Rogowicz finishes strong to pull away for her second Pennsylvania Women's Amateur crown at Lancaster

    In the end, Jackie Rogowicz dominated the 86^th Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship, presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, at Lancaster Country Club.

   Rogowicz, playing out of Yardley Country Club, matched the low score of the week over the par-74 William Flynn gem in Manheim Township with a final round of 4-under 70 in Wednesday to cruise to a seven-shot victory over a talented field of college players, recent college players like herself, and some youngsters still in high school or just graduated from high school.

   None of them could touch Rogowicz, a four-time PIAA qualifier during her high school days at Pennsbury and a solid four-year starter for Penn State head coach Denise St. Pierre.

   Rogowicz won her first Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur crown in 2019 at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia Hill Course when the championship was contested at match play.

   When the Pennsylvania Golf Association took over administering the championship, it changed the format to 54 holes of stroke play. Well, Wednesday, Rogowicz won it playing that way, too. When you’re good, you’re good.

   Rogowicz carried a two-shot lead into Wednesday’s final round and put together a nearly flawless round.

   After an early bogey at the fourth hole, Rogowicz went 5-under the rest of the way with birdies at nine, 12, 15, 16 and 18. Her final-round 70 left her with a 3-under 219 total. She was the only player to finish under par for three rounds.

   Lancaster, which hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 2015 and will do so again in 2024, seemed to get tougher as the week wore on. And Rogowicz kept getting tougher as well.

   Rogowicz’s two closest pursuers are sophomores at two of the most decorated college women’s golf programs in America, Rylie Heflin at Duke, and Jade Gu at Purdue.

   Heflin, an Avondale native who played her high school golf at the Tower Hill School in Delaware, got thrown into the deep end as a freshman with the Blue Devils last season. Duke had a couple of defections to the pro ranks, something that happens a lot at a program like that, and Heflin was thrust into the starting lineup.

   Duke failed to advance to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2011 and Heflin, under a lot of pressure, performed really well. Duke won’t miss out on a trip to the NCAA Championship again anytime soon.

   Heflin, playing out of Hartefeld National Golf Club, matched Rogowicz for the low round of the tournament with a 4-under 70 in the final round to finish seven shots behind the winner with a 4-over 226 total. Heflin had struggled in Tuesday’s second round with an 82.

   Gu, also playing out of Yardley, followed in Rogowicz’s footsteps at Pennsbury, earning two trips to the PIAA Championship and claiming medalist honors in the Class AAA East Regional at Golden Oaks Golf Club as a sophomore in 2018.

   Like Heflin, Gu struggled in the second round with an 81, but she came on strong in Wednesday’s final round with a 3-under 71 to join Heflin in the tie for second place at 226.

   The college players seemed to hold up a little better over three rounds, the same format utilized in many college tournaments, although it didn’t seem to bother Rogowicz.

   It was another six shots back to Whitford Country Club’s Ava O’Sullivan as she finished alone in fourth place with a 10-over 232 total after closing with an 80.

   O’Sullivan, who capped her scholastic career at Downingtown East by leading the Cougars to the PIAA Class AAA team crown last fall, will join the program at Converse University in South Carolina later this month.

   Lehigh Country Club’s Michelle Cox, a sophomore at Penn State, was Rogowicz’s closest pursuer through two rounds, trailing by just two after Tuesday’s second round. Cox, however, struggled to an 82 in the final round to finish alone in fifth place with an 11-over 233 total.

   The best showing by a player who will still be playing scholastic golf during the 2022-’23 school year was turned in by Bucknell Golf Club’s Hannah Rabb, who matched par in the final round with a 74 that left her alone in sixth place with a 234 total.

   Rabb finished in ninth place in the PIAA Class AA Championship last fall at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County as a sophomore at Warrior Run. She was the runnerup to Mary Grace Dunigan in the Pennsylvania Golf Association Junior Girls’ Championship in June at Lebanon Country Club.

   Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Isabella DiLisio, the 2013 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Mount St. Joseph who went on to have a solid college career at Notre Dame, and Moselem Springs Golf Club’s Kayla Maletto, a junior at Wilson, finished in a tie for seventh place, each landing on 235.

   DiLisio, the runnerup to Jennifer Cleary in the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur at Sunnybrook Golf Club a year ago, struggled a little in a closing 82. Maletto, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a freshman before seeing her sophomore season cut short by injury, finished up with a 79.

   Bala Golf Club’s Megan Adelman, coming off a solid junior season in the spring at The Baldwin School, struggled in the final round with an 83, but still held on to finish alone in ninth place with a 237 total. Adelman captured the Inter-Ac League and the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association individual crowns in the spring.

   Rounding out the top 10 was a pair of players, Out Door Country Club’s Julianne Lee and Southpointe Golf Club’s Taylor Waller, tied for 10^th place, each landing on 241.

   Lee, who was a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Central York, and Waller, who will be a fifth-year senior at Penn State this season, each finished up with an 80.