Jun 20, 2015 5 min read

It was a typical question for the situation but the answer Rachel Rohanna gave was not.

She didn’t know it at the time, but Rohanna’s reply would not only make The Golf Channel, something every aspiring pro would relish, but set off a Twitter explosion, which never hurts.

Standing at the plush surroundings of Sara Bay Country Club after winning her first event on the Symetra Tour, the women’s version of the Web.com golf tour, Rohanna was asked if she had special plans for her check of $16,500 that came with winning the Guardian Retirement Championship by two strokes.

“I’ve got my eye on a new heifer, so I might be getting a new cow soon,” the 24-year-old Rohanna said.

Not exactly a response one would expect from someone such as, say, Tiger Woods. But the media, and social media, ate it up. And it surprised Rohanna.

“I just sort of brushed aside the answer,” said Rohanna with a chuckle. “The next thing I knew, it was on The Golf Channel and Twitter. I thought it was funny.”

It’s that type of confidence to handle the unexpected occurrences on the golf course that has put Rohanna, a graduate of Waynesburg High School, in the top five of the Symetra Tour money leader list. If she can navigate a steady course for the remaining dozen events and finish in the top 10, Rohanna will have her LPGA Tour card.

Winning events on the LPGA tour would not only allow her to buy as many heads of cattle as she wants, but also a farm. Except she already has one, an 800-acre spread, most of which sits in Greene County, that she and her husband of two years, Ethan Virgili, run. They grow corn and soy beans, and have plenty of pasture fields to let the cows graze.

“I met Ethan at the Tri-CADA Coach of the Year Banquet about five or six years ago, but my dad met him first,” said Rohanna of the multisport athlete who graduated from Jefferson-Morgan High School. “They met five years ago at a tractor pull in Maryland.”

It’s interesting enough that a pro golfer and hard-working farmer can become a couple, but one has to consider these longer odds: Rohanna is an Ohio State graduate and Virgili is from Penn State, schools that are bitter rivals in the Big Ten Conference.

“Can you imagine that?” Rohanna said. “Ethan takes care of the farm and gets to see me (on tour) once in a while. I switch through family members to be my caddie.”

There are more than enough who are knowledgeable, cutting their teeth at Rohanna’s Golf Course in Waynesburg.

“I still play there when I can,” she said.

If Rohanna earns her tour card, she will be the third player with local ties competing on golf’s highest level. Steve Wheatcroft, a Trinity High School graduate, and Brendon Todd, who grew up in Peters Township, are currently competing on the PGA tour.

“It’s funny, but when I’m playing well like I did then, they are boring rounds,” said Rohanna. “I hit a lot of fairways and greens. The second day, I shot 66 and that gave me confidence for (the final round). At the end of that day, I looked at the scoreboard and saw I won by two strokes. What’s funny is that a lot of the players I know don’t like this course, but it fits me well.”

Rohanna has three top 10 finishes this season: Besides her win at Sara Bay, Rohanna was third in the Symetra Classic at Raintree Country Club in Charlotte, N.C., May 21-23 and ninth in the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic at the Lake Wells (Fla.) Country Club March 27-29.

She is having another strong tournament this week, sitting in fourth place at the Four Winds Invitational in South Bend, Ind.

In her nine tournaments, she finished below par six times and has earnings of $51,128. The purses on the Symetra Tour hover around $100,000 but can go as high as $150,000. Entree fee for the tournaments is $500 apiece, higher than any of the major golf tours.

Rohanna made first team All-Big Ten in her final two seasons in Columbus, Ohio. She graduated in 3 1/2 years with a degree in Agriculture Business and Economics in 2012. In 2010, Rohanna became the first female recipient of the West Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Frank Fuhrer III Award, which recognizes the outstanding golf performance from a collegiate player from Western Pennsylvania. She won it again in 2012. Rohanna also was a two-time PIAA champion while at Waynesburg.

But gaining success on the pro tour was a slower process. She entered Qualifying School three times and missed advancing twice by just one stroke. She joined the Symetra Tour in 2013, but did not significantly move up the leaderboard until the second half of last year’s tour events.

“There was a lot of learning,” she said. “I’m comfortable where I am now.

“I would say my strength is my distance off the tee. I’ve been able to consistently hit my 7-iron 165 yards, which is good, and I’m feeling more comfortable with my wedges.”

Rohanna is sponsored by Nemacolin Woodlands, owned by Joe Hardy of 84 Lumber, and a number of businesses in Greene County have also helped.

“I plan to play until my body gives out, or I stop seeing it as my dream and passion,” she said. “Maybe in the future, I can coach or teach. But I’m not looking that far down the road now.”