Jim Carter shoots five under in final round, cruises to second straight Arizona Senior Open victory

Jim Carter of Scottsdale (left), winner of the 2014 Arizona Senior Open, with SWSPGA Executive Director Curt Hudek

Jim Carter (Scottsdale) fired a final-round 5-under 67 on his way to a five-shot victory over Bill Harvey (Albuquerque) in the Arizona Senior Open at Troon Country Club. The win was Carter’s second consecutive Arizona Senior Open victory – in 2013 he defeated Ralph West by six shots.

Carter shared the first round lead with Bill Harvey, and despite a hiccup on the opening hole for Harvey, the two made the turn tied for the lead at 8-under par. Things turned quickly on the back nine, with Harvey dropping one shot back after his bogey on the par-4 10th, then facing a four shot deficit after a costly triple-bogey seven on the 418-yard, par-4 11th.

Harvey rebounded with a birdie on 12, but the steady Carter found birdies on 12 and 13 to increase his lead to five shots with five holes to play. Carter added a birdie on 17 for good measure to get to 11-under, while Harvey finished birdie-bogey to earn the runner-up finish at 6-under par.

Carter was solid both days, carding rounds of 66-67 with 11 birdies and no bogeys throughout the 36 holes on his way to the wire-to-wire win. Harvey’s wild even-par final-round included six birdies, three bogeys and a triple bogey.

Mike Franko (Scottsdale) had an interesting round as well, recording four bogeys and three birdies through the first sixteen holes. But he closed nicely with an eagle on the par-5 17th and a birdie on 18 to vault into solo third place at 4-under for the day and 5-under for the tournament.

Ralph West (Surprise) carded a 2-under 70 in the final round to finish fourth at 4-under, while Mike Wright (Gilbert) landed fifth at 3-under after his final-round 4-under 68.

The Arizona Senior Open is open to all professionals and amateurs that are at least 50 years of age and have a handicap index of 6.0 or less.