PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Vogt was always going to be at the U.S. Open this week. The man who likes to plan had it all planned out.
He and his wife, Hilary, and their 15-month-old daughter, Charlotte, and their dogs would make the nearly six-hour drive from the Indianapolis suburbs and then crash at his mom’s house in Cranberry, about 20 minutes from Oakmont.
At some point, the 34-year-old knew he’d make it out to the course where he spent five-ish years caddying, a job whose perks included the opportunity to put a tee in the ground on Monday nights, something he admits now he didn’t do nearly often enough.
And the day after this year’s Open ended, Vogt would find himself back in the main office of the dental practice he opened in 2018.
That last part is still part of the plan, by the way.
It’s everything else about this trip that’s changed.
Three rounds of exquisitely steady golf — the kind Vogt found so elusive as a “hot-headed” 20-year-old that he left his college team to focus on his other passion instead — will do that.
So yes, Vogt will be at Oakmont this week after qualifying for the 125th edition of the national championship. In essentially his hometown, on a course that certainly feels like home on Father’s Day weekend, just two months after losing his father and biggest supporter, Jim, to colon cancer.
“This is pretty wild,” Vogt said on Monday while walking in for a news conference that carried on for more than 20 minutes, unheard of at a major tournament for an amateur with a respectable but hardly historic resume.
When “pipe dreams” become reality, it usually is.
Trading one passion for another
Vogt is a dreamer sure. Just a pragmatic one.
Even though he’s 6-foot-6. Even though he’s always been able to hit the ball a long, long way. Even though he’s long felt drawn to a game that requires discipline, focus and a touch of math, he never considered trying to make a living doing it.
By the time he graduated from Seneca Valley High School, an hour north of Pittsburgh in 2009, he was pretty sure he didn’t have “it.” A couple of years playing at Butler University reinforced what he held to be true: that he wasn’t prepared — physically or mentally — for the toll the game can take if you dedicate your life to chasing it.
So he took a break, a long one. He graduated with a degree in biology, then enrolled in dental school at the University of Indiana.
There was something about the combination of helping people, problem-solving and running his own business that appealed to him, even if he laughs now about all the things he didn’t know when The Dentists at Gateway Crossing opened its doors. Things like the fact that the rent is due even if those doors aren’t actually open yet.
“That was a freaky, freaky few months,” he said.
He quickly figured things out, and his practice steadily grew. Vogt now has another dentist on staff and has become an advisor to young doctors who want to follow the ambitious path he took.
Reorganized priorities
Around the same time Vogt’s practice opened, he made himself a promise.
“Don’t look back and be the guy, ‘Well, if I had just done this or that, I maybe could have done great things,’” he said.
He’s not sure why he started hitting balls with a purpose again in 2018. It just kind of happened. He quickly became a fixture on the Indiana amateur circuit and qualified for the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont but didn’t make it out of stroke play. The first number of his score was an eight, and the second was either one or two, and to be honest, he’s fine not being totally sure.
The disappointment didn’t linger. He shot 67 at the alternate site the next day. Not enough of a rally to become one of the top 64 who advanced to match play, but telling of the ever-increasing maturity of both his game and his approach.
Having a job, having a family to support, playing because he wanted to, not because he had to, shifted his perspective. He’s no longer a golfer first. At this point in his life, that might not even crack the top five behind Christian, father and husband, among others.
“One of the biggest changes is, I’ve gotten my priorities right,” he said.
Bombs away
Some things, however, have not changed. At least on the course. Vogt hits it far. How far? He ran into long drive champion/influencer Kyle Berkshire at a pro-am a few months after the 2021 U.S. Amateur.
Berkshire saw enough to invite Vogt out to Nevada to see if he could qualify for a long drive competition. While he didn’t quite reach the world championships, he did unleash a 466-yard missile that drifted out of bounds.
He had a blast, but also realized he was running the risk of spreading himself too thin. So he took what he learned and incorporated it into his skillset. It’s one of the reasons he opted to try to qualify for this year’s U.S. Open by picking a route that included a sectional at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Washington.
The “math and science geek” had done his research. He knew Wine Valley was wide enough that he probably wouldn’t run into trouble if he started spraying tee shots. He captured medalist honors after back-to-back 4-under 68s.
And suddenly, the dentist from Indiana was on The Golf Channel, his emotional post-round video going viral and his phone blowing up to the point that he asked Hillary to help him keep track of it all. Things got so busy last week that when Vogt tried to sneak out to practice, it wasn’t until he was nearly at the course that he realized he’d forgotten his shoes.
A grateful heart
Vogt’s soft spikes were back in their usual spot when he stepped off the first tee on a Monday unlike any of the others he’d ever experienced at Oakmont.
This time, he wasn’t slinging it in the twilight with the other caddies. Instead, he was walking down the fairways with good friend and occasional tournament partner Kevin O’Brien on his bag, saying hello to familiar faces on the other side of the ropes while he signed autographs, his father never far from his mind.
Jim Vogt was diagnosed with colon cancer last July. Less than a year later, he’s gone. Vogt — who is wearing a blue ribbon on his baseball cap for colon cancer awareness — is still processing it. He is pressing on and trying to lean into the joy along the way.
“I think this weekend is going to be full of gratitude,” he said. “And hopefully some good golf, too.”
