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The top four
players on the this season’s WPGA Honor Roll--Nathan Smith, Mike
VanSickle, Sean Knapp, and Robert Rohanna--all had their chances
to advance to match play in the USGA Amateur Championship at
Pinehurst, NC, this week. The cut came at 145, with 26 players
competing for the final two positions in the draw, very long
odds indeed.
Van Sickle
shot 73-73—146; Rohanna, 72-76—148; Knapp, 75-74—149, and Smith,
75-74—149.
VanSickle made
a triple bogey 7 on the 12th hole on the #2 course in
the second round. He was the only player of the four without a
double bogey, but the triple did him in.
Rohanna who
started at #10 tee on the #2 course for his second
round, played 16-18 in five over par. He played his final nine
in 34, one under, playing fifteen holes in one over par in his
76.
Knapp was six
over for the Championship with two holes to play on #4 Course,
then finished double bogey/bogey. Knapp also made a second
double bogey on the sixth hole, but then eagled #9, a par five.
Knapp was the only player from here with an eagle.
After his
opening 75 on #4 course, Smith made three birdies on #2 in his
second round, enough to get back into contention. However,
seven bogies knocked him out.
VanSickle
returns to Marquette University for his senior year, ranked as
one of the top collegians in the country. Rohanna returns to
Penn State to finish his degree, as his eligibility expired last
Spring. Knapp and Smith have another chance at a USGA
Championship in September, the Mid-Amateur in Milwaukee. Smith
won the championship in 2003, and Knapp has reached the
quarterfinal twice—1989 and 1998.
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