Rachel Rohanna has rollercoaster first round
Rachel Rohanna had difficulties with her distance control, leading to a rollercoaster opening round Monday at the 111th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington, R.I.
Rohanna shot a 4-over 75 (37-38) on the 6,399-yard course, and is tied with 14 others in 69th place. The top 64 advance from two rounds of stroke play into Wednesday’s match play.
Korea’s Jihee Kim was the first round medalist with a 5-under 66. Only 13 golfers in the field of 156 finished under par.
Rohanna opened with a bogey, but got the shot back with a birdie on No. 4. She pushed it to 1-under with a birdie on No. 6, but finished bogey-bogey-par to go out in 1-over 37.
“It was up-and-down, good-bad-good,” explained Rohanna. “I was flying the greens the entire day. It started with the first hole.
“No. 8 was a crazy hole. I hit into the trees and had to punch out. I drained a 40-, 45-foot putt to save bogey.”
The rollercoaster ride continued on the back as Rohanna opened the final nine bogey-par-double bogey-bogey to slip to 5-over.
“Overall, I played well. I just hit poor shots,” said Rohanna.
However, she finished the final five holes strong, going 1-under, to give her momentum into today’s final round of stroke play.
“The last four holes seem to be the most difficult, and I played them 1-under. I finished really strong,” said Rohanna.
Rohanna starts on No. 10 with a 2:05 p.m. tee time, so she will have a pretty good idea where the cutline will likely be.
“I need the mentality to keep it in the fairway. I’m hitting my irons awesome right now. I’m putting awesome. I might leave my driver in the car,” said Rohanna. “I finished strong on the last four holes. I feel really good.
“I’ll probably keep my eye on the cutline. I think it’s an advantage being later. That way I will know if I have to finish with pars or go for birdies.”
DIVOTS: Real time scoring for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship can be found on the USGA’s website, www.usga.org.