Oct 9, 2002 By Jim Downey 4 min read

GIBSONIA – Scoreboard watching was a popular activity Tuesday at the WPIAL Boys Golf Championship. Most of the golfers stared up at the board as long as they golfed as the threesomes rolled in at Treesdale Golf & Country Club. For Brandon Katzeff of Laurel Highlands and Uniontown’s Zach Rockwell, the glimpses at the big board proved to be disappointing because neither was able to crack the top 16 and advance to the state championship. The lone local positive note of the day was Waynesburg’s Robert Rohanna qualifying for his third state tournament in as many years.

Rohanna was pleased to advance to the state championship at Heritage Hills Golf Course in York on Oct. 21-22 with a 74, but was a little disappointed he was not able to finish higher on the leaderboard. The Waynesburg junior won a playoff for third place last year after placing in a tie for ninth as a freshman.

“I couldn’t hit the ball that good, but I didn’t play that bad. My putts were right on the lip. I bogeyed No. 16 and 17 and still shot a 74,” Rohanna said.

Rohanna couldn’t seem to get a rhythm during his round, especially in his chipping game. Despite his self-proclaimed woes, his scores were consistent with a 37 on both the front and back nine with three bogeys on the back and two on the front nine.

“Every time I would hit a good shot, I’d screw up. I should have shot about a 70. I didn’t make any putts for birdie,” said Rohanna, who had three putts for eagle on the day. “I thought I had to shoot 73 or 74 to win. I thought (the course) would be hard to play. I could’ve shot under par today, but I didn’t.

“I wanted to make it to states. I’d like to be in the top three places, but I’ll settle for fourth. That’s okay for the way I played.”

Tom Moynihan turned in the round of the day because the Franklin Regional senior fired a 3-under-par 69 to win the gold medal. Moynihan carded five birdies and only two bogeys for the low score of the day.

“It’s short, but it’s still a placement course. I only used driver twice today,” Moynihan said of Treesdale with a distance of 6,122 yards from the white tees. “I like placement courses. I didn’t have a lot of long shots coming into the green.”

Katzeff was the first off the tee, but had to wait two hours for the honor because of frost. The senior said his round started poorly and he was unable to recover to finish with a 12-over-par 84.

“I was pushing everything right. I tried to fight it,” said Katzeff, who had six penalty strokes in his round. “I tried to finish strong. I parred the last four holes, but by that time pars weren’t good enough.

“I felt good in my practice round. I don’t know what happened. It’s just one of those days you have in golf.”

Katzeff hopes to shake off his performance by this afternoon when the Mustangs play Uniontown in the Division I, Section 2 finale.

Both teams have clinched playoff berths with Uniontown looking for an undefeated season.

Rockwell had problems on the first green leading him to an up-and-down putting performance. The Red Raider junior counted the remaining spots as golfers finished, but was knocked out of the state tournament long before the tournament was completed.

“I three-putted the first hole. I didn’t putt good in my practice round. That wasn’t a good sign,” Rockwell said.

“I came back with a nice two-putt on No. 2, and birdied No. 3 (a par-3) and No. 5 (a par-5). I was 1-under after five, but I got a really bad break on No. 6. I had to take relief on top of the bunker and bogeyed.

“I tried to keep it together on the back nine. I shouldn’t have had any problems, but that didn’t happen. I had a three-putt on No. 10 and took an eight on No. 12 (a par-4). I could’ve done everything better. I never got the speed of the greens down.”

A pair of Upper St. Clair golfers brought home silver and bronze medals. Matt Salera finished second with a 71 and Mark Cimarolli was two shots behind in third place.

South Fayette’s Brian DePaul, Butler’s Jon Pratkanis and North Catholic’s Doug Stadler joined Rohanna at 74. Greater Latrobe’s Shane Brant, Bethel Park’s Greg Duray and Robbie Jewell of North Allegheny came in at 75 with Butler’s John Aubrey and Elizabeth-Forward’s Jason Kim finishing with 76.

The cut was at 77 with North Allegheny’s Alex Morse, Serra Catholic’s Jonathan Pepe, Mark Van Sickle of Pine-Richland and Hampton’s Chas Wagner earning the final berths into the state tournament.