Rogowicz matches par at Stonewall North to get off to a solid start in U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

 

   With a bag in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Stonewall’s North Course and with my Saturday beginning with a rainbow draping the driving range at Stonewall’s Old Course for a good half-hour, it couldn’t have been too bad a day, right?

   WARWICK TOWNSHIP – Jackie Rogowicz, who starred scholastically at Pennsbury and collegiately at Penn State, made a pretty strong opening statement as she matched par with a 71 at Stonewall’s North Course Saturday in the opening round of qualifying for match play in the 36^th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

   Rogowicz’s solid effort over the 5,920-yard, par-71 North Course, the younger of Tom Doak’s twin gems in this northwestern part of Chester County, left her in a tie for eighth place with four other players and in solid position to earn herself a spot among the top 64 players who will tee it up in the opening round of match play Monday morning.

   That rainbow over the driving range at the Old Course was the result of the sun hitting an early morning fog. But the fog quickly burned off and the day turned warm and humid, although nowhere the scorching temperatures that baked players, caddies and volunteers in Thursday’s first day of practice rounds.

   Rogowicz, one of three players in the field who earned a spot in the match-play bracket in last month’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, turned her round around with three straight birdies on the second, third and fourth holes.

   Rogowicz had started off the 10^th tee and struggled a little on the incoming nine at the “Udder Course,” with bogeys at the 11^th, 13^th and 17^th holes around a birdie at 14 and was 3-over heading to the first tee.

   But her birdie burst early on the front side got her back to even par. After making a bogey at the eighth hole, Rogowicz finished up with a birdie at the par-3 ninth to end up at even-par.

   Rogowicz was not the low Pennsylvanian for the day, however.

   That honor went to Oakmont’s Katie Miller, the wife of Oakmont Country Club head pro Devin Gee who has been a player on the mid-am scene for a long time.

   A three-time state champion at Hempfield back in the day before a standout college career at North Carolina, Miller was one of four players tied for fourth place after she posted a solid 1-under 70.

   Miller, a three-time Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion and a three-time Pennsylvania Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, fell to Rogowicz in a meeting of two of the state’s top amateur players in the second round of match play in last year’s U.S. Mid-Am at the Long Mean Course at Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers, Fla.

   Nobody in the field was in the same zip code as Courtney Dow of Frisco, Texas as she dominated the North Course with nine birdies against two bogeys in a sizzling 7-under 64, a single-round record in stroke-play qualifying in a U.S. Women’s Mid-Am.

   Dow, who was a fifth-year player at Texas A&M in the spring of 2021, started off the 10^th tee in the afternoon and made a birdie at the 11^th hole before falling back to even-par with a bogey at the tough par-3 13^th.

   The she went off, finishing up her tour of the incoming nine at the North Course with birdies at the 14^th, 15^th and 18^th holes.

   The birdie at the par-5 18^th hole was the first of Dow’s four birdies on the four par-5s at the North Course. You had a sense that some of the longer hitters might be able to do some damage on the par-5s at the North, but to birdie all of them was really strong.

   Dow made a bogey at the first hole and fell back to 2-under for her round to open the outgoing nine, but then made birdies at two, three, seven, eight and nine to finish five shots clear of the  field. The par-5s on the front nine are the third, seventh and eighth holes. The seventh hole has traditionally been a par-4, but is playing as par-5 for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am with the tee box for the men’s back tee being utilized.

   Jessica Spicer of Bahama, N.C., a former Virginia Tech standout, and Taylor Ledwein of New Prague, Minn., who played college golf at Bradley, shared second place, each ending up five shots behind Dow at 2-under 69.

   One of Rogowicz’s scholastic rivals a decade ago, Isabella DiLisio, the 2013 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Mount St. Joseph, put together a solid 3-over 74 that left her in a group of 11 players tied for 31^st place.

   DiLisio, who was a college standout at Notre Dame, reached the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Fiddlesticks as a mid-am “rookie.” Her opening round left her in solid position to earn a spot in the match-play bracket.

   Also in the group at 3-over was Meghan Stasi, the South Jersey native who won the last of her four U.S. Mid-Am titles in 2012, but still always seems to find a way to make a run at this event.

   Stasi is a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. resident, but she came home this summer to win the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship for a 10^th time at Sandy Run Country Club. Stasi was named earlier this year to captain the U.S. team in next year’s Curtis Cup Match against Great Britain & Ireland at Sunningdale Golf Club in England.

   Pretty sure Alyssa Roland of Short Hills, N.J. is still affiliated with Overbrook Golf Club. She recorded a solid 4-over 75 and was in a group of 10 players tied for 42^nd place. Roland, the Ivy League individual champion with Yale in 2010, reached the match-play bracket in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am as recently as 2021 at the Berkeley Hall Club’s North Course in Bluffton, S.C.

   Joining Roland at 4-over was Katrin Wolfe, a field staff representative for the Mid-Atlantic region of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America from Johnstown. Wolfe, a scholastic rival of Miller’s back in the day at Westmont Hilltop, earned a spot in the field at Stonewall out of a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local qualifier last month at Bluestone Country Club.

   Erica Herr, who won back-to-back PIAA Class AAA crowns at Council Rock North in 2011 and 2012 before starring at Wake Forest, was in a group of 14 players tied for 52^nd place after registering a 5-over 76.

   Kate Evanko, who starred scholastically at Unionville and collegiately at Georgetown, opened with a 7-over 78 and landed in the group tied for 77^th place. Evanko was the medalist in the GAP-administered qualifier at Bluestone.

   Evanko was joined at that figure by Kate Scarpetta of Crystal Lake, a four-time PIAA qualifier at Scranton Prep who played college golf at Princeton and has carved out a nice career as a screenwriter. Scarpetta reached the quarterfinals at Fiddlesticks before falling to DiLisio.

   Harrisburg’s Allison Wix, a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Central Dauphin, has some work to do after struggling a little in the opening round with an 81.

   Wix, another player who came out of the GAP-administered qualifier at Bluestone, earned a spot in the match-play bracket at Fiddlesticks a year ago before falling in the opening round. Wix captured the Pennsylvania Women’s Mid-Am crown last month at Sunnehanna Country Club, the A.W. Tillinghast gem in Johnstown.

   As for the player whose bag I’m carrying, Tara Joy-Connelly of Middleborough, Mass., it was a frustrating day, but Joy-Connelly grinded out a 6-over 77. We’re on the outside looking in for match play, but just barely as one of 11 players tied for 66^th place.

   The 77 was about as high a score as Joy-Connelly could have made Saturday. She made no birdies, but kept her cool and limited the damage to six bogeys. A veteran USGA competitor, Joy-Connelly knows it’s a whole new ballgame if she can get herself a spot in that match-play bracket.

   Got a chance after the round to chat a little with Joy-Connelly’s father-in-law, the great Jack Connelly, who was one of the Philadelphia Section PGA’s best players as the head pro at Huntingdon Valley Country Club and was the president of the PGA of America in 2001 and 2002. Connelly followed us for our last nine holes, which was the front nine at Stonewall’s North Course.

   As I finish up this post Sunday morning, the rain is coming down pretty hard in Chester County. Joy-Connelly has a later tee time, but this could turn into a rainy slog.

   The golf course was softer than it appeared in Saturday’s opening round and it’s getting at least an inch or rain dropped on it. It’s going to be interesting.