Rogowicz falls to Spitz in opening round of U.S. Women's Amateur; Penn's Nachmann stuns Zhang at Westchester

    On a day when the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and the qualifying medalist were victims of stunning upsets, Jackie Rogowicz, a former Pennsbury and Penn State standout, couldn’t quite join the list of giant-killers in the opening round of match play Wednesday in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y.

   Earning a spot in the match-play bracket for the first time in five tries at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Rogowicz, who captured the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Grace Course last month, faced the formidable task of taking on Austria’s Emma Spitz, a junior at UCLA and No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR, in the opening round.

   Spitz advanced with a 3 and 2 victory, but Rogowicz, a three-time PIAA Class AAA Championship runnerup in her days at Pennsbury, did not go out without a fight.

   Rogowicz got the jump in the match by winning the first hole on the Walter J. Travis classic at Westchester. Spitz, however, quickly got in front with wins at the second and third holes and Rogowicz found herself fighting up hill the rest of the way.

   Spitz won the sixth hole to go 2-up, but Rogowicz cut her deficit in half by winning the 10^th hole, Spitz won the 11^th hole to go 2-up and Rogowicz answered by taking the 12^th hole to again cut her deficit  to 1-down.

   But Spitz picked up wins at the 13^th and 15^th holes to expand her advantage to 3-up and closed out the match at 16.

   But no upset reverberated around the grounds at Westchester more in the opening round than the stunning 1-up victory by Elle Nachmann of Boca Raton, Fla. and the University of Pennsylvania, that’s right our University of Pennsylvania, over Rose Zhang, the No. 1 amateur in the world from Irvine, Calif.

   There Nachmann is on the Penn website, although her entry on the Quakers’ roster is not decorated with a picture – yet. The Ivy League, in its infinite wisdom, could never quite get its golfers on the course in the wraparound 2020-2021 season, despite golf being a sport that had been widely proven as one of the few activities that could be conducted safely during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

   So Nachmann is a sophomore who never got the chance to play as a freshman and it looks like she’s a smart enough young woman to realize that golf is just a small part of the bigger picture in her life. In fairness, in the pandemic era, it’s entirely possibly Nachmann never set foot in the city of Philadelphia during her freshman year at Penn. And she has remained the force she has always been in Florida State Golf Association circles.

   Still, it looked like Zhang had taken control of the match when she ripped off wins on consecutive holes at the eight, nine and 10 to take a 2-up lead.

   Zhang had won the U.S. Women’s Amateur a year ago at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. Back in Maryland last month, she rolled to the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase. But apparently Nachmann wasn’t smart enough to figure out that she had no chance in this match.

   Nachmann picked up wins at the 13^th and 15^th holes to square the match, then won at 16 to put a nose in front before gutting out halves with pars on the last two holes. Suddenly, Zhang, who will join what looks like a powerhouse Stanford team after leading the United States team in its Curtis Cup Match with Great Britain & Ireland at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales later this month, was gone.

   So too, was qualifying medalist Rachel Kuehn, a junior at Wake Forest and No. 23 in the Women’s WAGR as she suffered a 1-up loss to Kentucky junior Marissa Wenzler of Dayton, Ohio. Wenzler had to survive a 12-for-2 playoff late Tuesday just for the right to take on Kuehn in the opening round of match play.

   Favoritism now falls on Stanford sophomore Rachel Heck of Memphis, Tenn. and No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR. Heck, who captured the NCAA individual crown in May at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., rolled to a 7 and 5 victory over Karen Tsuru of Carlsbad, Calif., a quarterfinalist in last month’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at Columbia.

   Heck will take on reigning Australian Amateur Championship winner Grace Kim, who is No. 30 in the Women’s WAGR in the second round.

   Meanwhile, Nachmann will face another big name in Arkansas fifth-year player Brooke Matthews of Rogers, Ark. and No. 37 in the Women’s WAGR. Matthews, who finished in third place in qualifying for match play with a solid 3-under 141 total, reached the second round with a 5 and 4 victory over Cal State Fullerton sophomore Brittany Shin of Cape Coral, Fla.

   When the match-play bracket was first revealed, Matthews probably steeled herself for a potential meeting with Zhang in the second round. It isn’t likely Matthews will overlook the player who beat the No. 1 amateur in the world.

   The second round and the round of 16 will be contested Thursday. When the day is done only eight players will be left standing in the battle for the iconic Robert Cox Trophy.