Aug 11, 2010 By Jim Downey 3 min read

Robert Rohanna was on top of his game Tuesday, and that could mean bad news for the rest of the field in the Pennsylvania Open if he remains in his comfort zone. The Waynesburg Central grad fired the low round of the tournament with an 8-under-par 63 for a two-day total of 12-under 130. Rohanna leads Blaine Peffley by two strokes and Zak Drescher by three heading into today’s final round at Applebrook Golf Club in Malvern, Pa.

Those three will be in the final group, teeing off at 10:10 this morning.

Mount Pleasant’s Dan Konieczny, a Geibel Catholic graduate, also made the final cut after shooting another round of 1-under 70 for a two-round total of 2-under 140. He’s one of seven golfers at 140.

Rohanna opened the second round on No. 10, a 573-yard par-5, with a par, and then proceeded to birdie the next three holes. He followed with a pair of pars and then pushed his round to 5-under with an eagle on No. 16, a 578-yard par-5. Rohanna kept rolling along with a birdie on No. 17, but hit a bump before the turn with a triple bogey on No. 18, a 454-yard par-4.

“No. 18 was not too fun. I hit a good tee shot, and a good second shot. It was an uphill hole and there was a huge hill behind the green. I figured the middle of the hill was around 210 yards, so I choked down on a 5-iron,” explained Rohanna. “I hit it so perfect. It was a missile right at the flag. It flew over the back of the hill and rolled all the way over the green, and stuck it under the back fringe.

“It was a hard lie. I hit my putter and tried to bounce it out and roll. It went 10 feet and not over the hill.”

When all the putting was said and done, Rohanna headed to the back (the front nine) on the heels of a triple.

“I was upset. It was so bad it was funny,” said Rohanna. “I realized I had a lot more holes left. I still had nine holes to play.

“I started like I was starting over again.”

Rohanna rebounded with birdies on the first two holes of his back nine, and four birdies in the first five holes. He had one birdie and three pars in the last four holes to come back in 5-under 31.

Rohanna has been battling a wrist injury, and, although he stayed out of the high grass, had a pang or two when he caught too much divot.

“It got me a couple times. I stayed out of the high weeds, that helped,” said Rohanna. “I was making putts, so (the wrist) doesn’t hurt so much.”

Rohanna doesn’t plan to change his strategy as he looked forward to the final 18 holes.

“I can’t play conservative now,” said Rohanna. “If you play too conservative, it can bite you.

“I’m not going to change my game plan any.”

Konieczny was 1-over on the front nine with two birdies, a bogey and one double bogey, and came home in 2-under 33 with three birdies and one bogey.