Rogowicz earns spot in match-play bracket in U.S. Women's Mid-Am at Monterey Peninsula

 

   Watched Jackie Rogowicz, who starred scholastically at Pennsbury and collegiately at Penn State, nearly reach the final of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship two years ago when the event was staged at Stonewall’s North Course, the younger of Tom Doak’s twin gems in the northwest corner of Chester County.

   Rogowicz, who is playing out of Merion Golf Club these days, took Kelsey Chugg of Salt Lake City, Utah, the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion, to the 18^th hole at Stonewall’s North Course before dropping a 1-up decision in a tough, taut match.

   Rogowicz was one of three co-medalists in qualifying for match play at the ’Wall.

   When Rogowicz finished in a tie for third in qualifying for match play last year at Brae Burn Country Club in West Newtown, Mass., it looked like another deep run in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am match-play bracket was in the offing.

   But Rogowicz dropped a heartbreaking loss in 21 holes to Sherry Zhong of China in the opening round of match play and her U.S. Women’s Mid-Am was over before it could really get started.

   Rogowicz is back at it a little more than a year later as she earned a spot in the match-play bracket for this year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur with a second straight 2-over-par 74 over the Dunes Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula Sunday that gave her a 4-over 148 total and left her in a large group tied for 23^rd place.

   Rogowicz’s opening-round 74 Saturday was a typical Rogowicz round. She made bogeys at the third, eighth and 13^th holes and a birdie at 15. Steady stuff from a steady player.

   Sunday’s second round was a bit of a roller-coaster ride, though.

   Starting off the 12^th hole, Rogowicz got off a good start with a birdie at 12. But then Rogowicz got on the bogey train, making bogeys at the 14^th, 16^th, 18^th, first and second holes.

   Rogowicz got back on track with a birdie at the third hole before making another bogey at four.

   Looks like the par-4 fifth hole is a short one and Rogowicz turned things around with a timely eagle. That settled her down and, after another bogey at the sixth hole, she made a birdie at nine to get it in at 2-over for the day.

   Rogowicz will open match play Monday against Jessica Mangrobang of Portland, Ore., who played college golf at Gonzaga.

   Rogowicz’s old scholastic rival, Isabella DiLisio, the 2013 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Mount St. Joseph who went on to start collegiately at Notre Dame, will be involved in a playoff for the final four spots in the match-play bracket Monday morning after she added a 6-over 78 in Sunday’s second round to her opening-round 74 for a 10-over 154 total that left her in tie with 11 other players for 61^st place.

   That par-5 ninth hole that Rogowicz birdied was DiLisio’s downfall in an otherwise solid round Sunday. DiLisio, who plays out of Philadelphia Cricket Club, made a quintuple bogey 10 at the ninth.

   DiLisio reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am as a mid-am “rookie” in 2022 at Fiddlesticks Country Club’s Long Mean Course in Fort Myers, Fla.

   Watched DiLisio drop a hard-fought 1-up decision to Canadian veteran Judith Kyrinis in the round of 16 at Stonewall’s North Course two years ago. Like Rogowicz, DiLisio fell in a heartbreaker, also in 21 holes, to the eventual champion, Hana Ryskova of Czechia, in the opening round of match play a year ago at Brae Burn.

   Ryskova will be one of the 12 players vying for one of those last four available berths in the match-play bracket along with DiLisio in the playoff Monday morning.

   DiLisio punched her ticket to the Monterey Peninsula with a runnerup finish in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at Kennett Square Golf & Country Club in August.

   The medalist at Kennett Square, Lauren Klick of Landenberg and DuPont Country Club, just missed getting involved in that playoff for the final spots in match play with an 11-over 155 total. After opening with a 4-over 76, Klick added a 79 in Sunday’s second round.

   Former Virginia Tech standout Jessica Spicer of Williamsburg, Va., one of the three co-medalists along with Rogowicz at Stonewall two years ago, and Katherine Zhu, playing not far from her San Jose, Calif. home, shared medalist honors at the Dunes Course as each finished with a 3-under 141 total.

   Zhu, a collegiate standout at California, opened with the low round of the weekend Saturday as she had six birdies against a lone bogey in a sparkling 5-under 67.

   It was a little bit more of an up-and-down day for Zhu Sunday. She made bogeys at the third, sixth and seventh holes before righting the ship with back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12.

   Zhu stumbled again with back-to-back bogeys at the 13^th and 14^th holes before earning her share of medalist honors with a birdie at 15 that got her back to 3-under.

   After opening with a solid 3-under 68, Spicer had a steady 1-over 73. Starting off the 12^th tee, Spicer made birdies at 15 and one to get it to 6-under for the weekend before surrendering shots with bogeys at four, seven and 10.

   After claiming a share of medalist honors at Stonewall’s North Course two years ago, Spicer was stunned in the opening round of match play by Johnstown native Kristin Wolfe, a field staff representative for the Mid-Atlantic region for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, in 19 holes.

   Brooke Seay of San Diego, Calif., a standout on Stanford’s 2022 national championship team, finished in a tie for third place with Ching-Tzu Chen of Chinese Taipei, each ending up a shot behind Zhu and Spicer.

   Seay, a mid-am rookie at 25, has had her golf journey stalled by a couple of concussions, but apparently hasn’t ruled out giving professional golf a run. She earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at the Bandon Dunes Resort up the coast in Oregon in August. Needless to say, Seay can play.

   Seay put together back-to-back 1-under 71s over the weekend. Chen, who played on some really good Oregon teams, matched par in the opening round with a 72 before matching the low round of the day Sunday with a 2-under 70.

   The finalists at Stonewall two years ago, Kimberly Dinh of Midland, Mich. and Chugg, both landed in a large group tied for 15^th place at 3-over 147.

   Dinh, who defeated Chugg, 2-up, in the final at Stonewall, matched par in Sunday’s second round with 72 after opening with a 3-over 75. Chugg, a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am finalist, got off to a great start with a 4-under 68 in Saturday’s opening round before struggling a little in a 6-over 78 Sunday.

   Another interesting name in that group at 3-over was that of former Penn State standout Sarah Willis of Eaton, Ohio.

   Willis was the freshman phenom with the Nittany Lions when Rogowicz was finishing up her career in the wraparound 2018-2019 season. Willis added a 2-over 74 in Sunday’s second round to her opening-round 73.

   Courtney Dow-Rowles of Plano, Texas, the third co-medalist at Stonewall’s North Course two years ago, is very much back in the mix as she finished in a tie for fifth place in qualifying for match play at Monterey Peninsula with a 1-under 143 total. Dow-Rowles opened with a solid 3-under 69 before adding a 2-over 74 in Sunday’s second round.

   Dow-Rowles, a college standout at Texas A&M, was knocked out in the first round of match play at Stonewall by Sarah LeBrun Ingram, a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion and the winning captain of U.S. Curtis Cup teams in 2021 and 2022 – that 2022 Curtis Cup Match was a special treat for Philly area golf fans at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course – in a 3 and 2 decision.

   Speaking of that Curtis Cup at Merion, got a chance to watch Emilia Migliaccio in her Sunday singles victory over Annabell Fuller of England.

   Migliaccio, now Emilia Doran, had announced that spring that she planned to remain an amateur and pursue a career in the media.

   She came back the following spring and helped Wake Forest capture a national championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. Every time I hear Doran on a golf telecast, she sounds a little more polished.

   Doran finished among a trio of players tied for seventh place in qualifying for match play at Monterey Peninsula with a 1-over 145 total. Doran matched the low round of the day Sunday with a 2-under 70 after opening with a 3-over 75.

   With her wealth of match-play experience, Doran would seem to be a favorite this week at Monterey Peninsula. But it is match play and nobody knows about the vagaries of match play more than Doran does.

   And, oh yeah, Doran’s reward for her top-seven finish in qualifying is an opening-round match with Lauren Greenlief, the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am winner who regularly makes a deep run in this championship.