Former Penn State golfer Robert Rohanna keeps a picture of himself at home. In it, he's wearing a diaper and wielding the sawed-off 5-wood his dad made for him.

The picture reminds him of his earliest days on the links -- riding shotgun, strapped into his baby seat on his mom's golf cart. She played with her friends while Robert watched, until he turned four, hopped out of the seat and drove his first balls.

"They would go out and she would be playing and he'd jump out and hit the ball and run up and hit it again," Rohanna's father, Rob Rohanna said. "He just had a knack for it and it seemed like he always hit the ball. His hand-eye coordination was great."

From that point on, golf has been his game.

His parents have remained his biggest fans and closest tutors.

"When he got to be nine or 10 he could beat me," Rohanna's mom Trish Rohanna said. "So I handed him off to his dad."

Yesterday, Rohanna's dad caddied for his son as Robert qualified for the men's U.S. Amateur Championship -- the next stage of his golf career.

With his dad pushing Robert's clubs from hole-to-hole and his mom tagging along, watching from the treeline, Rohanna broke even the first round and then shot 2-under-par in the second. His scores of 71 and 69 were good enough for the win and the first qualifying spot.

As he walked up and down the fairways, Rohanna's mom and dad played cheerleader and coach.

Sometimes, watching from as far away as 100 yards, Rohanna's mom winced or cheered as soon as her son's club made contact with the ball.

"I can tell by his body language if he hit it good or not," Trish Rohanna said. "But I told him -- that club throwing crap -- if he did it I'd yank him off the course."

During the final stretch of the front nine it didn't look good, as Rohanna missed five close putts in a row. Each time the ball stopped short or lipped out of the hole, Rohanna looked more frustrated. His dad barked commands at the ball and threw his hands in the air with each miss.

At one point during Rohanna's string of misses, he simply stared back at his dad, who in turn stared and shook his head at his wife.

But Rohanna redeemed himself on the final three holes. On the ninth, he made a long putt to save par. His mom said she knew it was going in as soon as he hit it.

Rohanna said afterward that sometimes he and his dad disagree on a certain shot, but his dad, like he always has, lets him make his own decisions.

"He'll pick a line and I'll say, 'Well, yeah, that's alright' or I'll pick one and we'll go with it. That's all," Rob said. "I just tell him to make a nice strong stroke and if that's the line you pick, stick with it."

Competition was pedigree in the Rohanna household. Robert grew up with five older sisters. Rohanna said he was most competitive with the youngest of the five who is also a golfer.

"I was the ball boy on her basketball teams," Rohanna said. "She played golf in college, but her and I were pretty competitive until I got taller than her. Then it was just over."

The Rohannas were proud to watch their son qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship, but for Robert, he hopes it's only the beginning. His parents will travel to watch him play in the Porter Cup in Niagara Falls today, but they both said he must finish school before he'll be allowed to turn pro.

Rohanna has two semesters left before he earns his degree in kinesiology.

"We're not pushing him into anything," Rob said. "It's all his decision what he wants to do. If he wants to go on, that's fine. If he doesn't, that's fine."

Golf isn't the only sport Rohanna excels at. His mom insists he shoots a nasty 3-pointer. But in middle and high school, Rohanna blew out his knee three times.

He's also finding that it's harder to stay healthy in golf.

"Basketball's fun. I still love basketball," Rohanna said. "I still love to go play pickup games, but I'm falling apart playing golf too -- my arm's all messed up, my back's all messed up."

Rohanna suffers from avascular necrosis in his elbows, a condition he said has developed from years of swinging a golf club. His back aches from all the repetitions on the links as well.

The pain won't stop him from playing in the U.S. Amateur Championship, which will be played in August on Pinehurst Courses No. 2 and No. 4 in North Carolina. It also won't stop him from focusing on golf full time.

"That's pretty much what I do now," Rohanna said. "In the fall I'm going to take one class, and I'll have a lot of practice time. It's a great facility up here so I'm going to use that and in the spring they have the indoor [facility] with the team, so I'm sure I'll do that."

"He'll pick a line and I'll say, 'Well, yeah, that's alright' or I'll pick one and we'll go with it. That's all," Rob said. "I just tell him to make a nice strong stroke and if that's the line you pick, stick with it."

Competition was pedigree in the Rohanna household.

Robert grew up with five older sisters. Rohanna said he was most competitive with the youngest of the five who is also a golfer.

"I was the ball boy on her basketball teams," Rohanna said. "She played golf in college, but her and I were pretty competitive until I got taller than her. Then it was just over."

The Rohannas were proud to watch their son qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship, but for Robert, he hopes it's only the beginning. His parents will travel to watch him play in the Porter Cup in Niagara Falls today, but they both said he must finish school before he'll be allowed to turn pro.

Rohanna has two semesters left before he earns his degree in kinesiology.

"We're not pushing him into anything," Rob said. "It's all his decision what he wants to do. If he wants to go on, that's fine. If he doesn't, that's fine."

Golf isn't the only sport Rohanna excels at. His mom insists he shoots a nasty 3-pointer. But in middle and high school, Rohanna blew out his knee three times.

He's also finding that it's harder to stay healthy in golf.

"Basketball's fun. I still love basketball," Rohanna said.

"I still love to go play pickup games, but I'm falling apart playing golf too -- my arm's all messed up, my back's all messed up."

Rohanna suffers from avascular necrosis in his elbows, a condition he said has developed from years of swinging a golf club. His back aches from all the repetitions on the links as well.

The pain won't stop him from playing in the U.S. Amateur Championship, which will be played in August on Pinehurst Courses No. 2 and No. 4 in North Carolina. It also won't stop him from focusing on golf full time.

"That's pretty much what I do now," Rohanna said. "In the fall I'm going to take one class, and I'll have a lot of practice time. It's a great facility up here so I'm going to use that and in the spring they have the indoor [facility] with the team, so I'm sure I'll do that."