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Rohanna achieves ‘lifelong dream’

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It was one of the longest hours in Rachel Rohanna’s life and, she says, the most tortured.

Waiting as the group of golfers made their way off the course to the scoring tent for the Symetra Tour Championship, Rohanna was precariously sitting in 10th place on the Symetra Tour’s money list, possessing the final spot to earn her LPGA tour card. Finishing 11th would mean another year on the Symetra Tour and another season trying to reach her ultimate goal.

“At one point, someone told me I was $16 ahead,” said Rohanna, a graduate of Waynesburg High School and Ohio State University. “Playing on the LPGA tour has been my dream since I was 9. Then, I thought about what it would be like for the 11th-place girl to come up just $16 short. And I felt bad for her.”

Actually, it turned out to be $284 that separated Rohanna from Haruka Morita-WanyaoLu, who finished in 11th place on the money list. The top 10 earn their LPGA cards and Rohanna said it took a while to settle in.

“At first, I started crying,” said Rohanna. “I think it might have been the first time on tour I did that. But I had just accomplished my life-long dream.”

What made this moment extra special was that her father, Tom, was on her bag and her mother, Debbie, was part of the contingent of family and friends who made the trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the Tour Championship at LPGA International Sunday.

“My parents have been so supportive,” Rohanna said. “They have sacrificed so much for me.”

Rohanna became the third golfer with local ties to make it to the sport’s highest stage. Steve Wheatcroft, a Trinity High School graduate who was born in Indiana, Pa., and Brendon Todd, who grew up in Peters Township, are currently competing on the PGA tour.

“I know Steve very well,” said Rohanna. “I am going to text him this week to wish him luck in Las Vegas (at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open).”

Rohanna had been floating near or at the 10th spot for the past month, entering the final event in 10th place. She shot 5-under-par 283 at Symetra Tour Championship, finishing in a tie for 24th place. Brianna Do, who was in 12th place on the money list at the start, finished second and soared into the top 10. What saved Rohanna was Augsta James, who was ninth heading into the weekend but missed the cut and fell out of the top 10.

Rohanna had a birdie on the final hole of the tournament to move to 5-under and earn $1,553.

Had she missed it, well … she didn’t.

“I was glad I made that last putt,” she said. “It probably came down to that.”

Rohanna joined the Symetra Tour in 2013 and has career earning of $72,481. She has one victory and nine top-10 finishes. That win came this season at the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay to ignite her run towards a tour card.

She purchased a cow with her winnings – she and her husband Ethan Virgili have a farm in Greene County – and her comment about it made her a social media hit for short time. The cow was named Sara Bay.

Rohanna had five top-10 finishes this season, including a third at the Symetra Classic in May and a tie for fourth at the Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge in September.

On the LPGA Tour, Rohanna will have status for every event. The field is comprised of, in order, the top 80 LPGA Tour money leaders, the top 10 Symetra Tour money leaders and Nos. 91-100 on the LPGA money list. As you might expect, the paydays are better on the LPGA Tour. First place finishes can be anywhere from $200,000 to $300,000, while first place on the Symetra Tour runs from $15,000 to $25,000 on average.

“I’ve been competing with a lot of (LPGA players) in the past,” Rohanna said. “Women’s golf is a small group and we spend a lot of time together.”

Rohanna will be spending some time at Nemacolin Woodlands to work on her game. Owner Joe Hardy is one of her major sponsors – Producers Supply Co., of Waynesburg is another – before heading to Secrets Playa Mujeres Golf & Spa Resort in Cancun, Mexico, to host an event and conduct clinics. Her first LPGA event will be in January.

“To finally call myself an LPGA member,” she said, “is a dream come true.”

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