A 79-year-old nicknamed ‘Big Mama’ posted the best round of the year in golf

I’m not sure what will happen the next three days at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, but the inaugural event is already a success. This new USGA creation is just one round in and a younger generation of the golf world, which should already have an appreciation for some of these competitors that are legends and icons in the game, are getting to know them again.

One such legend posted the round of the year on Thursday. JoAnne Carner is 79. Her nickname from her days on the LPGA is “Big Mama.” She has not played without a cart since 2004. She is without one of her most trusted clubs, which was so old it was ruled non-conforming at the start of the week. But Carner walked Thursday at Chicago Golf Club and went out and shot her age in the first round, finishing with a birdie to post a 79 and sit inside the cutline at the start of her Friday round.

The goal of this event was to hold a new major championship, but also provide a spotlight for some of these legends that deserve it. The younger generations probably don’t know much of Carner, but a round like this at a new championship like this makes it a story. So you read more and you learn and you begin to really appreciate the “Big Mama” oeuvre.

The Hall of Famer won more than 40 times on the LPGA tour and that came after spending much of her prime as an amateur, dominating the U.S. Women’s Am for about a decade. Carner was one of the longest hitters on any Tour when she turned pro, which prompted the nickname. She’s always puffing on a cigarette. She’s been known to work out on a bike with a beer in the cupholder. She’s constantly cracking jokes and just generally seems to be “living her best life,” as the kids might say. Watch below for more background on the woman who’s the best golf story going right now.

Carner is obviously no longer a full-time pro golfer. But that doesn’t really provide the full context of just how much she had to throw herself back into things for this inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open. She’s had her driver for just one week (but still hits it about 225 yards). At registration at the start of the week, she was told her Wilson R-90 wedge, one she’s mastered the short game with and one she said had been in her bag for three decades, was no longer conforming to USGA rules so it had to go. “Oh, it was awful,” she told Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols about giving up the club she uses from 75 yards and in.

After walking three practice rounds in a row, Carner posted her 79 on Thursday with four birdies on the inward nine, including one at the 18th. Shooting your age, no matter your skill level or career resume, is always an accomplishment worth the highest praise. Carner, however, seemed unimpressed, saying she wasn’t happy with her round and hit “some awful shots.”

Now comes Friday’s second round, which starts at 1:10 p.m. ET. FS1 will have weekend coverage of this first ever Senior Women’s Open, but Friday, we’ll have to rely on reports and tweets from on the ground. This will be the fifth day in a row she’s walking the course, but she doesn’t seem concerned and just sees it as another reason to crack jokes.

The last time Carner walked a golf course, she reckons, was 2004. When asked if she hit the gym to prepare for this championship, Carner shot back: “Do I look like I hit the gym?”

The host venue of the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, Chicago Golf Club, is one of the most exclusive courses in the world. It’s a founding USGA club and the oldest 18-hole course in North America. It still remains one of the very best courses in the world. As with many USGA events, the course received a bulk of the coverage leading into the championship.

But now that we’ve got legends like Big Mama actually making shots in competition, the focus is on the players navigating that historic course. Here’s hoping she posts another number on Friday that keeps her around for the TV coverage on the weekend. Whatever happens, her Thursday round may go down as the most impressive of the year on any Tour and at any championship.