Rogowicz's victory over Perrotta in WGAP Match Play Championship final was a good tuneup for U.S. Women's Amateur

    I have characterized the time between Christine Shimel’s 2008 PIAA championship and the second of Brynn Walker’s back-to-back state crowns in 2015 as a golden age of District One girls golf.

   And right in the middle of all of it was Pennsbury’s Jackie Rogowicz. A four-time PIAA qualifier, Rogowicz’s record at the state tournament was second in 2011, second in 2012, second in 2013 and tied for fifth in 2014. Penn State women’s golf coach Denise St. Pierre penciled Rogowicz’s name in her starting lineup for four years because St. Pierre knew that Rogowicz would always be out there grinding, trying to get a score for the team.

   Rogowicz made it clear after capturing the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship in 2019 – beating former Penn State teammate Olivia Zambruno in the final at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia Hill Course, the last time the state women’s amateur would be contested at match play – that she was planning to remain as an amateur.

   A couple of weeks ago, Rogowicz, playing out of Commonwealth National Golf Club, defeated defending champion Samantha Perrotta, 3 and 2, at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Grace Course to capture the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship.

   Rogowicz’s week at Saucon Valley was perfect preparation for her fifth appearance in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, which tees off Monday at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y.

   Rogowicz punched her ticket to the U.S. Women’s Amateur by earning medalist honors in one of the earliest qualifiers of the summer June 21^st at Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. with a sparkling 6-under-par 65. Rogowicz has been unable to make it into the match-play bracket in her first four U.S. Women’s Amateur appearances, although she did get into a playoff for the final spot in the 2016 edition at Rolling Green Golf Club, the William Flynn gem in Springfield, Delaware County.

   Rogowicz found herself 2-down to Perrotta after 10 holes of the scheduled Philadelphia Women’s Amateur 36-hole final July 15^th at Saucon Valley’s Grace Course when she ripped off wins at the 13^th, 15^th and 17^th holes to grab a 1-up lead. Perrotta won the 18^th hole to even the match heading into the afternoon round.

   Twice in the afternoon Rogowicz went 1-up only to see Perrotta battle back to square the match. Rogowicz finally got a little breathing room by winning the 26^th and 28^th holes to take a 2-up lead. Rogowicz maintained that lead as the two halved the next five holes.

   Perrotta’s tee shot at the 34^th hole found a bunker and she eventually missed a 15-foot par putt. Rogowicz then calmly drained a five-footer for par to close out Perrotta.

   Perrotta is an interesting story. She is autistic and found golf as something that was almost therapeutic. But it has gone beyond that and she has become an accomplished player.

   Perrotta reached the Philadelphia Women’s Amateur final two years ago before falling to Walker, the two-time PIAA champion at Radnor and four-year standout at North Carolina who has turned professional, on Walker’s home course at St. Davids Golf Club.

   Perrotta put her name on the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy a year ago by prevailing in an epic 40-hole final against Overbrook Golf Club’s Alyssa Roland at Old York Road Country Club.

   Rogowicz reached the final at Saucon Valley with a pair of match wins July 14^th as she claimed a 5 and 3 victory over Barbora Maralikova of Honeybrook Golf Club in a quarterfinal match and earned a 4 and 3 decision over Stevenson University senior Casey Oppenheimer of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club in a semifinal match.

   Perrotta rolled to a 5 and 4 victory over Mary McGuiness of Tavistock Country Club in her quarterfinal match before advancing to the final with a 5 and 4 win over Suzi Spotleson, the 2015 Philadelphia Women’s Amateur champion from the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, in the other semifinal.

   Rogowicz opened her run through the match-play bracket with an 8 and 7 victory over Eleanor Good of Gulph Mills Golf Club July 13^th while Perrotta claimed a 5 and 4 win over Karen Siegel, an assistant coach for the Penn’s women’s golf team who plays out of Commonwealth National.

   Another notable opening-round match saw Angella Coleman of DuPont Country Club edge Meghan Stasi of Tavistock Country Club, 1-up. Stasi, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, lives in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. area, but came home in search of her ninth Philadelphia Women’s Amateur crown.

   Stasi won the Philadelphia Women’s Amateur seven straight times from 1999 to 2005 when she was known as Meghan Bolger. She was probably looking for some competition as she starts to prepare for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am, which tees off Sept. 25 at the Berkeley Hall Club’s North Course in Bluffton, S.C.

   Stasi and the rest of the mid-ams didn’t have a national championship to shoot for in the coronavirus pandemic year of 2020. Stasi reached the semifinals the last time the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am was contested in 2019 at Forest Highlands Golf Club’s Meadows Course in Flagstaff, Ariz.

   Rogowicz opened the week at Saucon Valley by firing a 3-under 69 at the Grace Course July 12^th to claim medalist honors in qualifying for match play. Perrotta was the runnerup, finishing four shots behind Rogowicz with a 1-over 73.

   Tavistock’s Susan Kirk was another three shots behind Perrotta in third place with a 76. Spotleson and Ellen Miller of Gulph Mills shared fourth place, each posting a 77 and Stasi finished sixth with a 78.

   Megan Grosky McGowan of Blue Bell Country Club captured the First Flight crown as she rolled to a 6 and 4 decision over Callie Jean Burns of Bala Golf Club in the final.

   Grosky McGowan, the First Flight’s top seed, reached the final with a hard-fought decision over Merion Golf Club’s Catherine Elliott in 19 holes. Elliott made her third trip to the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship two years ago at Forest Highlands and earned a spot in the match-play bracket for the first time. Elliott won a match before falling in the second round.

   Burns advanced to the First Flight final with a 1-up verdict over Stephanie Harris of Lookaway Golf Club.

   Lisa Klein of RiverCrest claimed the Second Flight title with a 7 and 6 victory over Betsy Griffith of Brookside Country Club.

   Klein, who was the Second Flight’s sixth seed, reached the final with a 5 and 3 victory over Anne Pedano of Spring Ford Country Club while Griffith advanced to the title match with a 4 and 3 decision over Lisa Dichter of Meadia Heights Golf Club.

   A couple of other local women will join Rogowicz in the field when the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship tees off Monday at Westchester.

   Samantha Yao, a two-time District One Class AAA champion at Conestoga, was at the Sunningdale qualifier along with Rogowicz in June and posted a solid 2-under 69 to earn a spot in the field at Westchester. Yao’s freshman season at Dartmouth was cut short by the pandemic and Dartmouth decided to drop its men’s and women’s programs. I’ve heard Dartmouth is reconsidering that decision, but Yao has clearly been able to work on her game.

   Angelina Tolentino of Mount Laurel, N.J. matched par with a 72 in a qualifier at Knickerbocker Country Club in Tenafly, N.J. July 15^th to punch her ticket to the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Tolentino cut her teeth competitively playing Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour events.

   Tolentino is coming off a solid performance in the Girls Junior PGA Championship, which wrapped up Friday at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. (another in a long to-do list of posts I want to get to). Tolentino closed with a 3-under 70 to finish in the group tied for 31^st place with a 5-over 297 total.

   I can’t do a post on a Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia championship without noting the passing Wednesday of Charlotte Barnhard, an absolute giant on the women’s golf scene as a player and WGAP’s executive director for forever. There will be a visitation from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday followed by a service at The Donohue Funeral Home on West Chester Pike in Upper Darby that I suspect will be well attended.

   The Donohue Funeral Home is a few miles down West Chester Pike from Llanerch Country Club, where Barnhard, a life-long member, was an eight-time women’s club champion.

   The women’s game is making big strides these days. There are so many more competitive opportunities for the Jackie Rogowiczes, the Samantha Perrottas, the Sam Yaos and the Angelina Tolentinos. Charlotte Barnhard never stopped advocating for women in golf and, in so many ways large and small, laid the foundation that is taking women’s golf to a higher level in 2021 and beyond.