LPGA Symetra Tour | Rohanna steady late to claim first win at Guardian Retirement Championship
MANATEE -- As she waited at the tee for the 18th hole with a two-stroke lead, Rachel Rohanna outlined a plan to her father, Tom Rohanna, who also served as her caddie for the Guardian Retirement Championship.
Her first shot on the par 5 would get her within 140 yards of the pin, which would give her a chance to lay up before attacking the green. She would get a birdie out of this, or, worst case, it would be a tournament-winning par.
She spoke with such confidence her father couldn't tell just how nervous she was.
With a stomachache she said felt like one from eating too much fried food, Rohanna executed her plan without a significant hitch. After three shots, she was about 10 feet away from the hole with a birdie chance. The two-putt that followed was her only slip-up, and it didn't matter. Rohanna closed out her first professional victory with a 5-under-par performance at Sara Bay Country Club for the victory on the LPGA Symetra Tour.
"I've always wanted one of these big checks," she joked to open the trophy presentation ceremony.
While her closest challengers tumbled down the leaderboard to create a mess of 3-under-par scores, Rohanna used the two-stroke lead she built on Day 2 to simply stay afloat. The Waynesburg, Pa., native who played at Ohio State moved into the top 10 on the Symetra money list with the $16,500 top prize. The top 10 at the end of the season receive LPGA Tour cards.
After records were broken and players shot in the 60s during the first two days at Sara Bay, no one shot better than 70 on Sunday, and Rohanna held on a two-stroke victory by avoiding any egregious mistakes during the final holes.
There were a handful of putts she left short down the stretch, including a 5-footer on 16 that ended up sitting on the lip of the hole with nearly half the ball teetering over the lip. Whenever she needed a shot to save par or fend off an oncoming challenger, though, she typically delivered.
On the 15th hole, Rohanna found herself in a green-side bunker, pushed up against the wall. Neither she nor her caddie knew what was going to come of her shot and it ended up only on the fringe.
"All week she was chipping pretty well," Tom Rohanna said. "Today was probably her worst day."
She kept her putter in the bag and stepped to the edge of the green with a wedge in hand. She kept the trajectory low and the ball trickled into the cup for a par.
"Shoot," she said to herself, "now I'm too excited."
The bogey on the 16, she said, wasn't the worst outcome because it helped bring her back down after the adrenaline rush the chip-in brought a hole earlier.
And as she was struggling, most of the field was fading or struggling to take advantage of the high-scoring final day. Giulia Molinaro, an IMG alumna who entered the day at 5-under, shot a 2-over Sunday to tie four others for second place at 3-under for the tournament.
The pin positions were tough all weekend, Rachel Rohanna said, and on Sunday the winds added an extra layer of difficulty. The Rohannas have a home in St. Petersburg, and while driving down the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on Sunday morning, winds whipped their car from side to side.
"If this doesn't calm your nerves," Tom Rohanna told his daughter, "I'm not sure what will."
Until she walked the final couple holes with a lead, she was as collected as anyone in the field.
Her father called the final "a grind" even though she finished the tournament with the same lead she took into Sunday. For her, it's tough to criticize even an imperfect round when it nets a monumental victory and $16,500 prize.
"I guess I ended up shooting a 74," Rohanna said. "To me, it felt like I shot 68."
This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "LPGA Symetra Tour | Rohanna steady late to claim first win at Guardian Retirement Championship ."