JoAnne Carner - Part 3 (Solheim Cup Captain and the Senior Women's U.S. Open)

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

So about this time, uh as you mentioned, uh the foreign players start coming in. And so you know, Lord Davies shows up and Ayako Okamoto, of course, we had uh uh Higuchi was around, Lizalette Newman. There were quite a few international players now being attracted to the LPGA tour.

JoAnne Carner 0:34

Yeah, the uh Ayako was uh the first uh really big big star. Uh and uh the uh Swedes, you know, came over uh Laura Davies from England. Uh a lot of really fine Swedes. They they put them on a program over there the to uh work on uh not only their golf games but their uh mental attitude and uh what they uh their nutrition and exercise and all that was the first that the Swedes did that uh but uh which you know then worked into the US uh setting up uh but uh you know to get them and just showed how we were expanding, uh you know, going bigger and better.

Mike Gonzalez 1:34

Yeah. So Bruce, um uh we're we're entering the decade of the 80s. We mentioned a couple of these things, but uh my goodness, uh 1985 wins, 1981 four wins player of the year, and 1982, what happens?

Bruce Devlin 1:48

We got another five wins. Yeah, amazing, quite amazing, really.

Mike Gonzalez 1:53

And another player of the year for for Joanne Corner. She wins at Elizabeth Arden. Uh that was your second win there, the McDonald's classic, uh, the Chevrolet World Championship of Golf. Speaking of Akamoto, and then uh and then the uh Henridden uh Classic in Willow Creek, and then the Rail Charity Golf Classic. That was your second win there. That was in Springfield, Illinois, right next to my hometown. So quite a year in '82.

JoAnne Carner 2:19

Yeah. You know, uh the World Championship. Uh Akamoto uh made a hole in one on the second hole or something, and and uh, you know, I had no idea until I talked to her afterwards, but she said that is bad luck in Japan. So I I said, but if I made a hole in one, I'm off and running, you know, I'm gonna really roll. Uh but to her it was uh bad luck. So uh you know, I remember that one because it was such a shock. It it, you know, it was maybe not the second hole, but it was early in the round.

Bruce Devlin 3:12

So that that particular tournament, Joanne, too, the world championship that year in '82, that that qualified you for you. This was your 35th win that qualified you to be in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

JoAnne Carner 3:28

Right. I worked so hard for that. You know, I wanted to get in, but the LPGA Hall of Fame is is it's so difficult. It still is, even though they've uh dropped down some of the requirements. But uh I had 30 wins to make the Hall of Fame, but you had to have two separate majors. I had two US opens, but they only count as one, according to LP. So the next thing I had to do was win 35 events, and so finally the World Uh Golf Hall of Fame put me in contention there to win, and and I finally I forget how many uh tournaments uh I choked on coming down trying to win my 35th win and get in the Hall of Fame. And finally, when it came to the World Golf uh Championship, I said, this is it. I'm going to win this and get this Hall of Dunction over with.

Mike Gonzalez 4:49

And you got her done by by five. Um you know, as we continue on, Bruce, uh 83, 84, Joanne, you continue to win. You racked up another five wins over those three years. And uh, I think the 85 Safeco Classic at Meridian Valley Country Club in Washington by two over Jan Stevenson, that was probably your last win on tour up until that point. Uh pretty healthy? Any nagging injury injuries that uh that bothered you throughout your career?

JoAnne Carner 5:19

Well, no, I take it back. I I uh uh went over uh my motorcycle. Uh Don and I had uh motorcycles, they were uh trail bikes and uh in our place in Tennessee, and then we'd take them on a tour too. But it had been raining for several days there and I got sick of just sitting around, so I said I'm gonna take uh my bike and just go up one of these. They're like they're roads, but some of them are like old ra uh logging roads originally.

Mike Gonzalez 6:02

Yeah.

JoAnne Carner 6:03

And they're clay based. So I came around a corner and and hit the brake, and the clay from being wet was slippery, and the bike s just skidded out from under me, and I went down an embankment. And uh so I ended up, you know, great, it knocked uh my gloves off and knocked my helmet off and all that, and uh I ended up uh injuring my uh wrist and and had a slight cut on it. So anyway, uh that threw me back. Uh I had uh you know, it's a long story, but uh what I went through to to finally get it uh straight uh and healed properly. So that was really the only time that I was off uh the tour.

Mike Gonzalez 7:11

Yeah, yeah. And uh Bruce, it looks like uh uh she was still going strong in 2004 on the ladies' tour.

Bruce Devlin 7:21

Yeah, which is remarkable, really, when you think about it. You played uh after that last victory in '85 we uh we sneak up uh 19 more years, and you're still playing 10 events that year.

JoAnne Carner 7:35

Yeah. Well, as my husband got uh um sick with uh he had Parkinson's and and uh start of dementia, so um I would take care of him, but I realized that I was going nuts.

Bruce Devlin 7:52

I needed to go out and do something.

JoAnne Carner 7:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah and so uh uh I hired uh live in help and then I would go play an event every now and then and uh so and then I did that uh a couple years and then finally in 2004 that's when I uh missed the cut at the diner and I went to uh uh a shopping uh flea market actually at the nearby college with my sister and brother and uh friends of mine and we were walking along in the they had streets blocked off with all the uh uh tents of all the people displaying and stuff, and and I was walking, looking down the roads and decided uh which trying to decide which way to go, and a woman in front of me um uh was was moving over, so I moved over and realized I walked right off the curb. So I started to lose my balance, and I thought if I hit her, I'll flatten her. So knock her down too to the side, and our purses, her purse and my purse caught and it flipped me, and I ended up uh on my landing on my wrist, and I broke my left wrist, and uh so that uh ended uh golf for a long time, really, because yeah, it was set and then and then it was not diagnosed properly, so I had to have uh more surgery on it.

Mike Gonzalez 10:00

So yeah, well one thing I think our listeners would uh uh maybe have a question on their minds, and that's you know, if Joanne Corner had would have gone the traditional route as as many of our other lady guests did, and and you know, turn pro if they went to college right out of college, or even at a at a younger age. I mean, Amy Alcott was probably what 18 when she turned pro, but let's say you turn pro at 20. How many wins, how many more wins do you have?

JoAnne Carner 10:24

Well at 20, I had no fear. So yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?

Bruce Devlin 10:35

You know, Joanne, there's one other thing that you have achieved that not many of our great players have, and it's gonna come as a shock to you. We've looked at the record of all of the wonderful players, the World Golf Hall of Fame players, major winners. Their playoff record is only about 43%. You are 10 and 10 in your playoff record. So you you're you're seven percentage points above the average world greatest players. You realize that, don't you?

JoAnne Carner 11:10

No, I've never heard that one.

Bruce Devlin 11:13

Yeah, it's amazing.

JoAnne Carner 11:14

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 11:15

Yeah, we went back and looked at it. And the ladies and the men, I mean, probably within two or three tenths of a percent different, both at about 43 percent win. Now, of course, we have to account for the fact, Bruce, that sometimes you're in a playoff with more than one person.

Bruce Devlin 11:31

True. Right.

Mike Gonzalez 11:31

But essentially what it what it tells you, it's just it's it's sort of a 50-50 deal by the time you get to a playoff, isn't it?

JoAnne Carner 11:37

Right. Yeah, normally that's what it is, right?

Mike Gonzalez 11:40

So it just seems like it's more of a crapshoot than anything. You'd rather have it resolved in those first 72 holes.

JoAnne Carner 11:47

Yeah. Isn't that the truth? That's a that's always the goal.

Mike Gonzalez 11:52

Yeah. Well, just uh we'll just reflect back on the majors really quickly. Uh Joanne, uh, in the majors, uh you played in a hundred of them, made the cuts in 73% of these. Uh, if we just go tick down the list in the dinosaur, I'm sure that's one you would have loved to have won. You finished second to Julie Ingster in 1989. That was probably the closest you got while it was a major. Uh, but uh that must have been a fun event.

JoAnne Carner 12:20

That was uh an event that we really look forward to. Um they not only uh you know you're you're playing the in front of a TV audience and and whatnot, but they'd have all these celebrities there uh for the pro-am, and some would even stay and they would put on a huge show. Show uh and so it was it was great for all of us to to uh get to see him, meet him personally, uh some play with, you know, so uh but you you always got all new outfits to get ready for the dinosaur, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 13:09

Yeah.

JoAnne Carner 13:10

And including uh dress for dinner.

Mike Gonzalez 13:14

Yeah. Uh we can talk a little about about the U.S. Open. Of course, we talked about your two wins, but let's just uh just for our listeners, I want to give them uh give them this little stretch in the U.S. Open for Joanne Corner. Um 1971, she wins, and then go to 74, T4, then T3, win third, T2, second, T7, T3, T2, fifth. Bruce, how's that for a stretch?

Bruce Devlin 13:45

Uh that's quite remarkable in our national championship. Yep. Well, as Joanne said, she that was one of her favorite things to do, play in USGA events.

JoAnne Carner 13:54

Well, as you know, Bruce, you when you played uh you knew when you got to the open you didn't really have to shoot uh a really low score because the course was so difficult.

Mike Gonzalez 14:09

Correct.

JoAnne Carner 14:09

So uh you took a little different attitude. And I used to practice uh wedge recovery shots uh starting six weeks in advance of playing the open. Because I knew you know you can't play that solid uh for four straight rounds in the open. So you needed recovery shots. So I would start working on that um well in advance of playing it.

Mike Gonzalez 14:43

So, Joanne, when when you talk about wedge recovery shots, again for our listeners, kind of describe what you're talking about in terms of length of shot, loft of club you're using, uh lies you're practicing from.

JoAnne Carner 14:55

Well, yes, uh you would do all. You know, I mean, starting with sand play, then you'd do uh uh shots, uh short of the green lob shots, uh you'd do uh some from the rough uh around the green, you know, some full shots, some uh you know, high, real high lob shots.

Bruce Devlin 15:20

What was your best? What was your best shot do you think of your short a short game?

JoAnne Carner 15:26

I was always great at sand.

Bruce Devlin 15:29

Sand, so you're a good bunker player, huh?

JoAnne Carner 15:32

Yeah. I I you know when I was hot, uh uh well the trouble is when you're hot you're you're uh hitting all the greens, you're not getting in the sand. But uh you know, uh it would uh not bother me to you know hole out one a week, you know.

Bruce Devlin 15:55

Yeah, really.

Mike Gonzalez 15:57

Wow. Well, let's go to the LPGA championship where you had uh three seconds 74 to Sandra Haney at Pleasant Valley, uh which of course Bruce knows, 82 second to Jan Stevenson at the Nicholas Sports Center, and uh 92 to Betsy King at Bethesda Country Club. Which one uh do you think you had your best chance in?

JoAnne Carner 16:19

Uh I I I uh I mean Bethesda sounds like it, but I I I can't recall.

Bruce Devlin 16:34

Had a chance in most of them, really.

JoAnne Carner 16:37

No, uh you know, I even skipped one year because the LPGA got played dog golf courses. You know, they even went to to a public golf course in in Baltimore and the fairways were that long. The superintendent thought it was great because it was green, you know, and it just was awful, you know. So I refused to go. We used to play it as a as a uh an event, uh uh, but then uh they dropped it for a little bit and then the they brought in it as the LPGA championship. And I thought, man, this is like going backwards. So uh I didn't even play it that year.

Mike Gonzalez 17:33

So well, you had a few close calls to at the DeMore. Uh course, as we mentioned, that that uh became a major in in 79, and while you won it there in uh I think it was 76, 78 or so. Uh then in in 80, after it became a major, uh, you were second to Pat Bradley at St. George's Golf and Country Club. Uh uh two years later, T3 to Sandra Haney at the same venue, and then one year later, uh a T2 to Holler Stacy at Beaconsville.

JoAnne Carner 18:03

Yeah. That was a uh that was the uh favorite tournament for people bringing um their family, you know, mother and father or brother and sister or some family member to go to. Um and uh de Murrier just did it first class. So and you know, wonderful golf courses. So it was, you know, like our US open, very, very close to it, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 18:42

Yep, yeah. Well, you'd you'd mentioned earlier that you'd wish the USGA would have come up with the uh uh the Lady Senior much earlier than they did. Well, they finally got around to it and let you come to Chicago Golf Club. That had to be quite an experience.

JoAnne Carner 18:58

That was. It was. I uh I got to hit uh first ball off the first T, you know, so uh but it was uh so long and and coming, but finally to to get it there and and uh have it on TV also uh you know was was terrific. But you know, uh as they kept saying there aren't enough women uh pros to to fill the field. And they said, well there's all kinds of them. Some are teaching, you know. But uh and and in the old days uh the amateurs used to fill in uh you know, the in the 60s and whatnot, they used to fill in the field for the pros in the uh women's open, you know, so uh it it it was the same thing and they just took forever to do to do it, but it was you know so welcome to have it there, you know, uh finally.

Mike Gonzalez 20:14

And a a great, great venue to start it off.

JoAnne Carner 20:17

Well, my goal was always to make the cut and and uh I never did but but uh you know, I shot under my edge, which made more publicity than than anything, but uh it was just uh it was a is I mean it's a wonderful event. Uh I just wish it had been earlier.

Mike Gonzalez 20:50

Probably in retrospect, don't you believe the USGA feels the same way? They they look back and think, yeah, we probably should have done this sooner.

JoAnne Carner 20:57

Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Hindsight doesn't help. Yeah. If you go for a record like I was trying to do.

Mike Gonzalez 21:07

Well, uh, you know, the the the accolades kept coming uh uh after you finished your active career on the LPGA tour, uh you were inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame early on because you'd won there quite a bit as an amateur in 1969. That happened. Uh 1981, the USJ Bob Jones Award, one of their most prestigious awards that they uh they give out uh the following year, inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. And then in 1995, the William and Mousey Powell Award, which we've talked to a couple of our other guests who have received that. Those are some fine, fine accolades.

JoAnne Carner 21:44

Yeah. Well, it's I mean, you work you work your entire year to make a uh a career, uh not year, uh, you know, to try and make a Hall of Fame. Uh For me, uh, you know, my career was long, so uh you know, it wasn't that hard to get in because I kept uh winning for a long period of time. But uh anytime you make a Hall of Fame, it's a great honor.

Mike Gonzalez 22:21

Yeah, before we uh begin to wind down your life story, I I'd be remiss if we didn't allow you to touch on your experience as captain of the 1994 Solheim Cup.

JoAnne Carner 22:32

Oh, that was what an experience. It was uh uh played at the Greenbriar, and uh you know, I went out and and I didn't have a lot to say to the uh team, you know. Uh but the only thing I I told them go out and birdie the first hole, you know, which is what I was telling earlier, that it's you gotta get in the right frame of mind to to play. And uh so I remember uh I forget what day, but anyway, Beth Daniel finally burning the first hole and she jammed her arm up in the air, yelling, yay, and pulled her arm almost out of socket. But she was thrilled, you know, because uh she finally did what I asked and and whatnot. But uh you really uh don't know you know how you're gonna pair them up in the team deal. Uh I try to take one that is a good putter uh on each uh team. Yeah, so uh you have six matches. So uh anyway, uh that worked uh uh very well. Uh but you're still, you know, sweating it out and and I had to talk to them, you know. Don't you know get too comfortable if if you're on the green and your uh opponent is over in a bunker or something, because they're liable to hold it. I said if you're anticipating they might do it, you don't have the shock of that. So and it did happen. One girl's on the green on this long part three, the other girl, her opponent, is two bunkers away from the green. And hold it and and uh, you know, so she said, you know, if you hadn't told me that, I I would have just been so disheartened and down on myself, you know, so but she was expecting it, yeah. And then they the uh European team all came and down the hall. They had all these uh uh y'all hush signs uh near the elevators to keep it nice and quiet. Uh they picked up all those and and uh came down the hallway to to where the US team was and and serenaded us with all that. And uh so we had a a party in in uh my suite uh for everyone.

Bruce Devlin 25:49

That's great.

Mike Gonzalez 25:50

Yeah, it had to be a great memory. Uh well Joanne, uh one of the things Bruce and I do, we ask uh a handful of questions with each of our guests, and I'm gonna let Bruce start out.

Bruce Devlin 26:04

So, Joanne, if when you were twenty years old and you knew what you know now, what what would you have done differently?

JoAnne Carner 26:23

I probably turned probe sooner, but uh uh I don't know uh that I I would change anything. I think I've I've pretty much stayed uh you know uh once my husband died, uh that changed everything. But previous to that, uh it was sort of a uh routine that uh you know, whether I was playing in amateur golf or professional golf or just uh going around sightseeing and and whatnot, uh you know, I I was happy.

Mike Gonzalez 27:07

So we're gonna give you one career mulligan. Where do you take it?

JoAnne Carner 27:16

Wherever I shranked it. So I don't.

Mike Gonzalez 27:23

I mean, was there one shot that would have made the difference in a in a major that you can recall?

JoAnne Carner 27:29

Uh yeah, the uh uh uh the open um where um Laura Davies won in a playoff with the three of us. Uh when I was coming to the second uh 30 72nd hole, uh I had hit um iron right over the flag and just barely over the green. And uh so I had to get up and down uh in two to win the tournament by one. And my playing partner decided she was gonna uh get out of the way, so she put it up and uh long, long putt and missed and then lined up again, you know, everything taking a lot of time and missed that, and then you know finally, so by the time I got ready to do just a little short chip of ten yards, uh I was gone and half bladed it down the hill, still on the green, but uh ended up uh having to go into a playoff the next day and lost that.

Mike Gonzalez 29:05

Yeah, that was 1987 at Plainfield Country Club.

unknown 29:09

Right.

Mike Gonzalez 29:10

Yeah, yeah.

JoAnne Carner 29:11

Would have been nice because you get a 10-year exemption.

Mike Gonzalez 29:15

Yeah, that sounds like a good do-over to have that one back.

JoAnne Carner 29:18

Yeah, that's the only one of my whole career that I never uh you know even thought about. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 29:26

Yeah, fair enough.

Bruce Devlin 29:28

So you gotta ask gotta ask you one more question, Joanne.

unknown 29:31

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 29:33

How would you like Joanne Connor to be remembered?

JoAnne Carner 29:39

Uh just as a person uh who really loved the game and and loved playing in front of the people and and talking to them and and enjoying uh everything about uh golf. Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 30:06

Well, we've enjoyed everything about what you've spoken about today, Joanne. It's it's really been a thrill for Mike and I to have you today, and we uh we just want to say thank you so much for your time and thank you for the love of the game, too. We really appreciate it.

JoAnne Carner 30:23

Thank you, Burris.

Mike Gonzalez 30:27

Mike, really enjoyed being with you. Thank you so much for joining us.

JoAnne Carner 30:32

All right, it was uh a great pleasure. Thank you.

Mike Gonzalez 30:39

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.