On the 18th green of the final round of the 2025 Old Dominion Athletic Conference Women’s Golf Championship, Morgan Mussatt ’27 had hit a chip shot within eight feet of the hole. With her stellar play throughout the tournament, finishing the hole in two putts was all that was needed to claim the individual conference title.

Knowing the importance of the moment, Mussatt’s father and swing coach, both in attendance, implored RMC Women’s Golf Head Coach Bryan Hearn to relay the clinching scenario to her. Hearn approached Mussatt but decided to deliver a different message in one of the biggest moments in the program’s history.

“Pineapple,” he said.

“What in the world are you doing right now?” Mussatt laughed.

Random, comical, and nothing to do with golf, Hearn’s alternative scoring update was enough to put Mussatt at ease. When she sunk her second putt, she became the first RMC women’s golfer to win medalist honors at the ODAC Championship since Olivia Bowling ’16 in 2014.

The paradox of college golf is playing a team game in an individual sport. And as any golfer will tell you, a significant percentage of that sport is mental. In Hearn’s fourth season as head coach, based in no small part on good vibes, the Yellow Jackets are stacking excellent individual performances to reach heights previously unseen by the program.

While Mussatt was the individual ODAC champion, RMC finished second as a team, eight strokes behind Washington & Lee. But even that proximity to the Generals, the dominant force in recent ODAC history, was indicative of the progress the team has made. Ranked in the top 15 in the nation for the entire spring, the Yellow Jackets earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships, the first appearance in program history.

RMC finished 20th at the NCAA Tournament, but Mussatt made the cut as an individual, finishing tied for ninth. It was another individual accomplishment for Mussatt, who in 2024 was the only Division III player at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Golf Championship. The strength of her game lies in the distance she produces off the tee box and fairway, with Hearn saying that “she uses that length as a superpower.”

In contrast is Lilly Hall ’28, who doesn’t have the same length, but does possess a repeatable swing and unflappable consistency. While she doesn’t card a ton of birdies, she doesn’t pick up many bogeys either. Her avalanche of pars earned her recognition as both the ODAC Player and Rookie of the Year, a feat not achieved by an RMC player since Bowling.

Bowling, part of the inaugural class of RMC women’s golfers during the 2012-13 season, has had a front row seat to the team’s growth. In addition to serving as the Head Golf Professional at the Country Club of Virginia, Bowling is an assistant coach for the team, a role she describes as “whatever they need.” She’s been happy to see the team breaking all her records.

“Records are meant to be broken,” Bowling said. “[Lilly]’s doing it, and it’s awesome, and she does it with a smile on her face. That’s a player that I look at my little girls that I teach every day and say ‘hey, this is what you could do if you wanted to.’”

Hall’s Rookie of the Year nod was the third in a row for RMC, following Mussatt ’27 in 2024 and Elli Flinchum ’26 in 2023, all of whom have been low-scoring members of the team. Alexis Haller ’27, whose work ethic has impressed Hearn, was ranked inside the top 50 in the nation as an individual this season as well.

So how did he assemble this stellar squad? Hearn—promoted this summer to Director of Golf, overseeing both RMC’s men’s and women’s programs—describes his strategy for recruiting calls, where he lets prospective players ask whatever they want about the program, then in turn asks them three of “the hardest questions you’re going to answer.” What kind of food do you like? What’s your favorite movie? What kind of music do you like? It’s partly a psychological examination (“you can tell a lot about a person through movies,” he quips), but mostly a way to show that RMC Women’s Golf is a culture that cares about you beyond what’s on the scorecard.

“One thing I really love that Coach Hearn does, is he doesn’t put any pressure on anybody,” Mussatt said. “And he always knows how to make me laugh.”

Having support from each other as teammates goes a long way both on and off the course.

“I love my teammates, love my coach, and I think that’s a big part of the experience, is having those relationships with each other,” reflected Hall.

When Hearn first took the job as head coach, he had the 2026 NCAA Championships in Palm Desert, California circled as a goal for the team to make their debut in a national championship tournament. Already ahead of schedule, the future is bright with a young team that continues to get better. In reflecting on this year’s performance, Hearn says he hopes to “let it fuel the fire to continue that growth.”