ST. SIMON'S ISLAND, Ga. - Having played a strong first round in the Jekyll Island Collegiate on Friday, the Bridgewater College women's golf team found themselves amongst and ahead of many nationally-ranked teams, but on Saturday the Eagles posted a score twenty-two shots higher and dropped several spots on the leaderboard. A team tally of 344 dropped the Eagles to 19th place among twenty four of the top teams in DIII golf, with one round remaining.
 
"The law of averages can be a real pain," said head coach John Rogers. "Yesterday we played a better-than-average round while many of the elite programs were struggling, but as these things go, it was our turn to struggle today. We drew the quick turnaround with tee times, meaning we left the golf course at 7 PM last night, and returned for today's round at 7:45 AM, so maybe we were too fatigued, but it was a shame to fall back after showing we can run with the 'big dogs'."
 
The difference from the first round to the second round in this DIII "major" was largely the Eagles' ability to avoid big numbers. In the first round the Eagles had eight scores higher than bogey, but today that figure increased to fourteen. 
 
Starting on the tenth hole, the Eagles faced the tougher nine at King & Prince Golf Club to start the day; but senior Sophia Martone managed to hold it together while most of the team got off to a rough start. She parred the two hardest holes from the first round (the 12th and 16th holes) and kept the mistakes to a minimum, turning at +4. She had two double-bogies coming in, though, and settled for an 81 on the day. She sits in a tie for 24th place among 120 of the top players in the nation.
 
Following the team trend for Saturday, sophomore Hannah Rizzo, had a double-bogey and two triples in the first six holes, during the tougher stretch of holes that play through the marsh at King & Prince. She then settled down and played the next ten holes at -1, a stretch that included three birdies. Dropping four  strokes on the final three holes brought her in at 83.
 
Freshman Brooke Tyler played steadily most of the round, but like her teammates had four larger numbers on the card. She ran off four straight pars on the marsh holes, but then posted a quadruple-bogey on the No. 1 handicap hole, the 16th. She came in with an 88 that was just one stroke higher than her first round.
 
Senior Evelyn Hunter came off her best collegiate performance on Friday, but the law of averages kicked in today. She had four holes of triple-bogey or higher today, en route to a final tally of 92.
 
Junior Emily Price similarly had a tough time avoiding larger numbers and she posted 93.
 
The Eagles fell seven spots on the impressive leaderboard that this tournament offers, but after two rounds they still lead two top-50 teams, and are within reach of two others. Sitting in 19th place, they are also still in front of their own seed, which was No. 21.
 
Rogers said, "We just did not execute very well today, which was a shame given the spot we had put ourselves in, but we are looking good to make the cut to return next year to this great event, and if we manage to avoid the big mistakes tomorrow, we can still leave Georgia with proof that we can compete at the highest levels of division three golf."
 
The final round of the Jekyll Island Collegiate begins at 8 AM on Sunday.