Just Winners

Carner, Streit Re-enact 1956 Women's Amateur

September 22, 2006

By Rhonda Glenn , USGA

Indianapolis - In the end, it wasn't the result of the match that counted. It was that it happened at all.

The 1956 Girls' Junior champion, JoAnne Gunderson Carner, left, was denied by Marlene Streit in the Women's Amateur that same year. (Robert Walker/USGA)

No national titles were at stake Friday at Meridian Hills Country Club, a venerable parkland-style course in Indianapolis . It wasn't even a match for bragging rights. But, 50 years after their first encounter, two of history's most distinguished players, JoAnne Gunderson Carner and Marlene Stewart Streit , teed off in an 18-hole match to celebrate their final-round battle in the 1956 U.S. Women's Amateur.

In 1956, Streit beat the 18-year-old Carner, 2 and 1. Carner and Streit, who play some eight friendly matches a year in Florida , first thought of the re-match three years ago.

"We thought it would be fun to play a match at the same course we played at in 1956," said Streit Thursday night at a dinner for 150 people at Meridian Hills honoring the match. "That is, if we were still alive."

Thanks to Judy Muirhead , a Meridian Hills member, the match was arranged. Through the efforts of the club's members and staff, it became a very big deal.

The original scoring sheets were posted on a scoreboard. Caddie bibs read 'Carner' and 'Streit,' attesting to the married names of the players compared to 50 years ago. USGA tee markers were used and the course setup was done by former USGA president Trey Holland, who is a Meridian Hills member, and the head professional Jack Barber. The celebration dinner was sold out and USGA Women's Committee chairman Marcia Luigs was drafted to officiate the match.

The re-match drew nearly as much interest as the original when the teenaged Gunderson, the 1956 Girls' Junior champion, took on the acclaimed Stewart, who had already captured the Canadian and British titles. Carner is now 67 and Streit is 72 and they needled each other in good fun on Tuesday night. Streit coughed once during her speech. "Pressure!" yelled Carner from the sidelines.

Both, however, are among the most competitive of all players and nerves were obvious Friday on the first tee.

"This is scary," said Streit as she teed up her ball in front of some 200 spectators. "It was scary enough the first time."

While Marlene Streit tees off Friday, JoAnne Gunderson Carner awaits her turn. (Robert Walker/USGA)

Carner sailed her drive into the trees in the left rough, then retired her driver for the better part of the match, driving with fairway metal clubs instead.

Carner parred the first hole and Streit bogeyed and that was the last of the truly serious competition.

On the second hole, Streit blithely took a few practice swings under a tree, dislodging leaves and twigs. Luigs almost seemed reluctant when she informed Streit that she forfeited the hole for improving the path of her swing. Carner was suddenly 2 up.

"I didn't even think about it," said Streit on the third tee.

"A few more of those, Marlene, and we'll go in and have a cocktail," Carner said. "Too bad you haven't played enough to know the rules."

Nerves settled and the two players got down to some serious golf.

Streit won the fourth with a par to pull within one hole of Carner. As they walked down the fifth fairway, they were so obviously caught up in the spectacle of the occasion, that it was impossible not to remember their great careers.

In appearance, they look much the same as they always have. The sturdy Carner still slashes at the ball with surprising power. The diminutive Streit still hits most of her tee shots on a string and both wield magical wedges.

Between them, they hold 12 USGA titles. Carner's five Women's Amateur titles, two U.S. Women's Open wins and the Girls' Junior championship put her in a league of her own. Streit's lone Women's Amateur win and three titles in the USGA Senior Women's Amateur, including her 2003 victory at the record age of 69, make her a testament to longevity.

As dissimilar as they are in their styles of play, they share a great deal. Both are scrappy, never-say-die competitors, and they have keen wit. Both also share a certain sadness as they have been widowed in recent years and, without their life partners, and the intoxicating schedule of frequent competition, time would hang heavy on their hands if they would let it. Instead, they play friendly matches and Carner makes some ceremonial appearances and runs a women's golf school. Streit plays senior amateur golf and devotes time to fund-raising for Canadian junior girl golfers.

This re-match, then, was not only nostalgic for the spectators - which included other competitors from the 1956 field such as Alice Dye, Barbara Romack and Judy Eller Street - it had all the trappings of an encounter somehow more meaningful than a fun match for $5.

"These two are so competitive," said Romack, "they'll be trying as hard as they can."

Carner made the turn 1 up, hitting fairway metal clubs off the tees. Streit hung on, hitting mostly fairway metal clubs into the greens.

Carner made a fine birdie putt on the picturesque 11th, and Streit inspired cheers when she rolled in a slick 20-footer to match her.

The two competitors stroll through the Meridian Hills course, yucking it up as they go. (Robert Walker/USGA)

The 12th was thrilling. Streit hit first, firing her iron shot to within 4 feet.

From the front bunker, Carner hit a masterful sand shot that landed 20 feet beyond the hole, then spun back nearly going into the hole. They halved with pars.

After that, there were a lot of conceded putts - some from 4 feet - and their, "Give, give?" camaraderie proved that it was only a game.

At the par-3 16th, Carner hit an iron to within 6 feet. Streit nearly holed her shot and it settled less than a foot from the flagstick. Carner conceded the birdie, picked up Streit's ball and gave it a mighty heave into a lake. She missed her own birdie putt and the match was square.

Conceded 4-footers for par at the 17th kept the match square.

At the 18th, both smashed tee shots down the fairway, then strolled to their balls chatting easily.

"These are the things you talk about doing and never do," said Streit. "Or, one will do it and the other won't."

"Or they don't live long enough," Carner laughed.

After some antics on the green, Streit won the hole and the match, 1 up, when Carner bogeyed.

Carolyn Pickering Lautner, who covered the 1956 match and had a 35-year career as a journalist, said: "I've covered a thousand golf matches and this is the most fun I've ever had. And the best thing is that these two ladies are 67 and 72 and they walked."

In the end, Streit and Carner seemed energized by their reunion. Like the fine maple on the 18th, the aged tree that was just now putting forth its autumn blaze of glory, they too had shown the old spirit.

For the record, if we give Streit a bogey on the hole she forfeited, she shot 72, which happened to match her age, and Carner shot 73.

"For us to relive something like this is really, really special," said Streit.

"It was just more fun than anything," said Carner.

"There was no loser today," Streit said. "Today we were both winners."

"I like that," Carner muttered. "I like that."

Rhonda Glenn is a USGA Manager of Communications. E-mail her with questions and comments to rglenn@usga.org.