Published: August 02, 2009 11:53 pm      

Fred Funk rolls to US Senior Open title

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Twelve-time West Virginia Amateur winner Pat Carter likes to think he can still make a run at another championship.

Three years removed from his last Amateur victory, the Huntington golfer will still be considered one of the favorites when the tournament starts Monday.

It used to be that Carter was hard to track down in the summer because he was somewhere playing, often trying to qualify for a national tournament.

Times have changed.

The 41-year-old family man, father of two and full-time insurance salesman hasn’t played competitively in seven weeks and says his game is a “total mystery” as he heads to The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs.

“I’ve hardly been playing at all,” Carter said. “We’re going into it blind.”

His last competition was a tournament in Pennsylvania in early June, finishing four rounds at 7-over par.

Carter once was a man of streaks, but no longer.

He missed the West Virginia Open in June for the first time in more than a decade because he was on a business trip out West.

His string of 13 straight West Virginia Golf Association player of the year awards was snapped last year by Amateur winner Tim Fisher.

Carter won the Amateur 11 times in a 12-year span and his overall total is second all-time only to Bill Campbell’s 15. His streak of 10 straight wins from 1995 to 2004 is a national record for state Amateurs.

Reaching Campbell’s win total has never been a goal of Carter’s. He’s thankful for what he’s already done.

In the last two Amateurs, Carter finished in fifth place at 3 over. He was nine strokes behind Fisher last year, including an uncharacteristic 3-over 75 on The Greenbrier course in the third round, and three strokes behind winner Anthony Reale in 2007.

“I’ve gotten away from being able to practice as much as I used to when I was a little younger,” Carter said. “My game’s not quite as sharp. You make mistakes, make a double (bogey) here or there, and the next thing you know you’re four or five shots back going into the last round and that’s pretty much the tournament.”

A new crop of players has made the leaderboard in recent years. Besides Fisher and Reale, they have included top five finishes for Bridgeport’s Justin Caroli, Chapmanville’s Michael Veres, Charleston’s Christian Brand, Bosten Miller and Matt Hicks, Kenova’s Jared Jones, Beckley’s Brandon Reece and Glen Dale’s Trent Schambach.

And Carter likes what he sees in two junior golfers from Hurricane — 2009 Junior Amateur champion Brian Anania and Aaron Barna, who finished first in one of the regional state Amateur qualifiers.

Just don’t count Carter out.

“I won’t be shocked at anything that happens. It could be good. It could be bad,” Carter said. “Hopefully I’ll have a chance to win it this year. If not, that will be OK.

“I’m going into it with pretty low expectations. If I win it, it will be a bonus.”