Rohanna opens with 3-over 74
Even Rachel Rohanna’s caddie was surprised her score in the opening round of the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout presented by JTBC wasn’t lower.
The Waynesburg Central graduate carded five bogeys and two birdies on Las Colinas Country Club for an opening-round score of 3-over 74.
South Korea’s Mi Jung Hur holds the first-round lead at 5-under 66.
“I didn’t score very well, but I feel I played very well,” said Rohanna. “Overall, I played great.”
Rohanna opened the front nine with a bogey, but closed with a birdie to go out in even-par 36.
She moved to 1-under with a birdie on No. 13, but followed up the mark with four straight bogeys.
“I hit a good tee shot (on No. 14) and then I hit what I thought was a good second shot. I ended up flying the green by 10 yards,” said Rohanna. “On the next hole, I hit down the left side and it hooked a little too much into the trees on a hill. It should kick down, but it stayed in the trees. I punched out and ended up with bogey.
“The fourth bogey I watched the girls hit in front of me, so I hit an 8-iron. It hit 15-foot left of the pin, and the ball rolled into a hazard onto a tree root. I told myself, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t catch a break.'”
Rohanna had an issue on the final hole, which she parred.
“On the last hole, the ‘Quiet Please sign guy’ yells ‘Ma’am, you’re OB,'” explained Rohanna. “I guess she hit way out-of-bounds. I reset myself and hit it right.
“I hit the putt and am following it in, and it nosedives left and I just miss the putt.”
Rohanna simply summed out the first round by saying, “It was just one of those days. Every putt was just off the edge. My irons were flying way longer than normal.
“I had probably two or three pretty good birdie opportunities. I was hitting the same shots I did on the front nine, but they weren’t staying on the green on the back nine.”
It appears Rohanna will be a stroke off the anticipated cut when she tees it up in today’s second round, if she gets to do so around lunchtime.
“There is a storm moving in. We will probably be delayed,” said Rohanna. “(The course) is not super hard, but it’s not easy, either.
“It all works out in the end if you shoot the right score.”