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 age—83) 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.
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.
Light it up, Big Mama.