Rohanna, Craig set for tourney
Jordan Craig has played the tournament once before while Rachel Rohanna will be going for the first time, but both local players have similar goals when match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship begins on Monday at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, Mo. “I’m hoping to make the cut. That’s just the first step. I want to play well to get confidence,” said Rohanna, a 2009 Waynesburg Central graduate. “My game is better than it was in 2005,” Craig, a Connellsville graduate, said of her first trip to the national amateur tournament. “I know what to expect.”
Two days of stroke play will pare the field of 156 golfers down to 64. Match play for the remaining 64 women begins Wednesday, with the second and third rounds played out on Thursday. The quarterfinals are Friday with the final four playing the semifinals Saturday.
The championship will be 36 holes of match play on Sunday, Aug. 9.
Both golfers qualified at the sectional held at Totteridge Golf Club in Greensburg. Craig tied for the low round of the qualifier with an even-par 72 while Rohanna finished with a 73 for one of the four available berths.
Craig enters the Women’s Amateur after losing a playoff to Carol Semple Thompson in the final match of the championship flight of the Women’s Golf Association of Western Pennsylvania. She rallied from three strokes down with six holes to play to force the extra holes.
Her play in the WGAWP finals has her hopes high despite the loss in her attempt to successfully defend the title she won in 2008.
“It was really good practice for the (Women’s Amateur) with the stroke play and match play,” explained Craig. “I’m carrying a lot of confidence to come back from 3-down.”
“I’m putting a lot better and my game is a lot better (than in 2005),” Craig said. “The course is a pretty exclusive, private course. I’m excited to play.”
Rohanna also feels her 2009 season is going along better than last year’s.
“I’m playing really well,” said Rohanna, who enters the Women’s Amateur after finishing 14th in the 34th Junior PGA Championship. “I prefer stroke play, but I do like the one-on-one competition. I take more risks.”