Rogner's return: 'Grandpa loved Greatest Golfer'

Greatest Golfer's 2017 Ladies Open champ, Katie Rogner, is set to return to defend her title in the 2018 Greatest event.

She offered this take on why Greatest? Why make the trip home? And what's her favorite Greatest moment?

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What have you loved about Greatest?

I love that the Greatest Golfer of the Valley tournaments promote competitive golf in a fun atmosphere. There are always new faces each year and it’s a very well run event that takes a lot of coordinating and behind the scenes planning which makes participating that much better.

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You make a trip to come home for it. Why so?

Coming back to play each year gives my dad and I a chance to practice together all summer! My mom always tells me how she misses watching me compete, so it’s nice to have a weekend to play beautiful golf courses (not to mention all in such great shape and the staff show such hospitality).

Golf has always been very important to me since it helped me get my college education at YSU and continues to help build relationships & network within my career.

So I always look forward to coming back to the Valley to play since that’s where it all began for me.

It’s a fun weekend and I brag about this event to everyone I golf with because in all the places I have lived, nowhere seems to host a tournament of this size whether it’s because of the resources or amount of time that goes into planning, communicating, and actually running the event. So I’m fortunate to have my hometown offer such a great tournament!

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Is there a favorite Greatest moment?

My Grandfather, Orzo, passed last summer.

But he loved the Greatest — almost more than me.

My favorite Greatest moment is the 2015 Greatest – the last one he was able to come to.