Andrew Robb: Above & Below Par, On Stage & On The Green

As a member of the UBC Thunderbirds Men's golf team Robb is the reigning Canadian University Men's Golf champion.This past summer he was also a member of the Royal Canadian Golf Association's National Junior team

In his other endeavor Rob attends UBC as a second year music major and already this season has had a sellout crowd at General Motors Place standing at attention while he sang the National Anthem before a Vancouver Canucks NHL game.

With more on Andrew Robb's growing career in a sport that requires skillful timing swinging a golf club and a musical gift for timing as an operatic singer, BC Golf News presents the following feature by Vancouver Sun reporter, Yvonne Zacharias

Singing Is This Golfer's Bag
Yvonne Zacharias
The Vancouver Sun
Part of the canada.com Network

There are many singers who are passionate golfers. Count Vince Gill, Alice Cooper and Justin Timberlake among them.

But you won't find many golfers who are passionate singers.

At a Canucks game not so long ago, the lights dimmed and with that pitch-perfect tenor voice of his, the third-year UBC music student sang a stirring rendition of our national anthem.

Out on the golf course, he is a master strategist, an excellent putter and one of the best long-iron players the UBC men's golf team has ever seen. The kid who grew up in Richmond also happens to be the current Canadian male university champion.

Must be tough to be so talented.

In a way, it is. Starting in January, he will be on the golf course every day for about four hours on top of school. Right now, in the off-season, the team sees each other every day whether it is for a workout or a practice.

"It's not easy. You have to make a lot of sacrifices along the way," said the pleasant 20-year-old.

He is not complaining. So far, he has been able to intertwine the two loves of his life - golf and singing.

They might seem dissimilar but in Robb's mind, they are not. "They are both performances. Ultimately, I guess you are looking for results and you have to be patient. If you are not in top form, it is going to show in both."

Each is unique in a way, too. He sings the praises of his twin passions. On the golf course, he finds serenity in the solitude. It helps, too, that breathtaking vistas unfurl around him, like maps dotted with surprise.

"So often in today's world, you never have time to be by yourself. In golf, you really want to have a quiet mind."

As for singing and performing, well, that is special, too. "It's different each time you do it. The surroundings are always different."

Robb, co-captain of the UBC men's team, has been instrumental in some of the big successes the team has scored of late. Last year, the team won the championship in both the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes and the Royal Canadian Golf Association championships. Then Robb won the individual title at the RCGA event.

The fact that Robb became a golfer is not surprising. It's in the genes.

His mother was a provincial champion and his father was an assistant professional at the Marine Drive Golf Club.

He had three uncles who were professional golfers, one of them playing on a European senior tour for a few years. "They almost babysat me on the golf course from a young age."

As for singing, that is entirely another matter. Unlike golf, music doesn't seem to run in the family. "I think it's mostly a fluke," he said.

Like a suitor courting two beguiling ladies, Robb knows he must eventually choose, and that day might not be far away.

He is now eyeing graduate schools to continue his music studies. It looks like singing has the edge.

The day he puts down the golf clubs will be a sad one for everyone.

"Andrew realized that to get the most of the team, he was going to have to be a great teammate and team leader," said Chris MacDonald, head coach of the golf team. "He has been that."

He is also a little different from your average college kid. His iPod is loaded with opera although he keeps a couple of pop tunes handy for car rides when he has a friend in the passenger seat who can't put up with what he truly loves.

As always, there are stories from the road. When the team went to Indiana to play in the NAIA championship last year, they headed into a restaurant with a karaoke bar in it.

Robb challenged one of the players who doesn't have much of a voice to go up and sing, saying he would follow if the guy agreed.

"The young guy was brave enough," recalled MacDonald. "He went up and sang a country song and then Andrew got up and sang Unchained Melody."

The audience was amazed.

"It's just the sort of guy he is," said MacDonald.

"He is just a lot of fun to be around."

yzacharias@vancouversun.com