Shoeless Jo

Back in 1996 I had the pleasure to work for Joanne Carner at the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament in Palm Springs. We made the cut but Joanne wasn't striking the ball well and we were well down in the pack. The last two days they split the tees, going off both the front and back nines, because of the TV coverage.

When we made the turn Joanne went to first aide to get some bandages. She decided to wear new shoes and they made some huge blisters where they rubbed on the back of her ankles. They couldn't help immediately but came out on the 2nd hole, our 11th, to patch them up. Right in the middle of the fairway the shoes came off and the patches went on.

It was too little too late. When we approached the green Joanne couldn't take it any more. Off came the shoes. Now she's playing in her socks, which by the way were the brightest red you've ever seen! They were like beacons. You could see these things from the Goodyear Blimp!

Now comes the funny part. Joanne started hitting it great. After hitting her second shot on the fourth hole she remarked, "You know Larry, without my shoes I needed to narrow my stance to maintain my balance. Don (her husband) always told me my stance was too wide".

Before taking her shoes off Joanne was 18 over par. She played the last seven holes one under in her socks, finishing at 17 over. Just think, if she teed it up in her socks starting on Thursday, she might have won the thing!

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