DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Under the direction of third-year head coach Harry Stokes, Bethune-Cookman Women's Golf begins the 2023-24 season with a home head-to-head duel with Savannah State beginning Thursday, Sept. 14, at 11 a.m. The duel will serve as a two-day, 36-hole competition at Riviera Country Club in Holly Hill, Florida.
 
The Wildcats finished last season third at the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Women's Golf Championships in Flowood, Mississippi. Bethune-Cookman returns four players from that season, adding three highly-touted newcomers to the rosters as well.
 
Back for BCU are two of last year's low-scorers Kyleigh Leaf and Kamary Leaf, as well as sophomores Skylar Kew and Jordan Davis.
 
In her first complete season for the Wildcats, junior Kamary Leaf participated in 23.5 rounds of golf across the 2022-23 campaign, competing in 10 total events. She collected two (2) top five finishes with an 84.68 average for the year.
 
Kyie Leaf, a redshirt senior who transferred into BCU from Bellarmine before the start of last season, finished with the second-lowest average across the 2022-23 season for the Maroon and Gold, using an 84.51 average score through 23.5 rounds in 10 events.
 
One of last season's newcomers that increased her play every tournament was Jordan Davis. The St. Petersburg, Florida native played in all 10 events last season for Bethune-Cookman, registering her two lowest rounds of the season in back-to-back outings in the final two rounds of the SWAC Championship.
 
Classmate Skylar Kew, now a sophomore set to begin her second season for the Wildcats in 2023-24, was third on the squad a season ago with an average of 84.64 on the year. She was +13 relative to par with three (3) top 10 finishes.
 
Stokes welcomes a trip of newcomers to this year's squad, set to be the largest in his tenure in Daytona Beach.
 
Meeya Marquez (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), Katie Robinson (American Canyon, Calif.) and Jenna Werle (Cocoa, Fla.) have joined the Wildcats roster this season, with the latter serving as transfers into the program. Robinson arrives from Alabama State, where she was one of the Hornets best golfers last season, while Werle comes as a graduate student from Cocker College in South Carolina.
 
This is the first time ever that BCU and Savannah State will compete in a duel match against each other, as the Tigers alongside BCU for a number of years in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) before both departed for separate leagues prior to the 2021-22 campaign.
 
ABOUT RIVIERA COUNTRY CLUB
Establish in 1953, Riviera Country Club was named one of Golf Digest's Best Places to Play in 2008-09, and home to the longest-running Mini-Tour Event in the country, The Riviera Open.
 
Originally a nine-hole golf course built in the late 1930s, Riviera Country Club was purchased by the Meyers family in late 1953. In 1954, the course was expanded to 18 holes. The front nine holes were remodeled in 1954 by golf course architect Mark Mahana. In 1967, the back nine holes were remodeled and designed by architect Dace Wallace. Over the years, well-known golf architect Lloyd Clifton gave a facelift to several holes and was instrumental in the look of the course towards its present-day character.
 
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