BOWLING GREEN, Fla.—Junior Noah Peck (Hunt Valley, Md.) made six birdies and recorded the low round relative to par of his collegiate career with a three-under 69 in the first round of the BIG EAST Championship Presented by Jeep on Monday morning. Villanova is in third place with a team score of 290 (+2) after a terrific opening round at the Streamsong Resort, a new location on the conference tournament circuit this season. All four counting scores for the Wildcats were 75 or lower Monday on the par-72 course which is playing 7,060 yards for the tournament.
 
Villanova had the earliest tee times on Monday morning when play began at 8 a.m. and got off to a strong start as senior Reb Banas (Winnetka, Ill.) birdied the first hole. The team rode the early momentum to one of its best rounds of the year and its lowest round at a BIG EAST Championship since the final round of the 2012 tournament. Peck is currently third on the individual leaderboard and Banas is tied for eighth after he carded an even-par 72 in the first round. The other counting scores for the Wildcats were a 74 (+2) from graduate student Ambrose Abbracciamento (Newtown, Pa.) and a 75 (+3) from freshman Peter Weaver (Frontenac, Mo.). Senior Max Siegfried (Villanova, Pa.) shot 79 to round out the lineup.
 
Peck caught fire early in his round and birdied the second and third holes to quickly get to two-under. He bogeyed the par-three fifth but later made birdies at No. 8 and No. 9 to go out with a 33 and make the turn at three-under. He added birdies on the 13^th and 14^th holes and was one of five players in the field of 45 golfers to have six birdies on the day. Peck matched his low round of the season (69) which he shot earlier in the year at the Rolling Green Intercollegiate, while his previous best career round relative to par was a two-under 70 at Colgate to open the 2019-20 season.
 
The strong start for Banas carried him through the first 10 holes, as he made birdies at No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6. He stayed at three-under through the 10^th hole and notched his first round of the season at par or better. Abbracciamento showed some of the reasons why he entered the conference championships with a team-best 73.62 stroke average on the year. He made five birdies and an eagle for the day and played the final six holes at three-under to move up the leaderboard late in the round. His eagle on the 510-yard, par-five 14^th hole was one of only three eagles on the course all day.
 
Butler is atop the team leaderboard after the first day of competition with a team score of 285 (-3), while Marquette is in second place and one stroke off the lead. Villanova was paired with Georgetown and Xavier in the opening round on Monday but will play in the later tee times with the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles on Tuesday morning. The earliest tee time for the Wildcats is 9:40 when Siegfried will tee off.