Pettersson finishes on Tiger’s Tail at Buick

By STEVE WILLIAMS

It’s a familiar script for Carl Pettersson. Move from Europe to the United States and have success playing golf.

He did it as a teenager, moving to Greensboro and winning a North Carolina High School Athletic Association golf championship in 1996 while playing for Grimsley High School.

He moved on to junior college and then to N.C. State University where he was a two-time All-American (1999 and 2000).

Then it was back to Europe for two successful years on the European Tour. Now back to the U.S. as a card-carrying member of the PGA Tour in 2003.

It didn’t take him long to make his mark. Playing in only his second tour event of the year, Pettersson beat them all (except Tiger Woods) and cashed a $486,000 check for a second-place finish at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Course at La Jolla, Calif.

“It's a lot different from the European Tour,” Pettersson said Feb. 17 following his 12-under-par finish (69-68-70-69 – 276).  “It's a lot more professional, I think, the way things are run. Also the European Tour I think is a lot more friendly tour. But I've met some friends out here that I went to college with, and there's three other Swedish guys out here.”

Pettersson, who plays out of the Heritage Golf Club in Wake Forest where he has a home, said it’s too early to judge if he’ll have continued success on the PGA Tour.

“I've only played two tournaments, so I can't tell you too much about it. So far, I like it over here, but I also enjoy playing over in Europe.”

Pettersson’s playing status is based on his 21st place-finish in qualifying school last December so he was unable to make some of the early events on the 2003 schedule. He was first alternate at the Sony Open in Hawaii but didn’t get in.

“I was disappointed. I flew all the way out to Hawaii; and my caddie is from England; he flew from the mainland,” Pettersson said. “Usually when you are first alternate you get in, but we didn't get in. But I used the good weather to practice and try out some new equipment. All in all, it wasn't a bad week.”

His first appearance came at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am but he shot 76-74-71 and missed the cut by two shots.

But one week later at Torrey Pines, he was on target, especially with his short game.

“I putted real good this week,” he said. “I hit it pretty good off the tee, also hit some bad ones, but I chipped and putted really well this week. Any time you finish well in the tournament, you chip and putt well.”

In Sunday’s final round, he hit 10 fairways and 13 greens and took just 28 putts with his extra-long putter.

He secured second place by one shot over Brad Faxon with a birdie-4 on the par-5 18th hole.

“I laid up with a 5-iron and then hit a pitching wedge in there to about 16 meters,” he said. He rolled in the putt and then rolled in the cash, enough to immediately vault him to 12th on the official money list.

Pettersson said he didn’t follow the leaderboard.

“I didn't look at one scoreboard today until I hit my third shot on 18,” he said. “I asked my caddie what place we were in, and he told me second, so I knew the putt on the last was pretty big.

“I was just concentrating on my own game today. I knew Tiger was going to play well, and I just played my own game. To shoot under par was my goal today.”

If only Woods had taken another week in his rehabilitation from his off-season knee surgery. Woods shot 70-66-68-68 to beat Pettersson by four shots.

Tour Roundup

Neal Lancaster of Smithfield, who won a career-high $813,230 in 2002, has gotten off to a slow start this year, missing his first three cuts before finishing in a tie for 37th at the Buick Invitational. He was in solid position after shooting 71-65, put posted a pair of 75s on the weekend.

The area’s only other player on the PGA Tour, Greensboro resident John Maginnes, missed the cut in the Buick Invitational by one shot.

He had opened the season with a tie for 50th at the Sony Open and a tie for 21st at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He won $43,521 at the Hope, almost the same amount he took home for a second-place finish at the Greater Richmond Open on the Buy.com Tour (now Nationwide Tour) last season.

Champions Tour

Roxboro native Jim Thorpe, Walter Hall of Clemmons and Greensboro native Joe Inman are back at it on the senior circuit.

Thorpe is off to a decent start in the first three events, picking up $75,410. More than half of that came in the ACE Group Classic Feb. 16 when he finished tied for seventh.

Hall’s best showing also came in the ACE as he tied for 14th and won $28,800, pushing his season cash count to $50,483.

Inman played in two of the first three events and won $11,750. He has tied for 44th in both outings.

Ladies

Marcy Newton of High Point is set for her third season on the LPGA Tour. She has her best exempt status yet and is ready to go with the first event set for March 13-16 in Tucson.

Meanwhile, Heather Angell of Winston-Salem – like Newton a former UNC-Chapel Hill player – will begin her first pro season on the Futures Tour, the ladies’ version of the Nationwide Tour. She finished sixth out of the 300-some players who tried to qualify last November.

Angell will begin her professional career March 13-16 in Lakeland, Fla.