Photo by Kyle Coburn :: Story by Stacia Golem
North American Pro Golf Tour Members Rob Oppenheim and Brent Wanner won the Greater Bangor Open and the Rhode Island Open respectively, proving yet again the high caliber of golfers on the NAPGT.
Oppenheim shot a 69-67-64 giving him a three day total of seven under, 200 at the Greater Bangor Open July 26-28 in Bangor, ME. “I started putting better the last two days,” Oppenheim said of his improved play the last round. Playing the course also helped to get his game in the comfort zone, he said.
This victory is well deserved for Oppenheim, who has been working hard all year without many wins. “Even though I haven’t been playing that well in some of the events—I missed the cut at the Mass Open, I missed the cut at Blackstone—I still felt like I was improving,” said Oppenheim.
“Golf is a fine line between missing a cut and winning an event, and finally things were going my way instead of the month and a half when things really weren’t going that well,” he said. “Hopefully things have turned around a bit.”
Things were also looking well for several other NAPGT members at the Greater Bangor Open. Michael Carbone and Bryan O’Melia tied for second at three under, 204, and Michael Welch, Mark Baldwin, and Kyle Gallo tied with two others for fourth at two under, 205. Twelve of the top 20 finishers were NAPGT golfers.
A few days later, on July 30-31, 2007, Brent Wanner won the Rhode Island Open at Green Valley Country Club in Portsmouth, RI. He attributed his 69-70-66 eight under, 205, to better putting in the final round. “You make putts, you’re gonna shoot low scores,” he said.
Wanner also made seven birdies and one bogie his final round at Green Valley, a course which he said played “fast and hard.” “It’s a pretty open course; you can drive it anywhere,” he said. “I took advantage of that a little bit. Coming down the stretch I didn’t hit it too straight or too good, but just good enough to kind of get away with it and get it on the green and let the putter do the talking,” he said.
This victory could possibly be Wanner’s last professional win; he is dropping his pro status to attend graduate school for environmental management at the Nicholas School at Duke University. His last NAPGT event is this week at Shaker Hills Golf Course in Harvard, MA.
“I’ve been professional for about four years and two months and kinda been questioning [it] for three years and two months…so this has been a long time coming really,” he said.
