Last updated: August 2026
| Full Name | JoAnne Gunderson Carner |
| Born | April 4, 1939, Kirkland, Washington, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession | Professional Golfer (LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame) |
JoAnne Carner is an American Hall of Fame professional golfer whose career spanned the 1960s through the 1980s and beyond, making her one of the most decorated women in the sport’s history. There is no reliable modern net worth figure for Carner; LPGA prize money during the peak of her career in the 1970s and 1980s was far smaller than it is today, and detailed lifetime earnings figures for that era are not consistently published.
Early Life & Family
JoAnne Gunderson Carner was born on April 4, 1939, in Kirkland, Washington. She took up golf at age 10 and quickly showed prodigious talent, winning the U.S. Girls’ Junior championship in 1956 at age 17.
Rise to Fame
As an amateur, Carner won five U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships, in 1957, 1960, 1962, 1966, and 1968. In 1969 she won the Burdine’s Invitational on the LPGA Tour while still an amateur, making her the last amateur golfer to win an official LPGA event.
Career History
Carner turned professional and won her first title as a pro in her rookie year of 1970, beating Marilynn Smith in a playoff at the Wendell-West Open. In 1971 she won the U.S. Women’s Open, making her the only golfer in history to win the U.S. Girls’ Junior, U.S. Women’s Amateur, and U.S. Women’s Open titles; she won the U.S. Women’s Open a second time in 1976. Across her career she won 42 LPGA titles between 1970 and 1984, including 35 as a professional in just 12 seasons, and in 1985 she won the Safeco Classic at age 46, still the oldest winner in LPGA Tour history.
How They Built Their Wealth
Carner’s income during her playing career came from LPGA Tour prize money, which was significantly smaller across the 1960s to 1980s than it is on tour today, along with the kind of endorsement income typical of a leading golfer of her era. No reliable modern net worth figure exists for her.
Personal Life
Carner was inducted into both the LPGA Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1982, and she was named LPGA Player of the Year three times over her career, in addition to winning the Vare Trophy for scoring average.
With 43 total LPGA wins as an amateur and professional combined and a rare double induction into the LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame, JoAnne Carner remains one of the most accomplished figures in the history of women’s golf.