Golfers struggle with Rolling Hills at WPIAL Championships
McMURRAY – Rolling Hills Country Club is nestled in the center of McMurray, just a mile from Peters Township High School. It’s the home course for the Indians and their golfers know it better than most – every hole, every bunker and even every hill.
From afar, it looks like any other course, but it’s named for its uneven fairways and is very difficult.
Peters Township’s golfers were reminded of that Tuesday at the WPIAL Class AAA Girls Golf Individual Championships. Countless matches and practice rounds cannot prepare a golfer for this course. Just ask Mia Kness.
One of the top golfers in Class AAA, Kness, a junior, struggled on the first three holes – shooting 7-over-par – but managed the difficult course on the back 9, finishing with a 9-over-par 82 to tie for sixth place. Kness qualified for the PIAA Western Regional Oct. 19 at Tom’s Run Golf Course in Blairsville. She finished eight strokes behind Hampton’s Marissa Balish, who won the WPIAL title with three birdies on the back 9.
“I’m honestly really happy. It’s a good opportunity,” Kness said. “In reality, an 82 shouldn’t really be making it, but with how challenging the course is, I thought that could make it.”
It’s Kness’ third time qualifying for the regional, which she won last year by shooting an even-par-72, and finished 13th at the PIAA Championships, but her return to Tom’s Run came down to the final nine holes.
She shot an uncharacteristic 6-over-par 43 on the front before scoring pars on six of the final nine holes. She was the only local golfer to qualify for the regional. Two of Kness’ teammates – senior Synclaire Kuhn and junior Brooke Hilden – also had trouble with their home course.
“You have to get it on the green,” Kness said. “There are sand traps all around the greens. If you don’t get it on, then you’re in a sand trap or you’re in deep rough, so that is really challenging to get a par.”
Kness experienced that early with a triple-bogey on the par 3, 143-yard No. 3 hole when her ball landed in a greenside bunker and her ensuing shot sliced over the pin and into the rough.
Peters Township head coach Brian Farrell is never surprised when a golfer struggles at Rolling Hills. Even Balish struggled on the front and the second-best score of the tournament was 4-over-par 77.
“This is tough course. You don’t get a lot of flat lies here,” Farrell said. “It’s not easy for anybody. You really have to put together a good round. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble. The greens are slopey and the fairways, they’re rolling hills. They are what they say they are. This course can tear you up.”
Hilden and Kuhn can attest to that. Hilden shot 87 to tie for 17th place and Kuhn finished tied for 24th with a 92. Canon-McMillan sophomore Taylor Waller , whose sister Lauren is a former two-time WPIAL champion and is a member of the golf team at Penn State, tied with Hilden for 17th.
Like Kness, both Hilden and Kuhn struggled with the unpredictable nature of their home course as they could not overcome the difficult front 9.
“The course is definitely challenging, especially around the greens,” Hilden said. “There are places where you can go wrong if you don’t know where to be or what you’re doing. Even if you do, you’re at the mercy of the course sometimes. The holes can be unpredictable.”
Whether it be the steep hill on No. 5 or the bunkers surrounding No. 18, there was not a shortage of challenges. After her final putt on No. 18, Kness walked over to Farrell in disbelief, thinking her season was over, but she was not the only one to shoot an uncharacteristic round.
Kness will move on to a course she feels comfortable with after finishing second at Tom’s Run as a freshman in 2013 and winning there last fall. She’s just relieved to escape Rolling Hills with her bid to return to the PIAA Championships intact.
“I really like Tom’s Run. I’m happy to go back there and play again,” Kness said. “I kind of have an advantage knowing I can shoot what I did last year.”