By Ben Reese
FLEETWOOD: Score another win for Suburban One golf.
When all the tallying and figuring was over, a Suburban One girl won the PIAA Eastern Regional golf championship at Gold Oaks Golf Club.
Jackie Rogowicz of Pennsbury brought home the gold medal this time, edging out Council Rock North's Erica Herr by a stroke over the windy par-72 layout. Rogowicz fired a 2-over 74 to take medalist honors for the girls.
"Oh really, I didn't know," she said after being informed that she had won.
But, like all of the players, winning wasn't foremost in her mind. "I always want to win but the main goal was to qualify," she said.
Qualify for the PIAA state tournament, that is, which will be held Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 24 and 25, at Heritage Hills Golf Resort and Conference Center in York.
Rogowicz wasn't alone in her feelings about qualifying. Nearly every golfer was avidly surveying the scores after the round was complete to find out if they had made it to states.
Herr looked like she didn't have a care in the world when she was finished.
"Jackie came in with a lower score than me, but I'm going to states," she said, "and that's all that matters."
Her brother expressed the same opinion.
"It was about coming out here and putting together a pretty good score to make it to York for the state championship," Zach said. "I won the league and I won districts and that's enough for me. I did what I wanted to do."
Zach finished with a 5-over 77, one stroke behind Wissahickon's Jalen Griffin and two ahead of Central Bucks West's T.J. Summers. Stewart Rickenbach of CB East shot an 80 and missed the cut for states.
For the girls, in addition to Rogowicz and Herr, Lily Gordon of CB West also got into the state field, but Ashley Cassidy of CB East fell just short. Gordon did it in the same way in which she qualified for regionals, through a playoff.
She parred the first playoff hole to ensure her trip to York. But, earlier in the day, she wasn't too sure.
"It was a tough day," she said. “The winds really came into effect. It died down the last couple of holes, but right in the middle of the round you really had to be smart about your club selection."
Then, after the playoff, she sounded a little more upbeat.
“I was definitely a lot less nervous going into this one (playoff)," Gordon said. "I knew I didn't have to make a miraculous play, just had to get par and I did."
Zach Herr had some difficulties on the back nine. He bogied the ninth hole to go 1-over. But "the back nine, I got to even after 11, then bogied 13, 14, 16 and doubled 17," he said.
The double bogey came at the end of a four-putt green on the par-4 17th. He missed his first putt, leaving him with a 6-incher for par, but he got too strong in tapping it in, pushing it three feet past. He made the final putt for his six.
"I don't know what I was thinking," Herr said. "It was a mental error. Hopefully, you don't make one when it really counts."
Griffin and Summers battled the wind all day, as did all the golfers.
"My ball striking was really good," Griffin said, "but I had so many putts that just hung on the edge.
"The wind was tough. You hit an iron shot and it would just balloon up but I kind of worked on those shots and worked my way though it."
Summers worked his way out of problems also.
"Definitely (the wind bothered me)," he said. "It just seemed like it kept swirling, and every single hole was into the wind.
"I started out pretty bad so I just kind of stayed patient, hitting the middle of the greens, trying not to go for crazy shots."
Patience worked its way into Zach Herr's game also.
"They tucked the pins in some spots that weren't even accessible from the fairway," he explained. "So hitting the middle of the green and two-putting was the way to go but that's not the way I like to do it. That's not my style. I like to go for the pins but you have to take your medicine sometimes and go for the middle of the green."
Evidently it runs in the family because his sister likes to be aggressive, too.
"I was being too aggressive," Erica said, "and I was going over every green so I had a lot of ups-and-downs to make. But I'd rather be too aggressive."
The winner of the boys title was Brandon Matthews of Pittston Area, who shot a 2-under 70. The boys team title went to North Pocono.
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