HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. -- In just his third collegiate round, Christopher Newport rookie
Fischer Leggitt (-3) put together an historic performance to take the first round lead at the Battle of Bulle Rock golf tournament hosted by Alvernia University. He helped lead the Captains to an opening round 315 (+15) to take a two-stroke lead in the 13-team field while the CNU 'B' team is in third place with a 318 (+18) after the first 18 holes.
Leggitt etched his name into the record books with the sixth-finest rookie single round score with a 69, posting the best freshman score since All-American Alex Price recorded a 68 in the second round of the Savannah Invitational on March 9, 2020. The CNU newcomer recorded the finest sub-par performance in the first half of the season since All-American David Rabil notched a 68 in the first round of the 2015 Ted Keller Invitational almost exactly ten years ago.
Leggitt recorded six birdies and nine pars in the round to outpace the rest of the field and take a one-stroke lead on second place Collin McMahon-Shea (-2) from Dickinson. They were the only players in the 68-man field to finish under par on the first day.
Nick Alexander (+2) is tied for fourth,
Paxton Ihm (+3) in sixth, and
Jacob Foti (+4) is tied for seventh to give CNU four players in the top-ten after 18 holes.
As a team, Leggitt anchored a strong squad of underclassmen that included Foti, a sophomore, and fellow rookies
Jimmy Spallone (+5),
Patrick O'Rourke (+9), and
Nathan Smith (+10). The 'B' team featured Alexander and Ihm alongside sophomore
J.P. Carr (+10), junior
Stephen Patterson (+7), and senior
Owen Taylor (+6). Rounding out the CNU performances, playing as individuals, were sophomore
Charles Valiulis (+8) and
Connor Wood (+14).
In addition to Leggitt's fine performance, Foti poured in 12 pars and added a birdie three on the 363-yard par four 6th hole. Spallone put together a string of seven straight par or better holes on the front nine and finished with two birdies and ten pars in the opening round. Rounding out the first-place CNU squad was O'Rourke, sinking nine pars and knocking down birdie putts in the 405-yard par four 5th hole and 174-yard par three 12th.
The 'B' team saw Alexander finish just one birdie shy of his teammate's leading six including an incredible run of three straight on the back nine. Alexander had four birdies on the back nine in total and added one more on the front with a four on the 481-yard par five 8th. Ihm had four birdies of his own and added eight pars. Taylor notched six straight pars on the front and added a string of four straight holes at par or better at the end of the round. He birdied the 511-yard par five 15th and 387-yard par four 16th for back-to-back holes under. Finally, Patterson chipped in a 79 with 10 pars and one birdie with a four on the 596-yard par five 11th.
The 36-hole tournament will come to a close on Wednesday as the teams return to action starting at 10:00 a.m. Spallone and Ihm will tee off first with the final CNU tee time coming at 11:00 a.m. -- live scoring is available with the link found at CNUsports.com.
