By JIM PETTIT

Carl Pettersson doesn’t look back.

If he was the type to dwell in the past, he would never get beyond May 20, 2000.

That was the day when Pettersson, a native of Sweden, saw his apparent four-shot, individual victory in an NCAA regional wiped out because he signed an incorrect scorecard.

Not only did the error disqualify Pettersson, but also it knocked his N.C. State teammates out of a trip to the NCAA Division I golf championship. That would be the end for some players, but not for Pettersson. At 5-feet-11 inches tall and 181 pounds, he’s made of stronger stuff.

It wasn’t the way Pettersson wanted to end his career at N.C. State. A four-time All-America selection (two at State and two at Central Alabama Junior College) deserved a better fate, but he quickly set about building a professional career.

He’s already started, having qualified for the PGA European Tour. He finished 18th in the European qualifying school and, through the Volvo PGA Championship, has competed in 11 European Tour events and four more on the European Challenge Tour.

He has cashed six times in his 11 European Tour outings, his best finish second place in the Argentina Open. He tied for seventh at the Carlsberg Malaysian Open, shared 16th at the Spanish Open, and notched finishes of 27th, 31st and 38th in three other tour events.

His money winnings are $144,344 in Euro dollars. A Euro dollar is worth about 85 cents against the American dollar, giving him $122,692 so far this season.

Pettersson’s stroke average is 71.44, which puts him in a tie for 73^rd in that statistical category.

In other categories, he is hitting 57.8 percent of fairways with his driver; averaging 279.7 yards per drive; hitting 65.4 percent of greens in regulation; 29.7 putts per round; 1.8 putts per green in regulation; and has saved par on 36.5 percent of his 63 attempts from sand bunkers.

It doesn’t sound like he’s spending too much time looking back.

That is no surprise to those who know him best. Pettersson’s serious interest in golf began when he was about 10-years-old. His father, Lars, was an executive with Volvo Trucks Division and a low-handicap golfer.

Carl played with golf clubs as a toddler, but didn’t get hooked until the family moved to England when he was 10. By the time he was 14, Pettersson was an accomplished player.

The family moved to America when Carl was 14, his father transferring to the Volvo-White offices near Greensboro. Carl enrolled at Greensboro’s Grimsley High School where he was a star on the squad.

Tom Kleinlein, now an assistant director of football operations at Wake Forest University, was Pettersson’s high school golf coach.

‘‘All I had to do was make sure Carl knew when to show up for the matches and to make sure he had enough golf balls,’’ Kleinlein said, only partly joking. ‘‘He was pretty good when he got to us. The biggest thing we did with Carl was encourage him. He had an amazing work ethic. We sat down one day and tried to figure out how many balls he was hitting.

‘‘Carl lived at Starmount Country Club, so between our regular practices, going up there, and then going out at night to hit on lighted ranges, he was hitting more than 1,000 balls per week.

‘‘We kind of joked about it,’’ Kleinlein said, ‘‘and we told him that we wanted him to cut the number of practice balls he was hitting in half and to use the extra time to go out and actually play golf. We wanted him to work on his short game. He didn’t have any problem hitting the ball. He could strike the ball as well or better than most college players at the time. We just wanted him to work on playing more. I knew the kid could play. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything to screw him up.’’

The work paid off in a state 4-A individual title for Pettersson, who was captain of the Whirlies in his senior year. After high school, Pettersson attended Central Alabama Junior College to simplify meeting NCAA eligibility requirements. That set the stage for a scholarship to play for Richard Sykes at N.C. State.

‘‘Carl is really a joy,’’ Sykes said. ‘‘I first saw him when he was a junior in high school and I had gone to watch someone else. I came back to watch him again and then followed him at the U.S. Juniors.

‘‘I really wanted him,’’ Sykes said, ‘‘but he had been to school in Sweden, Spain, England and Greensboro. By the time I tried to put all those transcripts together, I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t think he was going to be admitted. There were just too many things to worry about, so I suggested he go to junior college for two years and, once he graduated, all the problems he may have had would disappear.’’

Pettersson followed Sykes’ advice and went to Central Alabama Junior College, the same school that produced touring pro John Huston.

‘‘Maxie Boles, the coach at Central Alabama, called me back a little while later just praising Carl because he was such a great player and a great kid,’’ Sykes said.

Pettersson won the national junior college individual title in his first year and Central Alabama swept the team title as well. In his second year, Pettersson finished third.

‘‘After his second year, I called him back to see if he was ready to come with us,’’ Sykes said. ‘‘A lot of kids turn pro after two years at junior college, but Carl was ready to come. It wasn’t a hard recruiting job to get him to State, and Carl never let us down. He played great the whole time he was here.’’

In his State career, Pettersson was twice an All-America, and twice All-Atlantic Coast Conference. He was runner-up for the conference title his senior year.

‘‘He was one of the best players in the college ranks while he was here,’’ Sykes praised. ‘‘He never won a tournament while he was here, but he was in the top five all the time.’’

Sykes remembers the scorecard incident well.

‘‘It was a tough time at N.C. State and for Carl Pettersson,’’ Sykes said, ‘‘but he handled it well. He went out three days later and qualified for the U.S. Open with a 66.

‘‘That incident may seem like a negative thing,’’ Sykes said, ‘‘but let me tell you the good things that came out of it. Because of what happened, it made Golf World, Golf Week and Sports Illustrated. The coach for the Swedish national team read an article about it, and he hadn’t known that Carl was Swedish. He called Carl and wanted to know if he would be interested in playing on the Swedish World Amateur team.’’

Pettersson agreed and stayed an amateur through the summer. As the Swedish team worked its way to the World Amateur, it stopped to compete in the European Amateur. Pettersson won the tournament.

After turning pro, Pettersson faced a choice between the U.S. or

Europeans tours.

‘‘He was already there and his parents were back in Sweden,’’ Sykes said. ‘‘He could have tried to qualify for both tours, but the finals of the U.S. and European tour qualifying was the same week.

‘‘But he wants to play in the U.S.,’’ Sykes said. ‘‘Right now, he’s getting invaluable experience. He’s already secured enough winnings to qualify for next year’s European Tour and that will allow him to come over here this year and try to qualify for the U.S. Tour. If he doesn’t make it, he still has a place to play.’’

And he still has the will to succeed, too.