Champion still tapping his potential

It might be a little presumptuous, and it certainly adds pressure

to the defending champion, but it’s impossible not to think about Big

Canyon Country Club’s Mike Carpenter and his future in golf as he

prepares for the 30th annual Costa Mesa City Championship at Costa

Mesa Golf & Country Club Saturday and Sunday.

Carpenter, who qualified last month for the U.S. Amateur

Championship Aug. 19-25 at Oakland Hills, could be the Costa Mesa

event’s next Mark O’Meara or Scott Simpson.

Carpenter, who has only been playing golf seriously for three

years, is an easy 300-plus off the tee and seems to have mastered the

short game, compiling an amazing 18-under-par in his career in three

rounds at Costa Mesa’s shorter Mesa Linda course (5,551 yards),

shooting 66, 63 and 63.

“His potential is totally untapped. He doesn’t even know how good

he is,” said Costa Mesa teaching pro Andy Crinella, who started

giving Carpenter lessons after the Big Canyon standout won last

year’s Costa Mesa title.

“I think he could (eventually earn his PGA Tour card). He’s

probably the best athlete I’ve seen since Mac O’Grady, as far as

somebody being able to do any sport and do it well. They have similar

builds, too.”

O’Grady, who plays right-handed and putts left-handed, is

primarily known as a frequently sought swing guru.

Carpenter, 29, will try to become only the third player in history

to win back-to-back Costa Mesa championships.

The event, which has over 300 registered golfers for the second

straight year (a record 376 this year, including 176 in the

championship flight), has a history of its champions going on to

bigger and better things.

* Future major championship winners on the PGA Tour, Simpson and

O’Meara, won Costa Mesa city titles in the 1970s.

O’Meara, then of Mission Viejo, won the 1979 Costa Mesa

championship a week after capturing the U.S. Amateur Championship in

Cleveland, Ohio. “O’Meara drove all the way from Cleveland to Costa

Mesa to play in this tournament. That’s how important this tournament

was to O’Meara,” the late Joe Costello once said. Costello started

the tournament in 1973, formerly known as the Will Jordan Classic,

when he was president of the Costa Mesa men’s club. The inaugural

champion, Jim George (Estancia High), owns the distinction of playing

in every championship.

O’Meara, who won the Masters and British Open in 1998, defeated

Brad Greer in a two-hole playoff in the ’79 Costa Mesa championship

and turned pro shortly thereafter.

Simpson, the 1987 U.S. Open winner, won the Costa Mesa title in

1974 when he was a standout at USC. Simpson, playing with his father,

Joe, knocked down a 45-foot wedge shot to within four feet on the

18th green in the final round to set up the winning putt.

John Wardrup (1990-91) and Bryan Saltus (1995-96) are the only

back-to-back winners.

* Two of this year’s Jones Cup amateur participants, Jeff Wright

(Newport Beach Country Club) and Danny Lane (Big Canyon), are playing

this weekend in the championship flight.

Lane, who will play with Carpenter and Big Canyon buddies Will

Tipton and Danny Donovan in the first round, won Jones Cup III on his

home course July 26 with Big Canyon Director of Golf Bob Lovejoy.

Lane, the former standout Laguna Beach High football quarterback

and minor league baseball player in the Montreal chain, thrived in

the spotlight during crunch time in Jones Cup III and birdied two of

the last three holes, including No. 18 in front of his home fans with

a 20-foot putt.

* The Toshiba Senior Classic has officially become the first

tournament in Senior PGA Tour history to donate more than $1 million

to charity in three consecutive years.

The event, played at Newport Beach every March, raised $1,001,920

for 2002 after the final tally.