Vision Quest

After a brilliant amateur career, Andover's Rob Oppenheim has set his sights on the PGA Tour

By Barry Scanlon

Just off his backyard sits one of the finest private courses in Massachusetts. His grandfather was a terrific player and his father, Jim, was another low handicapper.

Naturally, as Rob Oppenheim got older, he became a fixture at Indian Ridge Country Club, and it wasn’t long before it was obvious that the Andover native had the game to match his solid golfing bloodlines.

But while many of his friends were devoting nearly all of their free time to lowering their handicaps, Oppenheim could be found sharpening his considerable basketball and baseball skills. Golf was a part of his life, not his whole life.

In retrospect, that may be a major reason the 23-year-old Oppenheim, last summer’s Massachusetts State Amateur champion thanks to a dramatic 39-foot putt on the final hole, may have a solid chance of becoming a successful professional.

Oppenheim, who turned pro last fall, is ready to join the Canadian Tour, with hopes of someday receiving his PGA Tour card, and there’s no burnout factor at play here.

“There’s so many good golfers,” Oppenheim said of the Canadian Tour. “I realized in college that once you get out of the Northeast, there’s a lot of good golfers. Everybody hits it pretty well. But it helps you get better, too.”

“He’s got a lot of mystery and intrigue and newness about him,” said Hopkinton Country Club head pro David Lane, the former head pro/golf director at Indian Ridge. “He has a lot of strong desire, which a lot of the guys who have been through the grind since they were 13 don’t have.

“I would say he’s got a good five-year window to give himself a shot,” Lane added.

Those who watched him grow up are rooting for him.

“You can’t get a better kid than Robbie,” Lane said. “He’s a great kid. He could win eight times in a row and you’d still root for him to win the ninth time. I think he’s got a ton of talent. For every 15 to 20 kids like that, a couple make it. It’s a real difficult thing to pursue. But he’s got the attitude, he’s got the touch, he’s got a great putting stroke.”

Oppenheim is learning that being a professional is not a walk in the park. At a New England Pro Golf Tour (NEPGA) stop in June at Atkinson Resort & Country Club, a tricky jewel of a course in Atkinson, N.H., he sandwiched a pair of 75s around a solid middle round of 72 to finish in a tie for 15th and took home a paycheck of $1,250.

The next week, he took high hopes into the Vermont Open at Lake Morey, a par 70 course, but failed to make the cut after shooting 76 and then 73.

“It wasn’t very difficult, but I had one of those weeks,” said Oppenheim, who graduated from Rollins College in Florida last spring. “It didn’t go my way.”

Oppenheim, who also came away disappointed from last month’s Massachusetts Open at Tedesco Country Club after missing the cut, has battled a couple of health concerns as well. Last year, he was practicing when he was hit in the right eye by a small rock. He has struggled around the greens recently, so he decided to have his eyes checked.

The discovery? He has 20/40 vision. Hello, contacts.

He may have struggled with his vision, but Oppenheim has never struggled with his mental approach to the game.

Nowhere was that more evident than during the NEPGA Tour stop in Atkinson. After a disappointing first round, Oppenheim began erratically the next day. He was 3-over after four holes, the tournament was getting away from him and he wasn’t hitting solid shots.

His father, Jim, who was caddying for him, wasn’t worried.

“His personality is even. His highs aren’t too high and his lows aren’t too low,” his father said just after the turn. “That’s why he’s been such a good athlete. If you saw him after the round, you wouldn’t know what he shot.”

Rob then made his father look like a prophet with some terrific course management.

He rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the 128-yard par-3 14th, putting him just 1-over for the day. But disaster loomed: Atkinson’s 15th is a devilish par-4 with a fairway thinner than Kate Moss and on this day the pin position must have been created by someone in a foul mood. The hole was placed about four feet off the right fringe.

Oppenheim, though, split the middle of the fairway. Then, after switching from a 9-iron to an 8 when a gust of wind swirled up, he stuck a blind shot just off the green, 10 feet from the hole. With an air of confidence, he hit a solid putt that found the back of the cup for his second straight birdie.

After an easy par at 16, Oppenheim’s birdie train sailed off the tracks. His tee shot on 17 went left into the woods and, despite a fine recovery shot, he settled for bogey when he pushed his six-foot par putt just right.

His momentum was gone. But while one of his playing partners, Jared LaMothe of Portsmouth, N.H., was in the midst of a double bogey/triple bogey meltdown, Oppenheim was the picture of composure.

He didn’t slam any clubs. He didn’t curse the golfing gods. He simply steadied himself for the finishing hole, a par-4, 352-yard test with another ridiculous pin placement.

Minutes later, after a perfect drive and a smart below-the-hole approach, Oppenheim nailed a six-foot birdie putt to finish at even par.

“It’s always nice to end with a birdie,” a smiling Oppenheim said, “especially after bogeying the hole before.”

Oppenheim said playing for a paycheck makes it easier to stay focused on every shot.

“You realize that every shot counts,” he said. “You take a couple of deep breaths and steady yourself. You try to stay present. Patience is a key in golf. One shot could be the difference between fourth, sixth or 10th in the standings.”

Oppenheim played in two NEPGA events last year after turning pro and finished fifth and tied for 12th. He was excited to embark on the summer-long Canadian Tour, of which this year’s Masters’ champion, Mike Weir, stands as a notable graduate.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to earn his PGA Tour card.

“That’s obviously the goal for next year,” said the Indian Ridge member. “I think I’ll have more of an idea after this summer.”

He has shot 63 three times - once in college, once at Indian Ridge, and once at Concord Country Club.

Oppenheim, whose sister, Jill, is a senior tennis standout at Rollins, led his college team to the Division 2 national golf championship last spring when he made a key putt on 18. It was no surprise to those who watched Oppenheim grow up in Andover.

He was a fine basketball player, the kind you wanted on the foul line with a second left and the score tied. But it was on the baseball diamond that he really shined.

“He was the best second baseman I ever had,” veteran Andover High baseball coach Ken Maglio said.“He batted .487 as a senior and had 38 hits. He was quite a player. We turned over 24 double plays that year. He could have played college ball. No doubt about it. He could have played [baseball] at Rollins.”

“Rob would have done well in anything. Nothing bothers him. He’s a solid kid from a solid family. I can’t say enough about him.”

During Oppenheim’s three-year varsity baseball career the Golden Warriors averaged 18 wins a season and won the Division 2 North title during his junior season.

According to Maglio, Oppenheim was extremely popular because he was such a valued teammate. As a pro golfer, Oppenheim doesn’t have any teammates. It’s just him against the golf course and dozens of golfers who strike the ball just as well as he does.

But don’t bet against Oppenheim.

“This is my job,” he said. “But I don’t look at it as a job. Right now I feel excited to play.”