Rohanna had productive season on the course
Robert Rohanna’s golf season began in Florida and ended in Florida, but made a lot of stops around the globe in between as the Waynesburg Central graduate enjoyed a long, but successful, tour.
“It’s been a long year, but statistically, a fantastic year,” Rohanna said at the conclusion of the Web.com TOUR Qualifying Tournament held in mid-December.
The close of his yearlong season fell short of his desired results at the qualifying tournament at the PGA National Resort & Spa Champion and Fazio courses. A poor first round was compounded by an injured left thumb as Rohanna, leading to finish near the bottom of the leaderboard.
“This week didn’t work out. I worked all year for this week,” said Rohanna after the Web.com TOUR orientation. “I felt like I tweaked (the left thumb) on the second day and it hurt (over the final four rounds).
“I’m going to take my down time to rest my thumb. I want to take a break, but not take a break. I’m frustrated with what happened (in the qualifying tournament).”
Rohanna said the orientation held at the conclusion of the 6-day qualifying tournament transported him back in time.
“It was like being back in college,” said Rohanna, a Penn State University graduate. “It was just talker after talker just to read what was on the pamphlet.
“It was the same for the PGA Latin America tour. We went over social media, be careful, every person you meet is a potential fan. They talked about the membership requirements, etc.”
Rohanna’s season actually began in November 2013, leading up to the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica qualifying tournament, where he finished tied for sixth place. He won the NGA Tour’s Harmony Golf Preserve event when he defeated Jeff Corr on the third hole of sudden death.
“I just played local stuff (in Florida). I started to play well in November in the winter series in Florida.”
Rohanna played in 15 events in the Latin American tour, finishing ninth in the Order of Merit with $51,435. He finished in a 6-way tie for second place at the Mundo Maya Open in Merida, Mexico, in April and then finished in a tie for third at the Roberto De Vicenzo Invitational Copa NEC in Montevideo, Uruguay, three weeks later. He had six top-10 finishes and an 11th-place finish in his first professional tour season.
Although not a sanctioned event, he and playing partner Daniel Mazziotta finished second in the Bridgestone Golf America’s Cup in late October in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The event was a test for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when golf will be reintroduced to the Olympic Games.
The tour took a hiatus in their winter months (the summer in the northern hemisphere), but Rohanna kept golfing.
He was invited to play in the annual Frank B. Fuhrer Jr. Invitational and finished fourth for a $8,500 payday.
Rohanna also played in the Pennsylvania Open and was leading in the final round, but encountered a couple bad breaks and slid into a three-way playoff. He lost the playoff and settled for a tie for second place.
Rohanna is currently taking a break to rest up his injured thumb as well catch his breath from a year of traveling around Central and South America, but, if 2015 is anything like 2014, he’ll be anxious to get going again.
“Golf is a very rewarding, very demoralizing game. It is a gratifying and humbling experience,” explained Rohanna.
There was a lot of commonality with golfing in the States, according to Rohanna.
“It’s not as different as you think. A lot of the courses were built by American architects, like Jack Nicklaus. They were very USA-like,” said Rohanna. “The further south you went, it was very much like Pennsylvania. The close to the equator was like Florida. It was like the United States upside down.”
Golf kept him pretty busy so Rohanna was unable to explore the places he traveled to and from.
“There were lots of different lifestyles. It was eye opening. Makes you really appreciate the United States,” said Rohanna.
As the season progressed, Rohanna was able to find some traveling mates. He always paid special attention to his most important traveling mate, his clubs.
“You get to know people on tour and book the same flights, so you at least knew someone,” said Rohanna. “I was worried about my clubs. My putters got bent from traveling. If the loft and lie is wrong on a putter, that doesn’t help. I always traveled with a couple putters.”
One of the creature comforts missed during his travels was his daily sports report.
“I hardly ever saw ESPN. ESPN down there is all soccer, all day, like there was nothing else in the world,” explained Rohanna. “The WiFi and Internet was spotty.”
All in all, Rohanna was pleased with his season.
“It was a great season. I shot over par less than 10 times in a tournament and four were this week (in the qualifying tournament),” said Rohanna.