But you still need to activate your account.
Sign in or Subscribe to view this content.
BANGOR – With no leader boards to let the players – and spectators – know where everyone stood, Rob Oppenheim of Andover, Mass., pushed himself to birdie four of the last six holes Saturday to pull away to victory in the 41st, and final, Greater Bangor Open golf tournament.
“I didn’t know where anybody was,” said the 27-year-old Oppenheim. “You try to make as many putts, as many birdies as possible and see where you end up.”
Where Oppenheim ended up was earning the $11,000 first-place check from the $50,000 GBO, sponsored by Hollywood Slots at Bangor.
Oppenheim cruised to a 5-under-par 64 for a three-day total of 200 and a four-stroke win over Mike Carbone of Brewster, Mass., and Bryan Omelia of Lexington, Mass. Carbone posted a closing 63, while O’Melia also shot a 64.
Tied for fourth at 205 were defending champion Marc Lawless (66 Saturday) of Aptos, Calif., Kyle Gallo (69) of Kensington, Conn., Mark Baldwin (68) of Laconia, N.H., second-round leader Michael Welch (73) of North Quincy, Mass., and Lucas Sirois (71) of Harriman, N.Y.
Shawn Warren of Windham was the low pro from Maine at 70-207, while Jesse Speirs of Bangor took low amateur honors at 69-208.
“I like to know [where everyone stands] if there are leader boards,” said Oppenheim. “In this case it turned out to have worked for me.
“Maybe if I knew I was in the lead, I would have played differently. If I knew where I stood, I wouldn’t have played like that.”
For Oppenheim, who was in the next-to-last group ahead of Welch, Sirois, and Jerry Wood of Martinsville, Va., playing “like that” meant taking advantage of short birdie putts.
“You’ve gotta stay patient and let the birdies come,” he said.
The Canadian PGA Tour regular made it easy by knocking his approach shots close down the stretch.
“On the par 5 [No. 4 but his 13th as the nines were reversed for the final round], I two-putted for birdie,” said Oppenheim. “On 5, I had 4 feet; on 7, I had 6 feet; and on the last hole, it was about 2 feet.”
Meanwhile, Welch and the others in the lead group were imploding.
Welch, after shooting a course-record 61 in Thursday’s opening round for a four-stroke lead, was still up by two over Sirois at the start of Saturday’s round. Wood was one of four golfers, including Oppenheim, who was four back.
That lead started disappearing almost immediately as Welch bogeyed the first hole, Wood birdied it, and Sirois hit his first tee shot out of bounds and took a double-bogey 6.
Welch and Wood bogeyed the next hole and Sirois made par, the first of 11 in a row.
When Oppenheim birdied 12 and 13, he briefly tied Welch until the early leader also birdied 13.
Welch added a birdie on 17 to get back to even for the day and restore his two-stroke margin, but he didn’t convert another birdie opportunity the remainder of the day.
Welch bogeyed 1 and 3 and parred 4, the only par 5 on the card as the two on the back are converted to par 4s for the GBO.
Wood was up and down all day. After his opening birdie, he bogeyed 11, birdied 13, double-bogeyed 15, birdied 16 and 17, and bogeyed 18, 1, and 3. He also birdied 4 but bogeyed 6 and was out of the running.
Sirois birdied 4 and was one behind Oppenheim, but he parred the remaining holes except for a bogey on 8.
Oppenheim also bogeyed 3, but his birdie on 4 moved him into a tie for the lead. And while he was starting his birdie spree, Welch’s troubles only kept coming.
He missed a 4-foot birdie putt on 5, hit his approach shot on 7 through the green and made bogey, then had his 3-foot par putt on 8 roll around the cup and horseshoe back at him.
Oppenheim, who has also played on the Hooters Tour and made it into a couple of PGA Tour events, headed out Sunday for Wichita, Kan., to try to Monday qualify for a Nationwide Tour event.
“If you name a tour, I’ve played on it,” said the five-year pro. “I’ll play wherever I can play.”
He hasn’t made it into a Nationwide event yet this year, although he has tried several times.
“To play decent and not get in, it kinda beats you up,” he said.
“That’s why I played here, to try to get some confidence under my belt,” he said. “Hopefully, it’ll carry over to Monday.”
Oppenheim thinks now is the time to try to make the next level.
“I’m still young,” he said, “but I feel like I gotta do it to get on.
“I feel like it’s my time to really go after it.”
GBO
TOP FINISHERS
Rob Oppenheim 69-67-64-200
Michael Carbone 67-74-63-204
Bryan Omelia 71-68-65-204
Marc Lawless 65-74-66-205
Michael Welch 61-71-73-205
Lucas Sirois 70-64-71-205
Mark Baldwin 71-66-68-205
Kyle Gallo 65-71-69-205
Shawn Warren 65-72-70-207
Scott Ehrlich 69-68-70-207
Jerry Wood 66-70-71-207
Rob Corcoran 68-69-70-207
Todd Westfall 70-66-71-207
Jesse Speirs 69-70-69-208
Scott Hawley 73-70-66-209
Steve Jenkins 69-68-72-209
Comments
comments for this post are closed