1990: While other golfers faltered, Scott Gilmore, 32, kept his game under control on the closing holes and came from behind to capture his second Amateur. Gilmore shot a 76 in the final round on the Greenbrier course but it was good enough to give him a one-stroke victory with a 292 total. Danny Warren led Gilmore by two strokes with three holes remaining but Warren hit into the pond on the 16th hole for a double bogey and then bogeyed the last two holes to wind up fourth. Mike Good of Charleston birdied four holes on the back nine for a 72 round to tie Floyd Shuler for second place. Dave Pope led after the second round but had to drive the 120 miles from Charleston to White Sulphur Springs in 90 minutes to make his third round tee time and never regained his rhythm. Round leaders: First, Shuler-67, by two; Second, Pope-142, by two; Third, Warren-215, by one.
Scot Gilmore 72-76-68-76—292
Mike Good 73-76-72-72—293
Floyd Shuler 67-78-74-74—293
Danny Warren 69-75-71-79—294
Steve Wood 75-73-74-73—295
Harold Payne 75-73-72-75—295
Brian Meade 75-74-71-75—295
Reid Carroll 73-75-72-75—295
Hobe Bauer 69-76-71-79—295
1991: Harold Payne romped to an eight-stroke victory to become a four-time Amateur champion. “It is an honor to win the State Amateur in three decades,” he said. Payne posted a 285 total. Payne’s winning margin was the largest since the two-course format change in
1992: Eric Shaffer, 20, shot a 69 on the par 72 Greenbrier course in the final round to pull away and win by seven strokes. Shaffer, a Marshall University golfer, highlighted his round by holing a 60-foot pitch shot for an eagle on the eighth hole and then finished like a champion with birdies on the last two holes. Shaffer wound up with a 285 total. Charles Green of Tazewell, Va., playing out of the Fincastle club in Bluefield, also shot a final round 69 and finished second. Round leaders: First, Marty Creed, Mike Owens and Green-68s; Second, Evans Harbour-142, by one; Third, Shaffer-216, by one.
Eric Shaffer 70-73-73-69—285
Charles Green 68-80-75-69—292
Mitchell Roush 71-73-73-78—295
Pat Carter 71-74-77-74—296
Evans Harbour 72-70-76-78—296
Mike Good 73-73-73-77—296
Scott Gilmore 69-74-74-79—296
Larry Spotloe 73-71-76-78—296
1993: Harold Payne, 38, captured his fifth Amateur title in a shootout with Steve Fox and Hobe Bauer. Payne finished with a 72 on the Greenbrier course to win by two strokes with a 288 total. Fox and Bauer both had 75 rounds for 290 totals. Payne said he wasn’t putting well but credited his victory to course management. Payne took the lead for good on the 15th hole with a 12-foot birdie putt. Fox shared the lead at the end of the first three rounds. Round leaders: First, Evans Harbour and Fox-69s; Second, Harbour and Fox-143s; Third, Bauer and Fox-215s.
Harold Payne 71-75-70-72—288
Steve Fox 69-74-72-75—290
Hobe Bauer 76-70-69-75—290
Pat Carter 70-77-73-72—292
Eric Shaffer 72-77-71-72—292
Larry Spotloe 71-79-70-73—293
Mike Good 73-76-71-73—293
Jamie Conrad 73-80-69-74—296
Evans Harbour 69-74-77-76—296
1994: Steve Fox got a key birdie on the demanding 16th hole of the Greenbrier course in the final round and that propelled him to his second Amateur title. It was the second time that Fox won the crown the next year after finishing second to Harold Payne. Fox had a final round 74 for a 292 total and a two-stroke victory. Playing in different groups, Fox, Joel Davis of Oak Hill and Chris Boyd of Charles Town were tied for the lead when they played the 16th hole. Boyd hit into a lake, blasted out but touched the water on his backswing for a two-stroke penalty and took an eight on 16. Davis topped his tee shot and made a six. Fox hit an iron shot to five feet for a birdie three. Bill Donahoe of Hurricane was disqualified while leading the tournament after 26 holes because he inadvertently used a putter with an illegal wide-in-the-middle grip. Michael Veres, 16, of Champanville shot a 69 on the Greenbrier course in the second round and became the youngest person ever to lead the Amateur. John Duty, Jr. of Hurricane had a 66 in the third round on the Old White. Round leaders: First, C.J. Pagliaro, Jr.-67, by one; Second, Veres-142, by two; Third, Davis, 215, by one.
Steve Fox 70-74-74-74—292
Jack Forbes 69-76-71-78—294
Eric Keister 74-78-72-71-295
Joel Davis 74-74-67-80—295
Chris Boyd 73-74-73-76—296
Erik Tedder 74-76-75-71—296
Michael Veres 73-69-77-78—297
C.J. Pagliaro, Jr. 67-82-70-78—297
Michael Mays 70-77-78-72—297
John Duty, Jr. 72-79-66-80—297
1995: Pat Carter cruised to his second Amateur title by a nine-stroke margin and became the first golfer to finish under par since the tournament adopted the alternate round format on the par-70 Old White and par-72 Greenbrier courses in 1982. Carter, 27, a Huntington salesman, posted a 283 total—one under par. David Jude of Huntington made a hole-in-one on the Greenbrier’s No. 11 hole with a 9-iron while shooting a 68 in the final round. John Duty, Jr. birdied the last two holes to finish second. John Duty, Sr. fired a 69 on the Greenbrier course in
the second round. Round leaders: First, Harold Payne and John Duty, Jr.-70s; Second, Carter-142, by three; Third, Carter-211, by six.
Pat Carter 71-71-69-72—283
John Duty, Jr. 70-75-72-75—292
David Jude 73-77-75-68—293
Michael Swiger 73-73-74-74—294
Steve Fox 73-75-69-78—295
Joel Davis 76-72-73-75—296
C.J. Pagliaro 72-73-74-78—297
Harold Payne 70-81-71-76—298
Marty Creed 75-77-70-76—298
1996: Pat Carter broke and tied many records in winning his second straight Amateur and third overall. His 274 total was 10 under par, shattering his own 1995 record by nine strokes. Carter’s score was the lowest under the two-course format since 1982 and equaled the previous 274 totals of Barney Thompson (1969) and Bill Campbell (1974) solely on the par-70 Old White. Carter’s 11-stroke victory margin over runner-up Michael Swiger was the highest ever, topping Campbell’s 10-shot win in 1972. Carter’s blistering 64 in the third round tied the best Amateur score ever on the Old White course with Fred Bannerot (1933 qualifying), Thompson (1969) and Scott Davis (1978). Carter hit 56 of 72 greens and didn’t three-putt once. Golfers with a Marshall University background have won 18 of the last 21 Amateurs. Evans Harbour holed a 216-yard fairway wood shot for a double eagle two on the Greenbrier’s third hole enroute to a final 69. Swiger, Mike Good, Harold Payne and Carl Bailey all had 69s on the Greenbrier in the second round. Round leaders: First, Carter and Swiger-70s; Second, Swiger-139, by two; Third, Carter-205, by seven.
Pat Carter 70-71-64-69—274
Michael Swiger 70-69-73-73—285
Mike Good 72-69-73-75—289
Harold Payne 74-69-70-78—291
Evans Harbour 73-75-75-69—292
Mike Veres 72-77-70-73—292
Eric Kirsch 78-72-69-73—292
Greg McGraw 74-74-69-76—293
1997: Pat Carter and Chris Curry waged a close battle for three rounds before Carter pulled away in the fourth round to “”three-peat” and take his fourth title overall. Carter started the final round one stroke ahead of Curry but overcame some early problems to shoot an Amateur record 67 on the par-72 Greenbrier course and win by a record 15 strokes. His 275 total was just one shot off his record 274 in the 1996 Amateur. “”It’s an honor to win three in a row at The Greenbrier,” Carter said. Curry battled a hook in the last round and settled for an 81 but managed to hold on to second place with a 290 total. Curry took a three-shot lead on the first day with a 66 on the par-70 Old White course, making 13 straight pars and then five straight threes. Carter fired a 68 in the second round to catch Curry and the duel was on. Carter said
the key hole on the final day was the 403-yard second. He sliced his drive into a lake but hit a 4-iron 205 yards over water onto the green and holed a 12-foot putt to save par “”when I could have made a seven or eight.” Curry bogeyed seven of the first 11 holes to fall back. Johnny Thompson, 18, the son of pro Barney Thompson, had a 70 in the final round to tie for third with Steve Fox. Leaders by rounds: first, Curry 66, by three; second, Carter and Curry tied, 137; third, Carter 208, by one.
Pat Carter, Lesage 69-68-71-67–275
Chris Curry, Huntington 66-71-72-81–290
Steve Fox, Huntington 71-74-71-75–291
Johnny Thompson, Barboursville 74-78-69-70–291
Sam O’Dell, Hurricane 75-75-72-72–294
MIchael Veres, Chapmanville 76-71-73-74–294
Brad Greenstein. Huntington 74-74-74-75–297
Jeff Whitman, St. Albans 70-71-79-77–297
Harold Payne, Hurricane 70-79-76-74–299
Tim Lynch, Hurricane 73-76-74-77–300
Larry Spotloe, Philippi 76-78-70-76–300
1998: The Amateur was played at a different venue, the Pete Dye Golf Club near Bridgeport, but the champion was the same. Pat Carter led after every round and wound up winning by eight strokes for his fourth straight title and fifth overall. “”Each one gets sweeter,” Carter said. He joined Bill Campbell as the only four in a row victors. It was just the third time since 1919 that the Amateur was held away from The Greenbrier–the others being 1922 at the Homestead in Hot Springs, Va., and 1960 at the Guyan club in Huntington. The par-72 Pete Dye course played so tough that only two golfers could shoot subpar rounds. Bill Sharpe had a 70 in the third round and Carter fired a 70 in the final round. Carter’s winning total was 291–three over par. Carter took a one-stroke lead over MIchael Veres into the last round and boosted it to three strokes before a rainstorm stopped play for 94 minutes on their ninth hole. Veres stiffened up in the rain and dropped back with bogeys on the back nine when play resumed. Carter sank a 35-foot putt on the 14th hole to punctuate his victory but the shot of the day belonged to Veres. He holed out a 120-yard wedge shot for a birdie on the 513-yard 15th hole and then tossed the ball into a lake. “”That was a consolation shot. It made me feel good,” Veres said. Ripley High senior Tim Fisher, 17, finished third in his first Amateur. Leaders by rounds: first, Carter 72, by one; second, Carter 149, by one; third, Carter 221, by one.
Pat Carter, Lesage 72-77-72-70–291
Michael Veres, Chapmanville 75-75-72-77–299
Tim Fisher, Statts Mills 78-77-75-74–304
Jeff Bostic, Maxwellton 73-80-75-78–306
Steven Shrawder, Huntington 76-75-79-77–307
Kirk Satterfield, Bluefield 77-81-73-77–308
Bill Sharpe, Cross Lanes 82-78-70-80–310
Brad Greenstein, Huntington 79-78-75-78–310
Jeff Whitman, St. Albans 73-83-77-78–311
John Rappold, Clarksburg 78-74-78-84–314
1999: The West Virginia Amateur returned to its traditional home at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs and Pat Carter became the first golfer to capture five straight titles. He broke the record he had shared with Bill Campbell, who won four straight times (1972-75) for the last of his 15 titles. “It’s something I’ll always treasure,” Pat said of his record-breaking effort. It was Carter’s sixth title overall and he did it by a whopping 11-stroke margin. Taking charge in the second round, Carter birdied the first four holes and needed just 25 putts in shooting a sizzling 65 on the Greenbrier course. That gave him a six-stroke lead and he maintained it with an even par 70 in the third round. Bill Sharpe had a 70 in the final round to share second place with Tim Fisher and Steve VanHorn. Good rounds in the tournament included Ed Morrison’s 67 and Sharpe’s 68 on the Old White and VanHorn’s 68 and Kirk Satterfield’s 69 on the Greenbrier. Mark Reed of Poca took the first round lead with a 69 but then fell back. Leader by rounds: First, Reed-69, by one; Second, Carter-135, by six; Third, Carter-205, by six.
Pat Carter, Huntington 70-65-70-72—277
Bill Sharpe, Cross Lanes 78-72-68-70—288
Tim Fisher, Statts Mills 74-73-70-71—288
Steve VanHorn, Morgantown 73-68-70-77—288
Sam O’Dell, Hurricane 71-73-71-75—290
William Means, Martinsburg 74-76-71-71—292
Kirk Satterfield, Bluefield 72-69-76-76—293
Tad Tomblin, Man 71-76-70-76—293
Marty Creed, Hurricane 77-73-69-75—294
Christopher Fly, Charleston 77-71-72-76—296