THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 1, 1996 TAG: 9607010120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 131 lines
Carl Peterson's road from Chesapeake to The Homestead and today's start of the Virginia State Amateur golf championship is 23 years long with stops at triumph, tragedy, despair, withdrawal, renewal and, maybe, rebirth.
``Hot Springs is like heaven,'' Peterson said Saturday. ``I've wanted to go back there so many times.''
The last time Peterson competed at the The Homestead's Cascades course, he and Danville's Harry Lea were locked in a match-play battle for the title. It was 1973.
Peterson was a funny, good-time-loving 22, the boy you'd vote most likely to laugh. He stayed at a tiny motel down the hill from the majestic Homestead fortress and ate the same thing every day - cheeseburger, no bun, and eggs for breakfast; fried chicken for dinner.
He was a character, who could give as good as he got.
He also was a virtual nobody in Virginia golf, not-so-gently referred to as ``Carl Who?'' by the state media and as a ``potato farmer'' by his final opponent.
``I still don't know why he called me that,'' says Peterson, whose mother and father were Virginia Beach educators.
Thirty-six holes later, Lea was offering congratulations - Peterson had forged a 1-up victory to become one of the unlikeliest champions of a very old tournament, played since 1911.
In 1974, he participated in the State Amateur at Roanoke Country Club. Life was good. He was defending champ, a husband and father-to-be. And that was the last anyone saw of Carl Peterson in a State Amateur until today.
His baby, Phil, was born on Thanksgiving Day, 1974. Seven weeks later, he was found dead in his crib, a victim of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
During that same time, Peterson's grandfather also died. And Peterson's father, who was awaiting major heart surgery, had to be released from the hospital to attend the baby's funeral.
``You struggle,'' Peterson said quietly, choking back his emotions. ``Frankly, there are some things you never get over.''
Peterson's mother, Rena, agrees, to a point.
``The loss of Little Phil crushed him. I've never seen him in the shape he was in, and it's still very close to the surface for both of us,'' she said. ``But I think he's just beginning to come to grips with all of it. For a long time, you could look at his face and see lines of anger at the loss of his son. You don't detect that now. He's trying to get back to the good times.''
After Little Phil's death, Peterson dropped golf for nearly 2 1/2 years, then foolishly enrolled in the PGA's 1977 Qualifying School, trying to earn a Tour card.
``There were 642 players, 25 spots,'' he remembers. ``What a rude awakening. I didn't make the first cut.''
After that, Peterson played maybe once a month. He threw his energy into his work as a salesman for a variety of home-improvement companies, which he still does today. Although golf was no more than an occasional flirtation, the '73 State Amateur was rarely far from his thoughts.
``I'd be riding in the car on a sales call and my mind would flash back to that week,'' he said. ``I can still remember every hole out there, every detail of what happened, and I haven't been there in 23 years.
After the 36-hole, stroke-play qualifier, Peterson defeated Norfolk's Dick Payne 6 and 5, Ray Womack of Danville 1-up, Hampton's Skeeter Heath 2 and 1 and Richmond's Ronnie Kelly 1-up to advance to his match with Lea.
The second-round match with Womack was pivotal. Peterson trailed by five holes with nine to play, but won six holes on the back side to take the victory.
Two decades later, his parents showed him the way back to golf. Rena Peterson invited him to play with her and her friends every Wednesday morning at 7. Peterson's father, a high-handicapper, began inviting him to local outings and tournaments.
``To tell you the truth,'' said the son, slightly amazed, ``it became fun again.''
``He'd been away from his friends for such a long time,'' Rena Peterson adds. ``In life, if you don't do the things you can when you can, you look back years later and regret.''
Even so, Peterson couldn't break 80. Then he ran into pro Claude King at Lake Wright. King and a group of friends play every day. Six months ago, he invited Peterson to join them.
``He put a fire under me,'' Peterson says. ``If not for Claude, I'd still be playing once or twice a month. And because of him, I'm playing as well as I'm playing.''
Peterson has lowered his handicap to plus-3. In his last warmup, he shot 70 Friday at Lake Wright.
``If I've done anything, I've made him strive harder to take my money,'' King jokes. ``He loves to whip me. He's got all the shots. He knows how to work it, where to hit what and when. And, when he plays me at least, he putts very, very well.''
As a former champion, Peterson had an automatic bye into qualifying. He's staying in the same motel he occupied 23 years ago, though that's the only part of his crowning achievement he's likely to duplicate. Winning isn't even in the back of his mind. Surviving the 36-hole cut is his goal.
``Winning for me would be making it to match play,'' he said. ``I've been playing at the Valentine Invitational in Richmond the last couple of years. Almost all the state amateur champs are there. They've been laughing at me because I've had such horrible rounds, but it's been very nice talking to them and rehashing old times.
``You don't have to be Curtis Strange or Jack Nicklaus to win at golf. You can shoot 100 and win. Whatever I shoot, I'm going to turn in that scorecard and be proud of it. It means that much to me.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
Carl Peterson won the State Am at 22. He quit playing after his
seven-week-old son died of suddent infant death syndrome the next
fall, failed badly in a try at the PGA Tour, and only started
enjoying the game of golf again recently when he picked up the clubs
with his parents and then Lake Wright pro Claude King. As a former
champ he had an automatic bye into qualifying beginning today at the
Cascades Course; to advance from there into the match play is his
goal. ``Whatever I shoot, I'm going to turn in that scorecard and be
proud of it,'' he says.
MIKE HEFFNER
The Virginian-Pilot photos
MIKE HEFFNER
VP photo
Carl Peterson is staying at the same little hotel down the hill from
the Homestead as in '73, when he staged one of the great State
Amateur upset triumphs: ``I can still remember every hole out there,
every detail of what happened.'' by CNB