By Ben Reese
LIMERICK – Once again Jackie Rogowicz tore up the golf course.
Last year, the Pennsbury junior shot a 66 in the opening round of the District One tournament at Gilbertsville and followed that with a 72 at Turtle Creek to finish one stroke behind Mount St. Joseph's Isabella DiLisio.
This year, she shot a 69 in the first round and added another 69 for a 138 total to run away with the district crown by seven strokes. Radnor's Brynn Walker finished second at 145, and the Council Rock North duo of Erica and Madelein Herr took third and fourth at 147 and 149 respectively.
On the boys’ side, Pennsbury's Vinay Ramesh was the leading Suburban One League finisher with a 144 total, trailing medalist Kyle Vance of Methacton by four shots and runner-up John Foley of Spring-Ford by two.
Wissahickon's Jalen Griffin and Tyler Sokolis of Central Bucks West finished in a tie for 10th with Steve Cerbara of Holy Ghost Prep, the 2012 District One champ, and CB South's Jake Fitts at 146.
“This is actually my first time winning this, I think,” Rogowicz said. “It's exciting.
“I feel really good about my game because I hit it really well. I don't think I missed a green. And I missed some putts, too.
“My main goal was to just make it through. Winning is great. It's a bonus.”
Everything wasn't all roses for Rogowicz, however. She once again ran into her nemesis hole, the 18th at Turtle Creek
Last year, she was playing well until she reached the 18th, which was her ninth of the round, where she hit her third shot into the water and double-bogied the hole.
This year, it was again her ninth hole. But this year she bogied it.
“This time I laid up on top of the hill,” she said, recalling that in 2012 she hit her second shot too long and put it on a severe down-slope. “It was dead into the wind, about 170, so I hit a 5-iron.
“I was not going in the water (this year like she did last year). I was so scared.I pushed it way right and it was this close to OB (out of bounds). I was in a flowerbed and my stance was on the cart path, so I got a free drop in nice grass. I hit it to five feet but then I missed it.I made a bogey. I was just fine with that.”
That was her only bogey of the round. She made four birdies on her front nine and then parred her way in for the 3-under 69.
Erica Herr wasn't upset about her round. She shot a second-round 73 to go with her 74 from Gilbertsville.
“I actually thought I played pretty good,” she said. “Yesterday wasn't as good but today I was hitting the ball really good.
“I was 2-under for a while but then I kind of lost it on 18. I went to 1-under and bogied a few more on the back but I got it back to 1-over for the round.
“I birdied one of my last three holes coming in. I thought I played pretty good.”
She bogied four holes including the 18th, her ninth. But she also birdied three.
Madelein couldn't match her sister's 73, shooting a 75 after having a 74 at Gilbertsville in the first round. But she knew what her problem was.
“I played pretty good,” Madelein said. “My putting was a little off.
“I couldn't make anything important. I had some close putts but I just wasn't making any of them.”
For the boys, Ramesh finished in a five-way tie for third with Brian Todaro of Springfield (Delco), Conestoga's Robert Olseski, Sam Soeth of Marple Newtown and Kevin Conners of Bishop Shanahan.
“I was struggling quite a bit although the score was good,” said Ramesh. “I didn't make any putts, but I was pretty consistent with my ball-striking which kept me in it.
“It was a good ball-striking day. I hit the ball great. I didn't make as many putts as I would have liked.”
Sokolis agreed with most of the other golfers. The big problem in the round was putting.
“I would say it went pretty well,” he said. “I missed a few putts and made a few bad shots but I minimized it and shot 71.
“I'll take that all day. I'm happy with it.”
Griffin continued his steady pace. The Trojan senior finished with his second straight 1-over 73.
“The last two days have just been consistent,” Griffin said. “My ball-striking has been pretty much spot-on for most of the whole high school year.
“My swing is always just right on. There's not times where I'm hitting it OB or hitting it out of balance. It's just been really, really good.”
He also had some trouble on the greens.
“It's just putting I struggled with today,” he said. “I think the whole day was speed. I was just missing them that short.
“It's all there. I just have to keep it going.”
There was one thing that all agreed on. Winning wasn't essential at districts or even at Regionals.
“The biggest part of the whole thing is to get to the next step,” Erica Herr said. “As long as I'm going to Regionals, I'm fine.”
A sentiment her sister echoed.
“I was just worrying about qualifying for Regionals,” Madelein said. “Winning would be nice but as long as I qualified, I'm fine.”
Griffin expounded on it a bit more.
“Ending my (high school) golf career like this is so great because it's such a survival kind of thing,” he said. “You really put a lot of pressure on yourself, especially here (at districts).
“It's really tough to get to districts. I would say it's harder to get through this than Regionals.There's so many people. Our district is really good and you've got to shoot such a good number.”
The three girls and four boys from the Suburban One League now advance to the one-round Eastern Regionals on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at Golden Oaks in Fleetwood. That is followed by the PIAA tournament at Heritage Hills in York on Monday, Oct. 21, and Tuesday, Oct. 22.
***
Not everyone was pleased with the outcome of the District One golf tournament at Turtle Creek.
After all, the district can only advance 16 boys and eight girls to the Eastern Regional tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at Golden Oaks in Fleetwood.
So, some Suburban One League players didn't make the cut despite being so very close. The cut for the boys was set at 150 and for the girls at 157.
Hatboro-Horsham's Tom Fisher shot 150 but lost a playoff to Spring-Ford's Matt Keim, and Logan Fuglestad of Council Rock North shot a 151 to miss the cut by one. Abington's Rebecca Chiger also was one shot off the pace with a 158.
The biggest heartbreak belonged to Fisher. The Hatter senior fired twin 75s at Turtle Creek for his 150, tying with Keim at 6-over.
But it was on the 19th hole of the day for the two that the die was cast. They went out to play the ninth hole, a 191-yard par-3 as darkness descended on the golf course.
“I just hooked a 6-iron,” Fisher said. “I almost made the chip.”
But Keim sank his putt to win the spot at Regionals. And for Fisher, a senior, his high school golfing career was over.
“(It's) disappointing,” said Fisher as he walked off the ninth green. “I only missed two greens, hit the ball like a champ and putted like a dope.
“I missed every 4-footer on the course. I made four birdies.
“It's just disappointing to have my four years end like this. I wanted to make it to states just like the rest of the Hatboro-Horsham greats.”
Fuglestad stood out for more than his golf over the two days at Turtle Creek. He was, without a doubt, the smallest, youngest looking player in the field.
But he proved he can play, despite lacking the length of some of the other players. His 75-76—151 left him just one shot off the pace.
“I started out pretty well and then I just missed a few putts which cost me the cut,” he said.
“A little bit,” he continued when asked if it was difficult not having the length on his drives of other players. “But I know I can play with them and shoot some low numbers.”
Chiger predicted her own demise. She thought she would just miss the cut and she was correct.
“I was just trying to qualify for today,” she said. “(I wanted to) play my best at Gilbertsville. I might just miss it (the cut) by a few.”
Chiger had started the day in good shape after shooting a 74 at Gilbertsville on Monday. But she couldn't sustain it at Turtle Creek, shooting 84 for 158.
“This course was playing long,” she said. “It's a lot longer than Gilbertsville.”
The only other SOL girl in the field was CB West's Michayla Siemion who paired her first-round 79 with an 86 for a 165 total.
Missing the cut at 150 for the boys were Alex Kim of Wissahickon (151), CB South's Kyle Putnam (153), Souderton's Clay Anders (154), Ryan Conner of Council Rock North (155), David Kim of Upper Dublin (157), Pennridge's Colton Pifer (158), Austin Fuglestad of CR North (160) and CB South's Max Schwartz (167).
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