The Florida State Golf Association (FSGA) will be conducting the 69th annual Women’s International Four-Ball Championship at the esteemed Wanderer’s Club for the fourth consecutive year. Forty-eight teams represented by 15 states and two countries will travel to Wellington, Florida February 16-17 to contend for the coveted title of ‘Women’s International Four-Ball Champions’. This historic event, first conducted by the Jaycees of Hollywood, Florida, has comprised the names of golf’s finest—Babe Zaharias, Louise Suggs, Peggy Kirk-Bell, Marlene Streit and others. The format of the championship will be 36-holes of four-ball stroke play, generally known as a two-person, best-ball.
Among the talent of the 48 teams represented are Florida natives and back-to-back past champions, Meghan Stasi and Tara Joy-Connelly, and four past champions playing with different partners, including defending champion, Charlotte Daughan (pictured left), Taffy Brower, Diane Lang and Marlene Streit. Four teams who were a part of the historic Inaugural US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, Gail Hackett/Shirley Vaughn, Susan Rheney/Brenda Pictor, Mary Gale/Christine Gagner, and Alicia Kapheim/Tara Fleming, will also be teeing it up, along with Carolyn Creekmore, Mary Jane Hiestand, 
Judith Kyrinis and Meghan Stasi, who have qualified for the 2016 US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, hosted by Florida’s prestigious Streamsong Resort.
No stranger to the amateur golf world, Marlene Striet (pictured right), a current snow bird of Wellington, FL, will also be a familiar face in the 2016 field. Marlene Streit is a common name among the Canadian amateur golf circuit, taking home titles in eleven Canadian Ladies Open Amateurs, ten Canadian Ladies Close Amateurs, and four Canadian Ladies Senior Women’s Amateur tournaments, along with 3 titles at the USGA Senior Women's Amateur. Marlene is also the only woman ever to win the Canadian, British, American and Australian amateur titles, rightfully becoming the first Canadian member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Rounding out the field is not one, but two of Florida’s 2015 Players of the Year, Tara Joy-Connelly and Tama Caldabaugh. With a productive 2015 season, Joy-Connelly collected hardware in two of Florida's top Women's Championships; the Women's Amateur Stroke Play and the Women's Mid-Amateur. Our Senior Player of the Year, Caldabaugh, also had a busy 2015, playing impressive golf at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. She was Medalist at West Orange Country Club to qualify for the Championship and after 21 holes lost in the semifinals. To complete her successful year, Tama had the honor of participating in The Legends Tour's Walgreens Charity Championship.
As the fourth championship in the Orange Blossom Tour, which includes the Harder Hall Women's Invitational, the South Atlantic Amateur (SALLY), and the Ione D. Jones/Doherty Championship, the Women’s International Four-Ball carries a tremendous amount of history and prestige.
