Rohanna shoots 73 in first round
Take away the first hole of the opening round Thursday, and Robert Rohanna would be sitting right on the projected cut at 1-under at the 69th Avianca Colombia Open presented by BBVA.
But, the reality of the situation is the Waynesburg Central graduate had to count the opening double bogey in his first round, although he recovered to finish with a 1-over 73 on Club Campestre de Medellin in Medellin, Col.
“Yeah, it wasn’t a great day, but I was grinding out there to try to get it back. The first hole kind of put a wrench in things,” Rohanna said via Facebook Messenger.
Canadian Corey Connors shot 9-under 63 to hold the lead after the first round. The field will be pared down to the low 55 scores (and ties) for the final two rounds.
Rohanna got one of the lost strokes back with a birdie on No. 3, but lost the stroke with a bogey on his seventh hole to go out in 2-over 38.
He made the turn with a birdie, but carded a bogey two holes later. Rohanna managed to birdie the next hole to come back in 1-under 35.
Rohanna said most of the issues dealt with getting used to playing at altitude.
“It’s like beating a dead horse, but it’s so hard to judge distance down here at elevation. I’d hit a solid shot, and it would be 20 feet past, down the hill. Those are hard putts to make,” explained Rohanna. “I know people judge (the distance) well judging by a lot of the scores out here.
“I mean, it’s hard to look down at a par-3 that says 225 and hit a smooth 7-iron? It just doesn’t look like it will go that far, but as soon as you get it in the air it flies forever. The last hole I hit a 56 degree sand wedge 145 yards! I normally hit it like 110 (yards) max at sea level.”
And, according to Rohanna, tee times also have an effect on the flight of the ball.
“That’s the other thing about this place. You play in the morning and the ball doesn’t go as far. You play in the afternoon, it goes forever.”
Rohanna was pleased with the way he putted, though.
“It was good today,” Rohanna said of his play on the greens. “I did have two 3-putts, but overall I did putt well. The whole distance control thing got me a few times and I was on the wrong side of some hills that made it harder to get down in two putts.”
Rohanna tees off at 7 a.m. today and will do so with the knowledge a low score can be had.
“The course isn’t that hard, so I can understand why the scores are low. I really just didn’t play that well, is all,” said Rohanna. “Hopefully, tomorrow I can go 4- or 5-under and see what happens.”