Individual winner Rogowicz leads Penn State to William & Mary Invitational title

   Junior Jackie Rogowicz, the former Pennsbury standout, claimed the individual title as Penn State got its season off to a flying start by claiming the team crown in the William & Mary Invitational, which wrapped up Monday at the Kingsmill Resort’s River Course.

   Rogowicz, a two-time runnerup in the PIAA Class AAA Championship, had five birdies in a final round of 2-under-par 70 over the 6,122-yard, par-72 River Course for a 54-hole total of 2-over 218. She finished tied with North Carolina-Wilmington’s Thao My Nguyen, a sophomore from Vietnam, and defeated Nguyen on the first hole of a playoff.

   Rogowicz opened with a pair of 2-over 74s in Sunday's double-round. She is the first Penn State player to capture an individual title since Christina Vosters won the 2014 Briar’s Creek Invitational.

   “I played well the entire tournament,” Rogowicz told the Penn State website. “The difference (Tuesday) was I kept the big numbers off the scorecard. When I got in trouble, I was able to scramble to save bogey.”

   Nguyen also closed with a 2-under 70 after rounds of 73 and 75 in Sunday;s double-round.

Rogowicz’s victory led the way for the winning Penn State team effort. The Nittany Lions carded an 8-over 296 and a 6-over 294 in Sunday’s double-round and finished up with a 10-over 298 for a 24-over 888 total. Denise St. Pierre has a solid group of veterans in Happy Valley that will be trying to build a strong enough resume to earn a bid into the NCAA regionals next spring. This was a good start.

   Junior Cara Basso, the former Villa Maria Academy standout who won the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Amateur Championship this summer, and junior Lauren Waller, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Canon-McMillan in 2014, were among the group tied for eighth at 8-over 224 for the Nittany Lions.

   Basso was only two shots out of the lead held by Seton Hall sophomore Maddie Sager, the former Owen J. Roberts star, after a pair of 73s in Sunday’s double-round before finishing up with a 78. Waller had a pair of 75s Sunday and finished up with a solid 2-over 74.

   Sophomore Madelein Herr, a District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Council Rock North, and Kamerine Taylor, a junior from Dublin, Ohio, were among the group tied for 16^th at 228.

   Herr had rounds of 74, 78 and 76. Taylor matched par with a 72 in the second round before finishing up with an 80. St. Pierre knows what she has in her veteran core of Rogowicz, Basso, Waller and Herr. The fifth spot is probably up for grabs, but Taylor, making the lineup for the first time as a junior, certainly made a strong case to remain among the five.

   Led by Nguyen, North Carolina-Wilmington was the runnerup to Penn State. The Seahawks had rounds of 297, 299 and 294 for a 26-over 890 total. Sager led Seton Hall to a third-place finish with a pair of 296s Sunday and a 300 Monday that left the Pirates two shots behind UNCW at 28-over 892.

Host William & Mary and the College of Charleston finished tied for fourth at 903, 11 shots behind Seton Hall.

   UNCW had two other players besides Nguyen in the top four as Ellinoora Moisio, a junior from Finland, finished alone in third at 4-over 220, two shots behind Rogowicz and Nguyen, after a final round of 1-over 73. Kayla Thompson, a senior from Clarkton, N.C., finished tied for fourth at 5-over 221, including a  1-under 71 in the middle round.

   Sharing fourth with Thompson at 221 was William & Mary’s Liz Choi, a junior from Syosset, N.Y. who had the best round of the tournament, a 3-under 69, in the final round.

   I was wondering if Seton Hall had ever two players qualify for a U.S. Women’s Amateur when Sager and Mia Kness, who claimed the PIAA Class AAA championship as a senior at Peters Township last fall, earned tickets to San Diego Country Club this summer.

   Turned out I was selling the Pirates short because a third Seton Hall player, Lizzie Win, a sophomore from Sylvania, Ohio, also qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur. None of the trio advanced to match play, but there is nothing quite like gaining that kind of experience on a national stage to give you a confidence boost and that was evident in the Pirates’ showing at Kingsmill.

   Sager, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Owen J. Roberts as a senior in 2015, added a 2-under 70 to her opening-round 74 Sunday to hold the 36-hole lead at even-par 144 before falling back with a 78 Monday that left her alone in sixth place at 6-over 222.

   Win matched par in the final round with a 72 to finish a shot behind Sager in seventh.

   Cassie Pantelas, a senior from Canton, Ohio, gave the Pirates a third finisher in the top 10 as she sandwiched a 76 in the middle round with a pair of 74s to finish a shot behind Win in the group tied for eighth at 224.

   Kness made a solid collegiate debut with a pair of 76s around a 75 in Sunday’s second round to finish tied for 13^th at 227.

   The third member of Seton Hall’s Pennsylvania contingent, Sammie Staudt, who starred scholastically at Coatesville, finished tied for 41^st at 237. Staudt struggled to an 82 in the first round and an 80 in Monday’s windup, but her 75 in Sunday’s second round was a counter for the Pirates.