Rohanna opens with 2-under 69
Although the Marathon Classic presented by Owens Corning and O-I is in Sylvania, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo, Rachel Rohanna received a lot of home-cookin’ Thursday as she opened with a 2-under 69.
The Waynesburg Central graduate birdied four of the last six holes after two bogeys on the front nine and is a 16-way tie in 16th place entering today’s second round at the Highlands Meadows Golf Club.
Not only did Rohanna have a strong contingent of fans make the trip from Greene County, but the Ohio State University graduate also picked up crowd support as the lone Buckeye in the field.
“It’s pretty cool,” Rohanna said of the following. “Being in Toledo, Buckeye Nation, all the Buckeye fans, following me is really neat. They didn’t know me, but they started to follow me.”
After not earning an alternate spot into the Women’s U.S. Open last week, Rohanna used the week off to recharge, celebrate her first-year wedding anniversary with husband Ethan Virgili and work on a couple things.
“I’m hitting the ball pretty well. I found the fairway and hit the green,” explained Rohanna.
Rohanna didn’t spend much time on the greens once she found them, though, needing only 24 putts to complete the first round.
“I made a couple of good putts to make par. The ball started to fall after about 13 holes,” said Rohanna.
Rohanna bogeyed Nos. 2 and 9 on her first nine holes to go out in 2-over 36.
“The first one on No. 2, I hit a poor tee shot on the par-3 and had an awkward bunker shot,” said Rohanna. “On the second bogey, I hit into a fairway bunker.”
Rohanna opened the back nine with three consecutive pars. She birdied No. 13 and followed with back-to-back pars. Rohanna then closed with three straight birdies.
“I was sticking it, really,” said Rohanna of her approach shots. “I made some good putts, but missed a couple. I could be one or two shots lower.
“I’ve been hitting really good in the last three weeks, but couldn’t get putts to fall.”
Rohanna hopes the momentum carries over into today’s second round when she tees off No. 10 at 2:16 p.m.
“I’m happy to be feeling good,” said Rohanna.
Hyo Joo Kim, Haru Nomura and Mirim Lee share the first-round lead at 5-under 66.