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JoAnne Carner

United States · born , Kirkland, Washington, United States

2major championships, LPGA count

Summary

  • First major 1971 U.S. Women's Open
  • Last major 1976 U.S. Women's Open
  • Runner-up in majors 9 times

Wins

  1. 1971 U.S. Women's Open Kahkwa Club · 288 (E) · by 7 strokes from Kathy Whitworth
  2. 1976 U.S. Women's Open Rolling Green G.C. · 292 (+8) · won a playoff against Sandra Palmer

Near misses

  1. 1974 KPMG Women's PGA Championship runner-up to Sandra Haynie
  2. 1975 U.S. Women's Open Atlantic City C.C. · runner-up to Sandra Palmer · 299
  3. 1978 U.S. Women's Open Country Club of Indianapolis · runner-up to Hollis Stacy · 290
  4. 1982 U.S. Women's Open Del Paso C.C. · runner-up to Janet Alex · 289
  5. 1982 KPMG Women's PGA Championship runner-up to Jan Stephenson
  6. 1983 U.S. Women's Open Cedar Ridge C.C. · runner-up to Jan Stephenson · 291
  7. 1987 U.S. Women's Open Plainfield C.C. · runner-up to Laura Davies · 285
  8. 1989 The Chevron Championship runner-up to Juli Inkster
  9. 1992 KPMG Women's PGA Championship runner-up to Betsy King

Rivals

Beat her

Beaten in finals and playoffs

Next in the chain: Sandra Haynie's rivals →

Moments

  1. 1971 U.S. Women's Open In the final round at the par-5 14th, having laid up the first three days, Carner took a fairway wood and reached the green in two after her 16-year-old caddie Tom Fessler told her his mother had done it.
  2. 1971 U.S. Women's Open Carner and two-time defending champion Donna Caponi shared the first-round lead at 2-under 70, then Carner took control with a 1-over 73 in a windy second round and carried a five-stroke lead over Mary Mills into Sunday.
  3. 1976 U.S. Women's Open Palmer holed a left-to-right par putt on the 72nd green to tie Carner at 292 and force the 18-hole Monday playoff; she recalled the green was so silent beforehand that the crowd's roar afterward was 'like this explosion'.
  4. 1976 U.S. Women's Open In the playoff Carner led by four on the 14th tee, Palmer won back five strokes over the next three holes, then at the short par-5 17th Palmer hit a fairway wood into a bunker about 50 yards short and made 6 while Carner recovered from the woods for a birdie 4; Palmer bogeyed the last two holes and Carner won 76-78.

Records and firsts

  1. — U.S. Women's Open most runner-up finishes · 5 (JoAnne Carner; Louise Suggs)
  2. 1971 U.S. Women's Open Wire-to-wire U.S. Women's Open winner: no ties

Results by championship

    Best day

    1971 U.S. Women's Open

    Kahkwa Club, Erie, PA · 288 (E) · by 7 strokes from Kathy Whitworth

    In the final round at the par-5 14th, having laid up the first three days, Carner took a fairway wood and reached the green in two after her 16-year-old caddie Tom Fessler told her his mother had done it.

    Carner and two-time defending champion Donna Caponi shared the first-round lead at 2-under 70, then Carner took control with a 1-over 73 in a windy second round and carried a five-stroke lead over Mary Mills into Sunday.

    Record: no ties

    Chosen by rule: the major win our record tables single out. Year page: 1971.

    Career line, 1971–1992

    U.S. Women's Open
    1971 U.S. Women's Open: won1975 U.S. Women's Open: runner-up to Sandra Palmer1976 U.S. Women's Open: won1978 U.S. Women's Open: runner-up to Hollis Stacy1982 U.S. Women's Open: runner-up to Janet Alex1983 U.S. Women's Open: runner-up to Jan Stephenson1987 U.S. Women's Open: runner-up to Laura Davies
    Chevron Championship
    1989 Chevron Championship: runner-up to Juli Inkster
    Women's PGA
    1974 Women's PGA: runner-up to Sandra Haynie1982 Women's PGA: runner-up to Jan Stephenson1992 Women's PGA: runner-up to Betsy King
    1975198019851990

    11 results. Hover or tap a mark; click it for the year.

    • Major win
    • Runner-up

    JoAnne Carner was born on April 4, 1939, in Kirkland, Washington, United States. Carner won 2 major championships by the LPGA's official count: 2 U.S. Women's Opens (1971, 1976).

    See JoAnne Carner in our rooms: Every Ground.

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    The record

    Wins in the majors (2)

    Count and list are the LPGA official major-championship record as given in our U.S. Women's Open champions table.

    1. 1971 U.S. Women's Open Kahkwa Club, Erie, PA · 288 (E) · by 7 strokes from Kathy Whitworth
    2. 1976 U.S. Women's Open Rolling Green G.C., Springfield, PA · 292 (+8) · won a playoff against Sandra Palmer (18-hole Monday playoff)

    Near misses

    1. 1974 KPMG Women's PGA Championship runner-up to Sandra Haynie
    2. 1975 U.S. Women's Open Atlantic City C.C. · runner-up to Sandra Palmer · 299
    3. 1978 U.S. Women's Open Country Club of Indianapolis · runner-up to Hollis Stacy · 290
    4. 1982 U.S. Women's Open Del Paso C.C. · runner-up to Janet Alex · 289
    5. 1982 KPMG Women's PGA Championship runner-up to Jan Stephenson
    6. 1983 U.S. Women's Open Cedar Ridge C.C. · runner-up to Jan Stephenson · 291
    7. 1987 U.S. Women's Open Plainfield C.C. · runner-up to Laura Davies · 285
    8. 1989 The Chevron Championship runner-up to Juli Inkster
    9. 1992 KPMG Women's PGA Championship runner-up to Betsy King

    Records and firsts

    Rows from our record tables that name this player, worded as the tables word them.

    1. — U.S. Women's Open most runner-up finishes · 5 (JoAnne Carner; Louise Suggs)
    2. 1971 U.S. Women's Open Wire-to-wire U.S. Women's Open winner: no ties

    Sources

    Every fact on this page comes from Golf Network News data sets compiled in October 2026 (Masters, PGA Championship, The Open, U.S. Women's Open, Ryder Cup, PGA Tour 2024–2026, major host sites, Champions Dinner menus, and the U.S. Open and state rooms). These are the sources those rows cite.

    1. usga.org: 26USWomensOpen
    2. lpga.com: major championship records
    3. lpga.com: joanne carner
    4. lpga.com: bio
    5. lpga.com: overview
    6. where2golf.com: joanne carner
    7. Wikipedia: JoAnne Carner
    8. Wikipedia: 1971 U.S. Women's Open
    9. golfcompendium.com: 1971 us womens open
    10. usga.org: caddie for 1971 women s open champ
    11. usga.org: womens history month 2 time womens open champ carner
    12. Wikipedia: 1976 U.S. Women's Open
    13. golfcompendium.com: 1976 us womens open
    14. forethegoodofthegame.com: joanne carner part 2 winning the 1971 1976 womens us opens
    15. forethegoodofthegame.com: sandra palmer part 3 the 1975 womens us open
    16. usga.org: 75th us womens open growth womens golf
    17. usga.org: monday digest rolling green honors 90th birthday
    18. si.com: a mountain of trouble
    19. web.archive.org: pastchamps 1976
    20. news.google.com: newspapers