He won’t have a lot of fan support like he had at The Masters, but in preparing for this week’s U.S. Open, Ben Carr is leaning on his practice partner and his caddy.

Carr has already cemented his legacy at Georgia Southern as an all-time great. This week, he joins Buddy Alexander and Jodie Mudd as the only three Eagle golfers to have earned their way to the U.S. Open and The Masters as amateurs.  

No Eagle golfer has ever made the cut at the U.S. Open as an amateur and Carr has an opportunity to make history at Los Angeles Country Club.

Carr didn’t even land in L.A. until Sunday night. His first look at L.A. Country Club came Monday as he played his first practice round, which consisted of 18 holes with PGA Tour member Russell Henley.  

“This is a very beautiful and difficult golf course,” Carr said. “There are a couple of really long par-fours, a couple 280-plus yard par threes and a really short difficult par-three as well. It is a great variety of holes and will be a real test this week. The rough is deep and thick and the greens are fast and undulated, which is what you would expect in a U.S. Open.” 

Carr and Henley both reside in Columbus and played practice rounds together prior to The Masters in April. Carr leaned on Henley for advice before playing The Masters and with nine U.S. Opens under his belt including three top-30 finishes Carr, is happy to get some pointers from Henley again. 

“To be able to play a practice round again with someone I am comfortable with is such an advantage for me,” Carr said. “He gave me such great advice entering my first major when I was at Augusta National and it was a lot of the same thing out there today. Just like most of the other tour pros, he hasn’t played out here before, but I was still able to ask him some questions and he just has so much experience playing in majors it has really helped.” 

Another former PGA player is helping Carr this week is the man on his bag, Will Wilcox. Wilcox played in the 2011 U.S. Open and caddied for Carr when he finished as runner-up in last year’s U.S. Amateur, which punched his ticket to The Masters and the U.S. Open.  

“I’m so happy to have Will on the bag for me this week,” Carr said. “He is such a huge asset for me. We have played a lot of golf together and have spent a lot of time with each other and just really mesh well. I just trust his knowledge of the game as he has played at the top level. He also does a great job of keeping things loose as he is also such a funny guy.” 

One area Carr and Wilcox made sure to practice was around the greens, where he said the rough is the thickest. The rough outside the fairway, he thought, was more manageable, but he knows accuracy is one of the keys to success this week. 

“Hitting fairways and greens is always important,” Carr said. “Sometimes the ball sits way down, and others it sits on top, which is even tougher.  The greens are similar to Augusta National with some very subtle slopes. We are trying to come up with a gameplan on where and when to attack and a couple more days of practice will really help with that.” 

Carr enters the U.S. Open with a little momentum as he comes in after a top-10 finish at the Dogwood Invitational in Atlanta. Carr shot par or better each round, including firing a round of 65 on Friday, in the four-day event, one of the premier amateur tournaments.

“I was really happy to be able to play the Dogwood and get a competitive round under my belt,” Carr said. “I hadn’t played in a real competitive round since the NCAA tournament last month. It got me back into a routine and a mindset, as well as things I need to improve going into this week.” 

The galleries will probably be as deep as they were at The Masters, but due to the distance from home, Ben is only going to have his mother, his girlfriend and a couple of other friends who are making the trip to California. 

“Obviously this won’t be anything like it was at Augusta National as far as support,” Carr said. “The one thing that will be the same is having to try to tune out what is going on outside the ropes anyway, and that is something I learned to do with the experience I had at The Masters. I’m really looking forward to this and my goal is to once again tray and make the cut.” 

Carr tees off Thursday at 5:05 p.m., along with Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Moore.