North Carolina State University Athletics
CARL PETTERSSON: It's just another tournament
6/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
June 14, 2005
Former N.C. State All-America Carl Pettersson shared some of his thoughts about his first practice round for his first U.S. Open on Tuesday at Pinehurst No. 2 with gopack.com's Tim Peeler.
Sometimes people don't understand this, but the U.S. Open is just like any other golf tournament. I say that because we play in so many tournaments every year. This week's Open at Pinehurst No. 2 will be my 18th golf tournament since late January. I have played in 13 tournaments in the last 15 weeks, including the last eight weeks in a row, plus a 36-hole sectional qualifier for the Open.
Sure, there are more people here and more press, but to me this is just like any other tournament in the way I prepare and play.
Of course, anytime you qualify for one of the four majors, it is a big bonus. They are so difficult to get into. But once you get here, it's like any other. I learned that when I played in the 2002 British Open at Muirfield in Scotland, where I shared the first round lead and finished tied for 43rd. That experience does give me confidence in knowing that if you play well, you can be right in the thick of things.
I am somewhat familiar with Pinehurst No. 2. I have probably played it three or four times, but the way the course is set up this week, it is so different than normal, with the 3 ½-inch rough and the hard greens. I played my first practice round today, and I thought the course was in good shape. The rough is not as thick as I thought it would be, but on the other hand, it is a bit more tricky around the greens than I thought it would be.
I am really excited to be playing in the Open in North Carolina, which is where I live full time now. I was born in Sweden, went to high school in Greensboro and played for two years at Central Alabama Community College, where I was a two-time national junior college champion, before I came to N.C. State.
I live in Wake Forest with my wife, Deanna, and my 9-month old daughter Carlie. (Don't tell anybody this, but I list my hometown as Raleigh on my PGA Tour bio, because I don't want anybody to think I went to school at Wake Forest; some people get that confused, but not too often.)
My life has changed a lot since our little girl arrived. It's very good. My wife goes on the road with me about half the time while I am playing and stays home the rest of the time. She takes Carlie to the golf course as well, and the PGA Tour has a very good daycare set up for all the tour players.
It's really nice to be back in North Carolina. It's fantastic, really. I have the chance to be with my family, including my parents, Lars and Elizabeth Pettersson, who I called in Sweden as soon as I qualified for the Open. They made arrangements to come over here for the whole week of the Open. They live in Stromstad, Sweden, about two and a half hours north of Gothenburg.
Tuesday night, my family, Tim Clark and his girlfriend, N.C. State coach Richard Sykes and some other friends all got together for a small party to talk about the golf tournament and spend some time together. Coach Sykes will be here for a couple of guys and it's great to have him here with us.
Earlier in the day on Tuesday, I played a practice round to get a good feel for the course, to kind of see how the ball is running in the fairways, how it is bouncing around the greens and how far it is going. I will play another practice round tomorrow to get myself familiarized with the greens. I had lunch after my practice round, and I did spend some time on the chipping and putting greens, but I am actually hitting the ball pretty well right now so I didn't hit a lot of balls on the driving range.
The rest of the week will be exciting, playing in front of a big crowd in my adopted home state, but I keep telling myself, this is just another tournament.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
