Yardley Country Club’s Jackie Rogowicz didn’t tee it up in the Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) Women’s Amateur Championship a year ago at Sunnybrook Golf Club.
The Pennsylvania Women’s Am, presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, was played the same week as the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. And Rogowicz, competing against the best female amateur players on the planet, earned herself a spot among the top 64 in the match-play bracket.
Rogowicz was a couple of years removed from her solid career at Penn State, but she still proved she can compete with the best.
Tuesday, Lancaster Country Club showed some of the teeth that has made the William Flynn design the once (2015) and future (2024) site of the U.S. Women’s Open. And Rogowicz, always patient, always grinding, was one of the few players in the field to solve it.
Rogowicz carded a solid 2-under-par 72 after opening with a 77 in Monday’s first round for a 1-over 149 total that gave her a two-shot lead over first-round leader Michelle Cox of Lehigh Country Club heading into Wednesday’s final round.
Champions were crowned in three other divisions Tuesday as Katie Miller Gee of Green Oaks Country Club captured the Mid-Amateur division by a whopping 16 shots, her third straight mid-am crown, Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Lisa McGill won the Senior division by three shots and Merion Golf Club’s Liz Haines won the Super-Senior division by three shots.
Rogowicz was a four-time PIAA qualifier during her scholastic career at Pennsbury and was a fixture in Penn State head coach Denise St. Pierre’s lineup for four years.
She stood at 1-over for her round heading to the tee at the ninth hole after wrapping bogeys at one, five and eight around a birdie at four.
Rogowicz proceeded to find the green in two at the par-5 ninth hole and dropped the putt for eagle. The putter continued to cooperate on her way to the clubhouse as Rogowicz made birdies at the 10th and 16th holes and parred the rest.
“I definitely putted it better than I did (Monday), which was nice,” Rogowicz told the PAGA website. “It’s just a hard golf course.”
Cox, a sophomore at Penn State, had grabbed the lead with an opening round of 2-under 72. But Cox, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Emmaus, struggled to a 79 in Tuesday’s second round. Still, her 3-over 151 total left her in striking distance, just two shots behind Rogowicz.
Cox won the PAGA Junior Girls’ Championship at Lebanon Country Club last summer.
Whitford Country Club’s Ava O’Sullivan, who led Downingtown East to the PIAA Class AAA crown to cap an outstanding scholastic career last fall at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County, was the only other player to get it in under par in Tuesday’s second round.
O’Sullivan, who will play college golf at Converse University in South Carolina, offset four bogeys with five birdies to fashion a 1-under 73 that left her alone in third place with a 4-over 152 total.
Rogowicz’s old scholastic rival, Isabella DiLisio, playing out of Philadelphia Cricket Club, was a shot behind O’Sullivan in fourth place with a 5-over 153 total. DiLisio, the 2013 PIAA Class AAA individual champion as a junior at Mount St. Joseph who went on to star collegiately at Notre Dame, added a 2-over 76 to her opening-round 77.
Bala Golf Club’s Megan Adelman, a junior at The Baldwin School, was a shot behind DiLisio in fifth place with a 6-over 154 total. Adelman struggled a little with a 79 in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 1-over 75.
Adelman had a strong spring, capturing both the Inter-Ac League’s individual crown at French Creek Golf Club and the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association’s individual title at Gulph Mills Golf Club.
Another Yardley member who, like Rogowicz, was a scholastic standout at Pennsbury, Jade Gu, was a shot behind Adelman in sixth place with a 7-over 155. A sophomore at Purdue, Gu struggled to an 81 in Tuesday’s second round after matching par with a 74 in the opening round.
Gu lost to Cox in a playoff in the state Junior Girls’ Championship last summer at Lebanon.
Hartefeld National Golf Club’s Rylie Heflin, a sophomore at Duke, and Moselem Springs Golf Club’s Kayla Maletto, a junior at Wilson, shared seventh place, each landing on 8-over 156.
Heflin, a scholastic standout at the Tower Hill School, had also matched par in the opening round with a 74 that left her in a tie for second place with Gu, but she struggled in Tuesday’s second round with an 82. Maletto had also started strong with a 1-over 75, but backed off in Tuesday’s second round with an 81
Former Council Rock North and Penn State standout Madelein Herr, a PAGA individual member, added a 79 to her opening-round 82 and was alone in ninth place at 159, three shots behind Heflin and Maletto.
Rounding out the top 10 was Bucknell Golf Club’s Hannah Rabb, who was alone in 10th place with a 160 total after adding a 3-over 77 to her opening-round 80.
The runnerup to Mary Grace Dunigan in June’s PAGA Junior Girls’ Championship at Lebanon, Rabb finished in ninth place in last fall’s PIAA Class AA Championship as a sophomore at Warrior Run.
Miller Gee had won three Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur crowns under the old match-play format and continued her domination of the mid-am division by completing a third straight title.
This one was a little different in that Miller Gee won for the first time as a mother. She is married to Oakmont Country Club head pro Devin Gee. Think their kid has a chance to be pretty good at golf?
Miller Gee took a five-shot lead over Katrin Wolfe of Northampton Country Club, but pulled away from Wolfe with a sparkling 7-under 67.
Miller Gee made birdies at the third and sixth holes and had a bogey at eight. Then she really went off, rattling off fourth straight birdies at the ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th holes. She added two more birdies at the 15th and 17th holes on her way to the clubhouse.
Miller Gee’s 67 gave her a 5-under 143 total.
Miller Gee, a three-time PIAA champion at Hempfield who starred collegiately at North Carolina, has been a player on the national mid-am scene. Hopefully, a trip to Stonewall is on her dance card for 2023 when the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur comes to the North Course.
Wolfe, a Mid-Atlantic field representative for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), has been a rival of Miller Gee’s since their high school days. Wolfe, who played her college golf at Penn State, added a 4-over 78 to her opening-round 81 for an 11-over 159 total that earned her runnerup honors.
It was another five shots back to Molly Gorman of Wyoming Valley Country Club as she added a 79 to her opening-round 85 that left her in third place with a 164 total.
Kristen Obush of Lignonier Country Club was two shots behind Gorman in fourth place after adding an 84 to her opening-round 82.
McGill captured the Senior division title a year ago on her home course at Sunnybrook and repeated as the winner against a strong group of seniors, overtaking Commonwealth National Golf Club’s Karen Siegel, an assistant coach for the women’s team at Penn.
McGill overcame a couple of double bogeys to record a 2-over 76, which, combined with her opening-round 77, gave her a 5-over 153 total.
McGill righted the ship after a double bogey at the 10th hole, making birdies at the 11th and 13th holes to get it back to 2-over for the round.
Siegel had matched par with a 74 in the opening round, but struggled to an 82 in Tuesday’s second round for a 156 total that left her three shots behind McGill.
Northampton Country Club’s Noreen Mohler, the captain of the winning U.S. side in the 2010 Curtis Cup Match at the Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., was another four shots behind Siegel in third place after adding an 82 in Tuesday’s second round to her opening-round 82.
Merion’s Loraine Jones, who qualified for match play as a senior “rookie” at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur a year ago at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala., added an 82 to her opening-round 81 to finish in fourth place with a 163 total.
Merion’s Haines won the Super-Senior division title for the third time in four years as she added an 85 to her opening-round 77 for a 162 total.
It’s been 18 years since Haines was the runnerup to Carolyn Creekmore in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif. and she is still going strong.
Barbara Pagana of Huntsville Golf Club was the runnerup to Haines as she added an 87 to her opening-round 78 for a 165 total.
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