Washington native JoAnne Carner will be one of four LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame members in the field for this year’s second annual Suquamish Clearwater Legends Cup presented by Boeing.
Set for June 6-8 at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort’s White Horse Golf Club in Kingston, Wash., the event will host The Legends Tour, along with four top area senior women amateurs.
Hall of Famers joining Carner will be Juli Inkster, Hollis Stacy and 2019 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Jan Stephenson. Carner played in last year’s inaugural event and shot 77 in her opening round – two better than her age (79) at the time.
Now 80, the 43-time LPGA Tour winner competed in last week’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
“I wasn’t sure I’d be alive at 80,” said Carner, who grew up in Kirkland and went on to win two U.S. Women’s Open championships. “I’ve always loved competing, so to give it one more shot – it’s just sort of a goal, and it’s still so much fun to play.”
Competing as JoAnne Gunderson, she was known as the “Great Gundy” and was a regular contender in the amateur ranks. She married Don Carner, turned professional at age 30, and made her mark on the LPGA Tour, where she was nicknamed “Big Mama.” Carner served as the winning Team USA Solheim Cup captain in 1994, and in 1999 she was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame.
Fellow Hall of Famer Juli Inkster owns 31 LPGA Tour wins, seven major championships, four Legends Tour titles and will captain her third U.S. team in this year’s Solheim Cup.
Stacy has 18 LPGA tournament wins, one Legends Tour title and is a three-time U.S. Women’s Open winner, while Stephenson owns 16 LPGA Tour titles, including three major championships, and has won three times on the Legends Tour. Both Carner (2015) and Stephenson (2013) are also members of the Legends Hall of Fame.
Thirty-six professionals will compete for a $200,000 purse. Defending champion Trish Johnson of Great Britain, who has three Legends Tour wins, will return this year hoping to repeat.
Lara Tennant of Portland, Ore., the 2018 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion, will be one of four amateur invitees hoping to contend in The Legends Tour’s Seattle-area event. The other three invitees are Jackie Little of Proctor, B.C., Leslie Folsom of Tukwila, Wash., and Anita Wicks of Roseburg, Ore.
The pro-am is set for Thursday, June 6, followed by the 36-hole professional competition on Friday and Saturday, June 7-8.
Tickets are $20 per day or $30 for two days. Kids 12 and under get in free. All Boeing employees get in free with ID.
Free public parking is available at Clearwater Casino Resort or Bayside Community Church and includes a complimentary shuttle directly to the golf course.
Gates open at 10 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday, with tee times starting at 11 a.m.
A portion of the ticket proceeds will benefit official charity partners American Diabetes Association Camp Sealth and the Burned Children Recovery Foundation. Event details are available at www.ClearwaterLegendsCup.com.
For more info on The Legends Tour, visit www.TheLegendsTour.com. To view free live streaming from the first tee for both rounds, subscribe to youtube.com/legendstour.
Here is the field to date for the 2019 Suquamish Clearwater Legends Cup:
Anderson, Janet - Phoenix, Ariz.
Bartholomew, Jean - Garden City, N.Y.
Blalock, Jane - Cambridge, Mass.
Carner, JoAnne - Lake Worth, Fla.
Crosby, Elaine - Jackson, Mich.
Dibos, Alicia - Greenwich, Conn.
Doolan, Wendy - Lakeland, Fla.
Drew, Heather - Bermuda Dunes, Calif.
Ertl, Sue - Bradenton, Fla.
Finney, Allison - Bermuda Dunes, Calif.
Folsom (a), Leslie - Tukwila, Wash.
Graham, Gail - Naples, Fla.
Green, Tammie Somerset, Ohio
Grimes, Lisa - Alexandria, Minn.
Hurst, Pat - Danville, Calif.
Inkster, Juli - Los Altos, Calif.
Jeray, Nicole - Berwyn, Ill.
Johnson, Trish - London, England
Johnson, Christa - Tucson, Ariz.
Jones, Rosie - Hilton Head, S.C.
Kane, Lorie – Prince Edward Isl., Canada
Little (a), Jackie Proctor - B.C. Canada
McBride, Maria Hjorth - Orlando, Fla.
McGann, Michelle - N. Palm Beach, Fla.
Miller, Cindy - Buffalo, N.Y.
Neumann, Liselotte - Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Palmer, Sandra - Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Rarick, Cindy - Tucson, Ariz.
Redman, Michele - Plymouth, Minn.
Scranton, Nancy - St. Augustine, Fla.
Stacy, Hollis - Holmes Beach, Fla.
Stephenson, Jan - Sydney, Australia
Tennant (a), Lara - Portland, Ore.
Ward, Wendy - Spokane, Wash.
West, Lori - Glenwood, Colo.
Whaley Suzy – Hartford, Conn.
Wicks (a), Anita - Roseburg, Ore.
About The Legends Tour
The Legends Tour is the official senior tour of the LPGA, providing competitive opportunities for female golfers, professional and eligible amateurs, age 45 and over. The tour was founded in 2000 by 25 veteran LPGA Tour professionals to showcase the talents of some of the greatest women’s golfers of all time. The Legends Tour now has more than 120 members, including 14 LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame members. Legends Tour members have over 750 combined LPGA Tour victories, including 84 major championships. In its 18 seasons, The Legends Tour has awarded more than $17 million in prize money and helped raise nearly $24 million for charity. The Legends Tour has hosted nearly 100 charity golf events and professional tournaments nationwide in multiple states and overseas in Japan and Australia. For additional information on The Legends Tour, log on to www.thelegendstour.com.
