Rogowicz in position to make match play in U.S. Women's Amateur after opening with 73 at Westchester

   Jackie Rogowicz, who starred scholastically at Pennsbury and collegiately at Penn State, carded a solid 1-over-par 73 at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. to put herself in good position to earn a spot in the match-play bracket as the U.S. Women’s Amateur teed off Monday.

   Rogowicz, coming off a victory in last month’s Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship at Saucon Valley County Club’s Grace Course, was tied for 20^th place after the opening day of qualifying for match play.

   The top 64 finishers following Tuesday’s second round advance to match play, which gets under way Wednesday. It is Rogowicz’s fifth appearance in the U.S. Women’s Amateur and she has yet to advance to match play. The Yardley resident lost out in a playoff for the final spot in match play five years ago when the U.S. Women’s Amateur was played at Rolling Green Golf Club, the William Flynn gem in Springfield, Delaware County.

   Rogowicz, winner of the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship in 2019 at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia Hill Course, was at her typically grinding best Monday. Starting off the 10^th tee, Rogowicz birdied the 13^th hole and then rattled off seven straight pars. She stumbled with a double bogey at the third hole and got it back to even-par with a birdie at six before giving back a shot with a bogey at eight.

   Rogowicz was playing out of Commonwealth National Golf Club in winning the Philadelphia Women’s Amateur, but she’s a product of the Yardley Country Club junior program.

   Thailand’s Suthavee Chanachai, better known as Pun, grabbed the lead in qualifying with a solid 3-under 69. Chanachai wrapped up her career at New Mexico State in the spring by leading the Aggies to the Western Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Stanford Regional.

   Starting off the 10^th tee at the classic Walter J. Travis design – Flynn’s company had a hand in the actual construction of the course – Chanachai offset two bogeys with five birdies. She started off with birdies at the 10^th and 12^th holes, made a bogey at 15, but bounced right back with a birdie at 16. Chanachai made back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth holes to get it to 4-under before giving back a shot with a bogey at seven.

   Furman junior Anna Morgan, coming off a runnerup finish to Duke’s Gina Kim in the final of the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship last month at the Donald Ross masterpiece that is the Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 Course, headed a group of five players tied for second place at 2-under 70.

   A couple of the top returning Big Ten players, Michigan junior Hailey Borja of Lake Forest, Ill. and Ohio State junior Aneka Seumanutafa of Emmitsburg, Md. were also in the group tied for second place at 2-under. Borja played a big role in helping the Wolverines advance out of the Columbus Regional to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   Stanford junior Brooke Seay, a grizzled veteran of USGA competition, was also in the group at 2-under. She’s appearing in her sixth U.S. Women’s Amateur and, I’m pretty sure, qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship six times. Seay helped the Cardinal roll to the team crown in the Stanford Regional and advance to match play in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk.

   Rounding out the group at 2-under was Bridget Ma, an American Junior Golf Association standout from Windermere, Fla. Ma still has a year of high school left.

   Defending champion Rose Zhang of Irvine, Calif. joined the group tied for 20^th place with a 1-over 73. Zhang, who will join the powerful Stanford program later this month, was a dominating winner of the U.S. Girls’ Junior last month at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md.

   Zhang is the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). She is almost expected to win a second straight U.S. Women’s Amateur. But this is golf and beginning Wednesday, it’s going to be match play, and in golf and in match play, you should expect the unexpected. Nobody knows that better than Zhang. It’s going to be an interesting week for her.

   Samantha Yao, a two-time District One Class AAA winner and three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Conestoga, carded a 5-over 77 and was in the group tied for 73^rd place. She’ll probably need to do a little better in Tuesday’s second round to make it into match play, but she is certainly capable.

   Yao’s freshman season at Dartmouth was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Dartmouth proceeded to drop its men’s and women’s golf programs, although no Ivy League golfer, male or female, competed in the wraparound 2020-2021 season.

   Yao just couldn’t find a birdie at Westchester Monday. She made five bogeys and had 13 pars, finishing her round with eight straight pars.

   Christina Carroll of Bear, Del., coming off a solid freshman season at Delaware, posted a 6-over 78 that left her among the group tied for 90^th place.

   Angelina Tolentino of Mount Laurel, N.J. struggled to an 83 and was in the group tied for 143^rd place. Tolentino, a product of the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour, is a sophomore at Lenape High. She is coming off a solid showing in last week’s Girls Junior PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. as she finished in a tie for 31^st place with a 5-over 297 total.

   Penn State junior Lauren Freyvogel, the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Pine Richland, opened with an 85 and was in the group tied for 151^st place.