Eight SOL golfers advanced to next week’s PIAA Championships.
By Ben Reese
FLEETWOOD — Look out, York. Here comes the Suburban One League.
Of the nine SOL golfers who reached the Eastern Regionals at Golden Oaks Golf Club, eight of them advanced to the PIAA Championships next Monday and Tuesday at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York.
The SOL didn't get a victory in the regional competition, but it did get two seconds, including a tie for second, a third, a tie for fifth, a tie for sixth and three ties for 16th. This may be the largest contingent from the Suburban One to get to states.
The Pennsbury duo of Jackie Rogowicz and Vinay Ramesh accounted for the second (Rogowicz) and the tie for second (Ramesh). Madelein Herr of Council Rock North tied for third in the girls, Michael Reed-Price of Upper Dublin tied for fifth, Springfield's Chris Binet tied for sixth in AA and the trio of Lukas Clark of Council Rock South, Logan Fuglestad of Council Rock North and Upper Dublin's Jack Melville all tied for 16th.
However, regionals are the one tournament where winning isn't the primary goal. All the golfers want to do is shoot low enough to qualify for states.
Ramesh had the best day of the group, shooting a 1-under 71. It was a round that he needed to come back from a bad second day at districts.
"I think I redeemed myself from last week," he said about his round at regionals which offset his just making the cut at districts. "Last week was probably the worst I played all year.
"As long as I make it to states, it's back to square one. I was just out of sorts at districts with my mental game. I'm back now."
He certainly is. He trailed only Holy Ghost Prep's Steve Cerbara, who also won the District One title. Cerbara shot a 3-under 69.
"I had it going in the beginning," Ramesh said. "I was 3-under after five.
"And then I went back to even and then I went between 1-under and even. I had six birdies today but I also had a lot of bogies, but I don't care as long as I make it (to states)."
Ramesh also was selected to the HP Scholastic Junior All-American team through the AJGA. This honor earns him an invitation to the Polo Golf Classic, which will be held during the Thanksgiving break. This match-play event is equivalent in prestige to the Junior PGA Championship.
For Rogowicz, things like this are getting to be old hat. She has participated in the regionals all four years of her eligibility, winning once.
Finishing second isn't new either. She has finished second at the PIAA Championships in each of the last three years.
However, she wasn't particularly pleased with the way she played.
"Not as well as I would have liked," she said of her play. "I think I had two 3-putts and missed a couple of other putts.
"But I managed it. I don't think anything was working that great. I think everything was just mediocre."
But getting to states again?
"I think that's all that matters," she said. "Winning's nice and I guess you want to win but at least you qualified.
"I was just trying to hit it on the center of the green and 2-putt. It was kind of iffy coming in, like I missed a couple of greens but I got it up and down so it was okay."
And states?
"I'm just going to try the best I can and just have fun with it," she said. "If that's good enough to win, that would be nice."
Herr felt she benefitted from having played Golden Oaks in each of the last two years.
"It definitely helps to have a couple of years under your belt playing here because it can be tricky," she said. "There were a couple of times where I had to club up (because of the wind) so I didn't go in the water."
That must have worked because she shot a 1-over 73 for her third-place finish, one behind Rogowicz and three behind medalist Brynn Walker of Radnor (2-under 70).
"I was striking my irons really well and I was putting a lot of my wedges close to the green for birdies," she said. "I missed a couple of short putts. I was 1-under and then I bogied the last two holes to shoot 1-over."
The surprise of the girls’ portion of the regionals was that Isabella DiLisio of Mount St. Joseph, the defending state champion, shot a 83 and missed qualifying for states.
On the boys’ side, Binet continued his strong play. He finished second last week at districts and parlayed that into a tie for sixth at Golden Oaks.
He might have been one of the happiest players in the field.
"I'm speechless," he said when informed that he had advanced to states. "It's (been) my goal since freshman year to make it to states, and I work as hard as I possibly can all summer long and fall.
"I wanted to do whatever I could and I feel like, as long as you do your best, you can't ask for anything else. It feels pretty good to know that I put myself in a position to go there."
Reed-Price was exuberant about making it to states. He, like everyone else, knew it would be difficult.
"That's going to be awesome," he said about going to states. "I guess that's been a goal, something that's been over my head.
"… It would be almost surreal because you think about it but to actually go would be awesome. It will be fun to go up with all the guys (Upper Dublin will participate in the team competition on Wednesday, Oct. 22) and have a blast."
For Reed-Price, the regionals were one of his better days on the course.
"It hit one of my better driving days," he said. "I didn't miss many fairways.
"I'm pretty sure I hit 17 greens and then 3-putted a couple of them. I birdied the sixth (hole) and then a lot of pars."
Of the three tied for 16th, Melville seemed to be the one with the most to lose. He had finished second to Cerbara in the District One tourney, shooting a 2-under 142.
At one point, it appeared that 78 wouldn't make the cut at regionals. But then the cut line went down to 79 and Melville, Fuglestad and Clark were in.
"I feel so much better now," Melville said. "I'm just so happy that I'm going to states.
"That's been my goal ever since my freshman year to somehow get to states. This is very special."
Before the cut was announced, Melville wasn't as happy.
"Putting was difficult," he said, "and a couple of bad holes (hurt). I didn't mind the wind, but I hit a couple of bad drives that were behind trees and that was a problem.
"If I don't get there, it's a shame. I'll get there with the team but golf's an individual sport. I'd like to see how I'd do."
Well, Melville and the other seven SOL members will all get that opportunity — to see how they'll do at states.
The state tournament will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 20, at Heritage Hills. The second round will tee off at the same time on Tuesday, Oct. 21. The team championship will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
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