JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. -- The Christopher Newport men's golf program opened up the 54-hole tournament at Jekyll Island GC on Friday by finishing with a seven-over 295. Facing one of the top fields in Division III golf in 2025-26, the Captains are tied for 18th at the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational after day one.

The first round featured a career-best round from rookie Patrick O'Rourke (-1), matching his previous low of 71 on the Par 72 track. Nick Alexander is two strokes back of his teammate with a one-over 73 while Fischer Leggitt (+2), Nathan Smith (+5), and Jimmy Spallone (+7) rounded out the CNU performances on Friday. 

Rookie Fischer Leggitt dropped in one of only 23 Eagles carded in the 2,700 combined holes played on Friday as 150 players took on the first 18 at the tournament. He sank a three on the 523-yard Par 5 seventh hole that featured eight of the 23 eagles on the course. He added a birdie on the 201-yard par three 14th, which played as the second-toughest par three, and added 11 pars on the day to finish with a two-over 74. 

Alexander had a strong start, dropping in three birdies in a four-hole stretch to make the turn at one-under par. After opening par-par, he bounced back from a bogey with a birdie three on the 371-yard par four 13th and went back-to-back on 15 and 16 in the run. He added another birdie on the first hole to get to two-under par, but a double-bogey on his final hole marred an otherwise impressive performance. He recorded a team-high four birdies and ten pars on Friday. 

Matching Alexander with four birdies was O'Rourke, who added 11 pars to keep his card clean. He also birdied 15 and 16 while tacking on a birdie on the 485-yard par five 18th hole to make the turn at one-under. His fourth birdie came on one, and he closed out the day with five straight pars. The freshman is in 37th place after the opening round. 

Nathan Smith rounded out the counting scores for CNU on day one and the freshman had one birdie on the day. He dropped in a two on the 173-yard par three third hole and finished the round with five straight pars. He also scored par on six of the first seven holes in the round and finished with a 38-39 for a 77. 

Christopher Newport will return to the course on Saturday for the second round and will finish out the event on Sunday with the third and final round. CNU is eight strokes back of the top ten and 24 behind tournament leader Sewanee (-17) after the first round. 

Live scoring is available throughout the tournament with the link found at CNUsports.com.