LOUISVILLE, Ky.—With collegiate play halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Bellarmine golfers turned to First Tee of Louisville to provide a competitive environment this past Friday and Saturday. The results left Bellarmine Coach Art Henry anxious to return to college play as quickly as possible because Knights claimed the top three spots in the First Tee Tournament held at Shawnee Golf Course.

True freshman Josephine Bonin posted a 9-shot victory in the 36-hole event by firing rounds of 72-67 (-1). The native of Paris, France would have broken the Bellarmine school record for 18-hole round by two shots if her final round 67 would have been in collegiate play.

Another true freshman, Jessica Stephens of Paducah, Kentucky, claimed second place after rounds of 75 and 73 while junior Olivia Pennybaker took home third place carding scores of 75-76.

Two other players also competed with Alaina Schmitt breaking 80 in both rounds with scores of 78-77 and Meagan Makuta shooting 82-84.

If those five players would have been playing in a team competition, the teams scores would have been 300 and 293, both well below the Bellarmine record of 311.

"The course was set up pretty short," Henry said, explaining that the expected field of players included both college and high school golfers. "It's still nice to see the girls post those kinds of numbers. Hopefully, that will translate to confidence when we tee it up in a college tournament."