Robert Rohanna ties for third
Robert Rohanna shot his fourth straight under-par round of the week on Sunday, finishing tied for third in the Robert De Vicenzo Invitational Copa NEC for his second-largest payday on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica.
The Waynesburg Central graduate went out in 34 and came back the same to shoot a 4-under 68 at the Club de Golf del Uruguay in Montevideo, Uruguay, for a four-day total of 15-under 273, just one stroke off a playoff for the tournament title.
American Ty Capps and Argentinian Tommy Cocha tied for first at 16-under 272, with Capps winning the playoff and winner’s share of $27,000 with three pars in the playoff. Cocha brought home $16,200 for second place, while Rohanna and Rafael Campos, of Puerto Rico, both won $8,700 for tying for third place.
Rohanna moved into 11th place on the Order of Merit with $17,917. The top five earn at the end of the season gain full-time status on the Web.com Tour.
“I need to crack that top 10 soon, hopefully,” said Rohanna via Facebook Messenger as he awaited his flight home to Florida.
Throw in the pro-am on Wednesday and Rohanna shot five rounds of sub-par golf in Uruguay.
“Yes, it was a good week! I was so close to the playoff,” said Rohanna. “It was overall pretty fun. I probably hit it the best out of all the days, but today played pretty tough. The wind was blowing and the greens were fast.”
Rohanna opened with a par, and then dropped a shot on No. 2 with a bogey-5.
“I had a pretty makeable par putt on No. 2 after I hit a great third shot, but I missed the putt,” said Rohanna. “Then, I birdied No. 4 (a par-4) and kinda got my round going. I hit a great drive on No. 5, and then stuffed it to 5-feet for an eagle. It was a tough slider to the right and I lipped out.”
He made the birdie putt to move to 1-under on the round.
Rohanna followed with a couple pars before scoring his third birdie on the front nine.
“I made a good birdie on No. 8,” said Rohanna.
He was 1-over on the back through four holes, but took the stroke back with a birdie on No. 14.
“I had a good par on No. 10, and then on No. 11 I hit probably my most solid shot of the day off the tee and it was into the wind. I hit it right at the pin, but it went over. Then, I hit an incredible flop shot to eight feet, but I missed it.
“I made a crappy par on No. 12, but made a good par on Nos. 13 and 15. On No. 14, I hit probably one of the best flop shots I’ve ever hit from over the par-5 green to eight feet and made it!”
Rohanna had another chance for birdie on No. 16 after a good drive, but missed his birdie putt from about eight feet. He finished strong with two birdies.
“I made a 12-foot slider on No. 17 for birdie. On No. 18, I drove it to 54 yards to the pin and hit it to a foot. Too bad it didn’t go in.”
A shot here, a stroke there, and Rohanna would’ve been in a playoff or tournament champion.
“Yeah, it’s unfortunate that one shot was the difference, but one shot worse could’ve been tied for sixth so I have to take a positive out of it,” said Rohanna.
Rohanna not only had a positive experience playing golf in Uruguay, but with the country itself.
“Uruguay is pretty awesome,” said Rohanna. “It’s like a northern state that’s on the water. They have a beach, but have tons of pine trees and green grass.”
Rohanna returns to action on Wednesday, May 7, in the local U.S. Open qualifier in Florida before returning to the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica the next week in the Dominican Republic.