Chicago Golf Club to shoot her age, 79.
Last year, an 82-year-old Carner shot her age in the first round at Brooklawn Country Club and followed it with a 79 in Round 2.
Can she do it once more at the Senior Women’s Open? The now 83-year-old Carner is one of 120 players in the field at NCR Country Club, a stern test by all accounts.
Only five players have shot their age or better in USGA championships more than once: Jerry Barber (9), Tom Watson (3), Hale Irwin (3), Harold ‘Jug’ McSpaden and Carner (3).
2019 Senior Women’s Open champion Helen Alfredsson played two practice rounds with Carner at NCR and marveled that Carner’s 91-year-old older sister, Helen Sherry, walked all 36 holes.
“Whatever they are taking,” said Alfredsson, “I want to get some.”
She is believed to be the first black player to qualify for the Senior Women’s Open.
For the past 20 years, Avis Brown-Riley has had a vision in which she’s walking down a fairway as friends, family, and strangers gathered outside the ropes shouting “Avis! Avis! Avis!”
Never mind the chemotherapy that left her unable to swing a club or put on her shoes. Never mind the debilitating nerve damage. Never mind the 25-year career at FedEx Express that took her far away from LPGA Q-School and the rush of competition.
Through it all, the vision remained.
And now, she knows why.
“The time has come, and the moment is now,” said the exuberant Brown-Riley, “that this vision has come to light.”
Brown-Riley, 58, will compete in the fourth edition of the U.S. Senior Women’s Open Aug. 25-28 at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio. She’ll reunite with a former college teammate and past champion Helen Alfredsson. She’ll see players she once competed against at the 1988 U.S. Women’s Open at Baltimore Country Club. She’ll angle to meet defending champion Annika Sorenstam for the first time.
Brown-Riley’s LPGA dreams never did come true, but after decades in the corporate world, she earned her LPGA Professional Class A membership in her late 50s, becoming the 12th of 13 black women to earn her teaching card. She is believed to be the first black player to qualify for the Senior Women’s Open.
“For me to have become the 12th black woman to hold an LPGA (teaching) card,” said Brown-Riley, “I was thinking wow, what has everyone been doing for 25 years while I was at FedEx?”
Avis Brown-Riley qualifies for U.S. Senior Women’s Open in her second attempt. (Courtesy photo)
Brown-Riley, a mother of two and breast cancer survivor, isn’t just a visionary. She’s a natural-born motivator, and her new goal is to travel the world as a speaker and influencer, empowering and encouraging young black girls to follow their dreams.
Brown-Riley is the second youngest of five siblings born to Gordon Brown Sr., and Harriet Brown. Growing up in South Carolina, Gordon and his cousins found a few golf clubs in a garage and took to hitting balls in a nearby high school field. Gordon immediately fell in love with the game and became a fine player, honing his skills further while in the military.
“He was instrumental in breaking the color barrier so blacks could play golf in Charleston,” said Brown-Riley.
The Browns moved to San Diego before Avis was born, and by age 7, she had a club in her hand. At 10, Brown-Riley became the first black player to win the prestigious Junior World Golf Championship, and to this day her photo is on the wall next to fellow champion Tiger Woods.
Four of the Brown children went on to play college golf, with Avis earning a scholarship to the United States International University, a Division I school. While there, she won the first National Minority Collegiate College Championship.
“My parents were very strict in the sense that they had to apply structure,” said Brown-Riley. “We were like the Jackson 5 family, but we were the golfing family.”
A young Avis Brown holds up her Junior World trophy.
Growing up, Brown-Riley said the juniors she played against were always good to her. There were times, however, that she remembers not being able to go into the clubhouse because of the color of her skin. Sometimes her parents couldn’t afford range balls.
“That’s how we got so good with our short game,” said Brown-Riley, who counted former LPGA player Renee Powell as her hero.
It wasn’t until Brown-Riley turned professional that she began to experience racism while traveling in the south.
“Walking into the golf shops or having breakfast there,” she said, “they would approach me in the sense that there weren’t any openings for a job here: ‘I’m not here to apply for a job in your kitchen. I’m a professional golfer.’ ”
Avis Brown-Riley played the mini-tour circuit before joining the corporate world at FedEx.
Brown-Riley sometimes experiences something similar now when she goes into pro shops with her LPGA teaching card, after calling ahead to set up a round of golf. There are times when the person behind the counter flips the card front to back, over and over, as if there’s a problem with it.
“That kind of rubs me the wrong way,” said Brown-Riley. “Hey, at least show me some respect. It’s not a card that I made. What it is that you’re looking for?”
The Brown family has been introducing the game of golf to young black families since the 1970s, when Gordon and Harriet launched the Southeast Junior Golf program. Gordon taught the game and life lessons for free to inner-city children in the area.
In 1996, the family restructured the program into a 501(c)(3) non-profit called the San Diego Inner City Junior Golf Foundation and Academy. While Brown-Riley only recently became an official LPGA teaching pro, she has been instructing women and kids in her native city for decades.
Over 2,500 children have benefitted from their foundation. Brown-Riley hopes to set up something similar in Las Vegas, where she recently moved.
“I think she’s an inspiration in every way,” said Marvol Barnard, national president of the LPGA Professionals, “particularly to juniors.”
Avis Brown-Riley holds up her book, “Building of a Champion: How I became a champion in life.”
Brown-Riley has chronicled her life in the book “Building of a Champion: How I became a champion in life: The Avis Brown-Riley Story.” She hired an agent and hopes to turn her family’s golf story into a movie.
“I refer to my history as the hidden treasure chest,” she said.
Valuable treasure that a grateful Brown-Riley is ready show the world.
Alfredsson sat down with Golfweek ahead of the U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
Helen Alfredsson hasn’t played competitive golf since last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open, but she doesn’t sound overly concerned about that fact. The 2019 Senior Women’s Open champion sold her home in the U.S. last March and now lives full time in her native Gothenburg, Sweden. She likes to take long walks with her American Bully Bella, a mixture of Pit Bull Terrier and American Staffordshire Terrier.
“She’s similar to me,” said Alfredsson. “Quite strong, quite moody but very loyal.”
Alfredsson, 57, heads to Kettering, Ohio, this week for the fourth edition of the Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course). One of the all-time great characters in the game, Alfredsson graduated from the U.S. International University in 1988, and after a short stint as a model, joined the Ladies European Tour, where she won 11 times.
In 1992, “Alfie” joined the LPGA and earned Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors. She won seven LPGA titles, including the 1993 Chevron Championship, and twice finished runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Open.
Golfweek recently caught up with Alfredsson to talk about her Senior Women’s Open title at Pine Needles, Swedish golf, her amateur golf schools and mental toughness.
Host sites for 2024, 2025 and 2027 were announced.
The USGA has announced three future sites for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, won last year by Annika Sorenstam. In 2024, the event heads to Fox Chapel Golf Club Aug. 1-4, where the legendary amateur Carol Semple Thompson is an honorary member. San Diego Country Club (Aug. 21-24, 2025) and Tacoma Country and Golf Club (Aug. 19-22, 2027) will also play host to the best senior women’s players in the world.
Thompson drained a 27-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Fox Chapel in her native Pennsylvania to secure victory for Team USA at the 2002 Curtis Cup. This will mark the fourth USGA event for the Seth Raynor design, which underwent an extensive restoration by Fazio Design in 2019-2020.
“As we celebrate the fourth iteration of this championship this week at NCR Country Club, the USGA could not be more pleased to secure a strong future for this event over the next few years,” said John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer at the USGA, in a release.
“Having an exceptional lineup of championship sites only furthers our commitment to providing ideal stages to showcase and celebrate these legends of the game who are still top competitors. We look forward to continuing to make history at these venues in the years ahead.”
This will also mark the fourth USGA championship for San Diego Country Club, where Mickey Wright won her fourth U.S. Women’s Open title in an 18-hole playoff over Ruth Jessen on the course where she learned the game. Two U.S. Women’s Amateurs have been held there, with LPGA rookie Sophia Schubert winning the most recent in 2017.
Laura Davies of England poses with the U.S. Senior Women’s Open trophy after winning in the final round at Chicago Golf Club on July 15, 2018 in Wheaton, Illinois. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Tacoma Country & Golf Club, one of the founding clubs of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association, is the fifth-oldest golf association in North America. When the Senior Women’s Open heads there in 2027, it will mark the club’s fifth USGA championship. Sarah LeBrun Ingram won her third U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur title at the club in 1994. She went on to captain two winning USA Curtis Cup Teams in 2021 and 2022.
Sorenstam will try to defend her title this week at NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio. Next year’s championship will take Aug. 24-27 at Waverley Country Club in Portland, Oregon.
Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Pebble Beach, California, will host the U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2030, along with that year’s U.S. Senior Open.
“My kids wanted me to play. They’re like, ‘C’mon, Mommy,'” explained Annika Sorenstam.
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – As a Hall of Famer and 10-time major champion, Annika Sorenstam has nothing left to prove on the golf course.
An eight-time LPGA Player of the Year and the only woman to shoot 59, Sorenstam won 72 LPGA events and competed in a men’s PGA Tour event during her 16-year career.
She thought she was done with competitive golf in 2008. Then, after a 13-year break, she returned and won the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
That victory opened up an opportunity to compete in the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, the site of her dominant win in 1996.
In just over a month, the 51-year-old Sorenstam will return to Southern Pines for her first U.S. Women’s Open appearance since she retired nearly 14 years ago.
During a conversation with reporters Tuesday at a media day ahead of the championship, scheduled for June 2-5, Sorenstam highlighted several reasons for her return.
“Obviously, honored to get an invite. That is a nice gesture and I wanted to appreciate that,” Sorenstam said.
“Peggy (Kirk Bell) was next, coming here. And then, my kids wanted me to play. They’re like, ‘C’mon, Mommy.’ Also, I’m working with these young girls and many of them — these young ladies — have played in the Annika Invitational the last few years.
“To have them out there to continue to support and inspire, you’ve got to be in the mix to talk about what it’s like, so it keeps me a little more relevant when I mentor some of these girls. Now I can do that a bit more with ease.”
Favorite foursome
During her time away from professional golf, Sorenstam has formed a favorite foursome that includes her husband and caddie, Mike McGee, and their two children, 11-year-old Will and 12-year-old Ava.
“This isn’t necessarily about me trying to do a comeback, it was more about the family,” she said.
Prior to her eight-stroke win at the Senior Open last August, Sorenstam’s kids had only seen YouTube clips of her at the peak of her powers on the golf course. In June, they’ll get to see their mother compete against the best of the best.
USGA Director of Communications Julia Pine, producer Adrienne Gallagher, managing producer Staci Green and Annika Sorenstam discuss the documentary film “Becoming Annika” at Sunrise Theater in the Southern Pines, North Carolina. (Photo: Jason E. Miczek/USGA)
“It’s pretty neat, especially our son who is very into sports. He knows every statistic there is. For him to just see it and live it is a big deal. He’s really been my practicing partner. We’re out there together hitting balls. I’m a righty, he’s a lefty, so I’ll toss a bucket in the middle and we can hit,” Sorenstam said.
“I want to inspire him, too. I want him to know you don’t wake up and there’s a trophy at the door. You have to put in the work. I think they see that. … I’m hoping that this will feed him and he can live his dream and do whatever he wants.
“The same thing with our daughter. It’s like when you have a passion you gotta do it, but you gotta put in the time. That’s hopefully the message I’m sending to, not only my kids but, hopefully, people in general who have some kind of hobby and want to pursue it. It’s never too late to continue.”
The pull of Pine Needles
Would Sorenstam have played in the U.S. Women’s Open this year if it had been at any other site?
“No, I would not have,” she said. “I’m pretty sure about that.”
A quarter-century after a six-stroke victory at Pine Needles, Sorenstam reflected on the place that allowed her the chance to form a lasting bond with the late Peggy Kirk Bell, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 95.
“Peggy couldn’t pronounce my name, so she called me ‘Heineken’ for some reason,” Sorenstam said. “I had to explain to her that I wasn’t from Germany and I don’t drink beer. That was our internal joke the whole time I knew Peggy.”
A World Golf Hall of Fame inductee and longtime Pine Needles owner, Bell continued to grow closer with Sorenstam every year.
Sorenstam, who felt she owed it to the Bell family and the USGA to compete in this year’s championship, hasn’t forgotten some of those shared experiences.
“Mrs. Bell would drive up in a cart and she would park next to me and watch me hit balls and have a smart comment, and then she would leave and come back and I would meet her for lunch and she took me into her office,” she recalled.
“I didn’t know that much about her the first time I met her but she was showing me all these photos on the wall and she would fly around in a plane and I thought to myself, ‘She’s one tough cookie.’ ”
Inspiring the next generation
After leaving Pine Needles on Tuesday afternoon, Sorenstam made her way to Sunrise Theater for the premiere of “Becoming Annika,” a documentary that will debut May 10 on Golf Channel.
At the conclusion of the film, an all-female production that highlights Sorenstam’s career, she addressed a row of young girls in the crowd.
Annika Sorenstam walks the red carpet for the “Becoming Annika” move premiere at Sunrise Theater in the Southern Pines, North Carolina, on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Photo: Jason E. Miczek/USGA)
“I think that dreams do come true, if you put your mind to it and you put your effort into it. My dad told me a long time ago that there are no shortcuts to success,” she said.
“Golf turned out to be my vehicle, my story, and that’s why I give back to the ANNIKA Foundation. I want to inspire the next generation of young girls, just like yourself.”
Sorenstam’s ANNIKA Foundation, which she started in 2007 near the end of her career, focuses on supporting girls’ and women’s golf around the globe. A return to the major championship stage offers Sorenstam another opportunity to inspire that generation.
“I’ll never forget Will looked at me and said, ‘Don’t worry, Mommy, Jessica and Nelly Korda’s ages together is what you are.’ That really didn’t make it any better, but obviously the honor of being invited here is very special,” she said.
“Being a past champion here is very special and my relationship with Peggy and her family. The last 14 years has really been trying to inspire the next generation of girls. I figured if I tell them to get out of the box and try different things, and explore and live your dream, then I’ve got to do that too. You can’t just say and not do. So I think we just decided to let’s do this.”
