Global Golf Post, July 31, 2017

globalgolfpost com JULY 31 2017 Read more from The Posts writers globalgolfpost com now THE AMATEUR GAME JOHN STEINBREDER E MAIL JOHN Minnesotas Carothers Has Ducks In A Row After 48 year old Dave Carothers won the 114th Minnesota State Amateur Championship a couple of weeks ago the talk was all about the Gopher State native being the second oldest player to win that event Fair enough But age is but one thing that makes him and his maiden triumph in the tournament unique Start with the fact that Carothers is barely known outside the Land of 10000 Lakes and has rarely competed beyond its borders Though he was a formidable high school golfer and played at the University of Minnesota even captaining the golf squad there for two years he has only once tried to qualify for a USGA championship That was in 2006 when the U S Amateur was played at Hazeltine National in his home state and he didnt make the field Carothers does however make a point of playing each year in the Minnesota Golf Associations Open and Amateur championships And every Wednesday night during the warmer months you can find him teeing it in a nine hole league at the Wild Marsh Golf Course about a 45 minute drive west of downtown Minneapolis in the town of Buffalo where he and his wife of 18 years Sarah are raising two children We dont have a range at Wild Marsh explains Carothers a plus 2 handicap who has won the club championship there 10 times and makes his living as a salesman for a local Caterpillar heavy equipment dealership And the way we warm up is by hitting beat up balls into a lake by the first hole So those league nights are a good way for me to work on my game We have a few beers and throw a little money in a pot Another reason for his anonymity is a result of his putting away his clubs after Labor Day weekend each fall so he can delve into a sport that he loves just as much as golf if not more duck hunting Then there are the ways Carothers tries to fit tournament golf in with personal commitments On the second day of this years Minnesota State Am for example he brought his teenage children Joe and Allisen with him to the tournament They had hockey later that day and with my wife working they had no other way to get to the ice rink he recalls So they followed me around the course and when I was done I took them to hockey That same evening Carothers also had committed to help with a charity event at his home course I hit a shot for each group that came through one of the holes he says I must have hit 100 balls that night I considered it my range session And the day after that range session Carothers proceeded to shoot a 4 under round of 66 at the Interlachen Country Club to claim the 54 hole State Am title by a stroke recording an eagle and two birdies in his final nine Carothers grew up in the southern Minnesota town of Owatonna the second of three children and the only boy His father sold Komatsu construction equipment and his mother taught high school English I had her for a class once but that didnt last long Carothers says She said it was too hard to teach with me in the room and got me moved I kept complaining about how much homework she was giving us His parents belonged to the Owatonna Country Club and it was there that Carothers picked up golf I got hooked the first time I played when I was in the seventh grade he recalls And by the time I was in high school three other friends and I played all day long We worked at the club and played and practiced whenever we were not working We all got pretty good too We played on the high school golf team and we all went on to play Division I As was the case with a lot of college golfers Carothers briefly considered trying to make it as a touring professional after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1992 But I wasnt sure I would like the lifestyle he says And I kept wondering how I would succeed on the PGA Tour if I wasnt even the best player in Minnesota So I made the decision instead to try and become one of the best amateur players in the state and play a lot of club and recreational golf as I also pursued a career and raised a family Twenty five years later Carothers can look back on that move with great satisfaction and pride With his work as a Caterpillar salesman With his marriage to Sarah and their two children With the duck hunting trips to the prairies and potholes of central Canada and the treks to the mallard rich waters by his cabin on Lake Geneva in southern Minnesota And with his golf whether scrambles and league games with his buddies at Wild Marsh or tournaments like the State Am he won at Interlachen where he proved himself to be just what he one day hoped he would among the best players in the state That he accomplished that last feat at the age of 48 is only part of the story l Dave Carothers and his son Joe after a day of duck hunting