Rachel Rohanna posted a 38 (+2) during the nine-hole portion of the LPGA Volvik Championship Great Lakes Shootout qualifier on Tuesday and just squeezed into a five-person playoff for the final two spots. She advanced with a par on nine and then turned it on during the three-hole shootout.
“It feels great to finally get into a LPGA tournament this year,” said Rohanna, who still has partial LPGA status. “It was a little tricky today with the different format; you had to take risks and hopefully get rewarded. I played really well during the three holes (shootout), so I’m happy to be going onto next week."
Rohanna advanced to 18 with pars on 16 and 17 and then hit a great approach on 18 to two feet and rolled in a birdie to defeat Allyssa Ferrell, who made par.
The field started as a 12-player qualifier. After nine holes, the top four advanced to the shootout. Emma Jandel had the low 9-hole score of 2-under, 34 while Ferrell was second with a 1-under, 35. Sarah Burnham, a senior at Michigan State, advanced in the playoff along with Rohanna.
Burnham was eliminated during a skills competition on hole 16. After all four had made par, they went to the green side bunker for a closest to the pin competition and Burnham left her bunker shot short. Jandel was eliminated on hole 17 when she hit her drive into the hazard and had to punch out.
Rohanna is coming off a fourth-place finish on the Epson Tour on Sunday at the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic and is excited about the direction of her game.
“My game has been feeling good all year, and it is trending in the right direction,” said Rohanna. “I’ve learned that even when I’m having a setback, I have to keep grinding away. I switched putters last week, and everything has been going great, so I love it.”
Rohanna, who played at Ohio State from 2009-2013, surprisingly said that everyone in Ann Arbor has been treating her well and she’s ready for another crack at the LPGA Volvik Championship.
“Ann Arbor is not too bad of a place so far,” said Rohanna. “Everyone seems to be very nice, which is very unusual because people in Columbus don’t treat the Wolverines very nice. In all seriousness, I’m really excited to play next week, and Volvik is putting on a great show. I’m really happy to be in Big Ten country.”
Rohanna, who finished tenth on the Epson Tour money list in 2015, played at Travis Pointe last year and missed the cut.
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