Steady Rogowicz earns a spot in match-play bracket of U.S. Women's Amateur at Westchester

    The first four times she teed it up in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, Jackie Rogowicz, who starred scholastically at Pennsbury and collegiately at Penn State, was unable to make it into the match-play bracket.

  But Rogowicz showed the poise of a veteran in her fifth appearance and earned herself a berth in the match-play bracket as she matched par with a steady 72 in the second round of qualifying Tuesday at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.U. to finish in a tie for 20^th place against the most talented amateur players in the world.

   Rogowicz, coming off a victory in the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship last month at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Grace Course, put herself in position to make it into match play when she carded a 1-over 73 in Monday’s opening round of qualifying.

   Rogowicz, who had three runnerup finishes and a tie for fifth place in the PIAA Championship in four appearances during her outstanding scholastic career, backed that up with a her even-par tour of the classic Walter J. Travis design in Tuesday’s second round.

   Rogowicz got off to a good start with birdies at the fifth and seventh holes. Bogeys at the eighth and 11^th holes dropped her back to even-par. After a birdie at the 12^th hole, Rogowiccz made another bogey at 14, but she was rock solid on the way to the clubhouse, finishing with four straight pars for an even-par 72 that gave her a 36-hole total of 1-over 145.

   Rogowicz got a tough draw in the opening round of match play as she will take on Austria’s Emma Spitz in the final match of the day Wednesday. Spitz, a junior at UCLA, is No. 10 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). Like  I said, the best players in the world are gathered at Westchester for the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

   If Wake Forest junior Rachel Kuehn was on the bubble to make the United States team that will travel to Wales to take on Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup Match later this month, and at No. 23 in the Women’s WAGR, she probably was already a likely pick, earning medalist honors in qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Amateur is a nice addition to the resume for the USGA’s International Team Selection working group to consider.

   Kuehn of Asheville, N.C. fired a sparkling 5-under 67 at Westchester Tuesday for a 6-under 138 total that gave her a two-shot margin of victory over SMU senior Kennedy Pedigo of Fort Worth, Texas.

   Kuehn birdied the fourth and fifth holes to get off to a good start Tuesday. After her only blemish of the day, a bogey at the seventh hole, she turned it on with four birdies on the final 10 holes. Kuehn made birdies at the ninth, 10^th, 12^th and 18^th holes to pull away from the field.

   Kuehn is not the first USGA medalist in the family. Her mother Brenda Corrie Kuehn, a former Wake Forest standout, was the qualifying medalist in 1995 and 1996 in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, falling in the final in 1995.

   Pedigo added a 4-under 68 to her opening-round 72 to finish in second place with a 4-under 140 total. Brooke Matthews, a fifth-year player at Arkansas, had the best individual round of qualifying, a sparkling 6-under 66, to finish in third place with a 3-under 131 total.

   Matthews of Rogers, Ark. and No. 37 in the Women’s WAGR is also a candidate for the U.S. Curtis Cup team. She birdied six of her first 10 holes and finished with eight birdies and two bogeys. If an American wins the U.S. Women’s Amateur, she will be an automatic selection to the U.S. team for the Curtis Cup, which tees off Aug. 26 at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales.

   As the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, Rose Zhang of Irvine, Calif. has already secured one of the automatic nods for the U.S. Curtis Cup team. Zhang, the defending champion in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, carded a second straight 1-over 73 to comfortably advance to match play with a 2-over 146 total.

   Zhang was an impressive winner of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship last month at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md.

   Samantha Yao, a two-time District One Class AAA champion and three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Conestoga, failed to advance to match play in her first U.S. Women’s Amateur appearance. Yao added a 4-over 76 to her opening-round 77 for a 153 total. There was a playoff among 12 players, all of whom landed on 6-over 150, for the final two spots in the match-play bracket.

   Lenape High sophomore Angelina Tolentino bounced back from an opening-round 83 with a 3-over 75 in Tuesday’s second round for a 155 total. Getting a chance to compete on a stage as big as the U.S. Women’s Amateur will only aid in the development of a youngster like Tolentino.

   Delaware sophomore Christina Carroll of Bear, Del. added an 80 to her opening-round 78 for a 158 total.

   Penn State junior Lauren Freyvogel, the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Pine Richland, shaved eight shots off her opening-round 85 with a 5-over 77 for a 162 total.