LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Continuing an impressive trend to start the 2025-26 season, the Christopher Newport women's golf team captured a second place finish at the Transylvania Women's Golf Kickoff Classic after wrapping up the second round on Tuesday with a program-record 603 (298-305). The Captains shattered the previous 36-hole scoring record by 20 strokes with the lowest two-day tournament score in program history. 

The previous mark was held by the 2023-24 version of the Captains at the Montgomery Intercollegiate where CNU finished 39-over par with a 615. In that event, played as a Par 72 in both rounds, the Captains finished sixth out of 15 teams. In this week's tournament at the University Club of Kentucky, the talented CNU women's golf team rolled through the 5,700-yard Par 73 layout at just 19-over par to obliterate the 36-hole record both in total strokes and in relation to par. 

Leading the way was rookie Gabi McGehee, who secured her first-ever top-five finish with a fourth-place showing in the Transylvania tournament. She fired a two-over 75 on day two and wrapped up her appearance at one-over with a 147 (72-75). In the second round, McGehee dropped in two more birdies with a two on the 125-yard par three 12th and a three on the 327-yard par four 14th. Additionally, McGehee had 12 pars including a run of seven straight in the middle of the round. 

Also adding a top-ten showing to her ledger was senior Katie Watson. The Mechanicsville, Va. native was three-over with a 76 on day two and wrapped up a 151 (75-76) showing in the tournament. She was near perfect on the front nine, pouring in eight pars with a birdie on the 340-yard par four 4th hole. She bounced back from back-to-back bogeys after the turn with five more pars on the back and closed with one more on the first hole. 

Her second round score was second best for the Captains and tied with rookie Maddie Cameron, who shaved five strokes off her opening round performance to move up to 20th on the individual leaderboard. She carded an 11-over 157 (81-76) over two days and matched her freshman classmate with four total birdies. On Monday, Cameron had three birds, knocking in putts on the 436-yard par five 5th hole as well as the 12th and 14th like McGehee. 

Putting all kinds of red on her card on Monday, Taylor Davis led the team with five birdies including three on the front and two more on the back nine. She opened her day on the second hole and quickly made moves up the leaderboard with back-to-back birdies to start the day. She added a three on the 289-yard par four 9th hole and worked her way through an up-and-down back nine that featured three double bogeys and two more birdies. Her four on the 15th was a bounce back showing and she added a three on one of the most difficult holes of the tournament when she sank a putt on the 313-yard par four 18th. With her strong second day, Davis finished 16th on the leaderboard at nine-over par. 

One stroke behind in 17th place on the individual leaderboard was senior Julia Pelletier (+10). Her strong opening round carried her to a top-20 performance in the tournament but she added nine pars and one birdie on day two as well. 

The Captains, who led the event after day one by one stroke, finished eight back of the eventual champions from Denison University. CNU carded a 19-over 603 and was solidly in second with a 10-stroke advantage over third place Sewanee. 

CNU will take nearly a month off before returning to the course on October 6-7 at the Tartan Invitational hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.