JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. -- Competing in one of the most talented fields of Division III women's golf in the 2025-26 season, the Christopher Newport women's golfers took the course at the Jekyll Island Collegiate at Great Dunes on Friday for the opening round. CNU is tied for 16th place in the 24-team field after the first of three rounds with a 38-over 326. 

A pair of Captains are tied for 50th to lead the way for Christopher Newport as rookie Maddie Cameron (+8) and senior Julia Pelletier (+8) each finished with an 80. All five CNU starters were within six strokes of eachother with Sara McCaskill (+10), Katie Watson (+12), and Taylor Davis (+14) rounding out the opening day performances for CNU. 

Christopher Newport took on the 5,613-yard Par 72 layout at the Jekyll Island GC in Georgia and finished ahead of seven teams including five ranked in the top-40 of the Clippd Leaderboard Rankings. CNU is just 14 strokes behind the top-ten after 18 holes and 31 strokes back of top-ranked Emory for the tournament lead. 

As a team, the Captains tied for the seventh most pars in the opening round with 45 total. Pelletier led the way with 11  in her opening round performance. Starting on the first hole, Pelletier notched six pars on the frone nine and carded a team-best 38 on the first half of the course. She paired that effort with a 42 on the back including five more pars. 

Cameron had the reverse fortune, with a 41 on the front and a team-best 39 on the back. She birdied the second hole of the day, a 317-yard par four, and then dropped in three pars on the front nine. After making the turn, the freshman attacked the back nine and finished with seven pars over her last nine holes. 

Both McCaskill and Watson sank birdie putts on the 431-yard par five eighth hole. McCaskill fired a 41-41 for her 82 and Watson finished with a 41-43 to sign for an 84. The freshman poured in five straight pars on the back nine and finished the day with nine plus the one birdie. Watson, the senior, added four pars on the front and five on the back to match McCaskill with nine even holes on the day. 

Rounding out the CNU performances on day one was Taylor Davis with six pars overall and a 42-44 effort to finish with an 86. 

The 54-hole tournament will continue on Saturday and finish out on Sunday. Live scoring is avialable online with the link found at CNUsports.com.