ST. SIMON'S ISLAND, Ga. - Competing for the first time at King & Prince Golf Club on Friday, the Bridgewater College women's golf team completed the first round of the Jekyll Island Collegiate in style. In a stout field that includes five of the top-10, and sixteen of the top-40 teams in the nation, the Eagles arrived as the 21st seed -- but after the first round they sit in 12th place, ahead of several elite programs who are competing in this "major championship" for DIII golf.
 
On a cool, but sunny day, scoring was above average for many teams at King & Prince (the current location of the championship while the courses at Jekyll Island undergo renovation) but the Eagles came in with a team number of 322, the second best effort of their 2024-2025 season. As a result, they find themselves leading four teams inside the top-25, and six teams from the top-40 in national rankings.
 
"It was kind of a bizarre day on the golf course with a lot of highs and lows," said head coach John Rogers, "but our ladies should be proud of the way they handled a new course and the challenge of stepping into an elite tournament -- the national championship will not be a whole lot stronger field than this one, so it's very satisfying to see a result like this."
 
The day started slow for senior Sophia Martone who was playing in the final group for the first round. She made a double-bogey out of the gate, and followed it with a bogey on the second hole; but the remainder of the day was impressive. She ran off eight straight pars, and then she dunked her 107-yard approach on hole 11 for an eagle. One bogey and one birdie coming in gave her a strong 73 (+1) which has her in a tie for 5th among 120 of the top players in the country.
 
Rogers pointed out that Martone was a bit jittery early in the round, perhaps realizing that the Jekyll Collegiate will be one of the final high-level events of her career; but that it was a real gut-check the way she got the day on track. Even on the last hole, she hooked her drive to the base of a tree -- she took a drop for an unplayable lie, punched it up the fairway, and ended up dropping a twenty-five footer to save par. 
 
Evelyn Hunter had the second-lowest score of her career on Friday (81), but Rogers said this was by far the best round she has played in college given the difficulty of the course and the stage on which she produced it. Hunter came up with a new pre-shot routine just before teeing off and as she headed to the first tee box, she told the coach "I'm about to show you something special," and that is exactly what she did. 
 
The senior played solidly on the front after birdying the first hole, but she really stepped up on the more challenging back nine -- she had a bunker save on 10, pitched over a bunker to save par on 11, then hit her approach to two feet on 12 for a birdie. Hunter credited her new pre-shot routine and some good pitching with the stellar round.
 
Sophomore Hannah Rizzo, coming off her first collegiate medal to start the spring season, picked up right where she left off. She made par on seven of the first eight holes and was just +3 through thirteen holes today, which had her lurking near the top of the leaderboard. Unfortunately, her tee ball got loose on the way in and she dropped six strokes on the final five holes. Her final tally of 81 still has her in the top half of the field.
 
Freshman Brooke Tyler, playing in the first national-level event of her career, had some putting woes on Friday, but she fought hard until the end, and she gave the team a fourth score of 87. 
 
Junior Emily Price was managing a tough round until she found the water hazard on hole 14 three times, leading to a sextuple-bogey. She posted 93 in the first round.
 
After their gutsy performance in the first round at King & Prince, the Eagles are just seven strokes from 5th place in the strongest field they will likely face this season. This is territory they have not seen since they finished 4th in the Jekyll Collegiate in 2016, after which they were ranked No. 13 in the nation.
 
The Eagles, currently ranked No. 73, find themselves ahead of the 11-ranked team in the nation as well as conference rivals W&L (No. 15) and Lynchburg (No. 33). "It's obviously enjoyable to have a good outing, and I'm proud of ladies for stepping up today," said Rogers, "but they don't hand out awards after the first round. Now we have to buckle up and see if we can build on this momentum. Part of the success today was having some good strategy in place, so hopefully we keep that and continue to execute good shots as well."
 
The Eagles hit the course tomorrow at 8:45 AM for the second of three rounds.