Déjà vu is the feeling of having already experienced the present situation, and the Bradley women’s golf team is currently feeling the strange phenomenon.
Not only has Bradley started its 2024 fall season with two team titles — the same amount as its 2023 fall season, both including the Coyote Creek Classic — but it also features two golfers with strikingly similar personalities: sophomore Jillian Cosler and freshman Peyton Coburn.
Cosler is fresh off her first collegiate title at the Coyote Creek Classic, hosted by Bradley at the Coyote Creek Golf Club in nearby Bartonville. She was followed by her counterpart Coburn in second place, also her best collegiate finish to date.
“It was awesome. I mean, I wasn’t expecting it,” Cosler said. “I just went out and played some golf to see what happened, but it just makes me want to keep working harder. I want to have that feeling again, so I’m just going to use it to keep getting stronger, keep working towards another one. See what can happen the rest of the season.”
After 54 holes of regulation, there was a three-way tie between Cosler, Coburn and Evansville’s Mallory Russell at 8-over-par, with Cosler closing out the tournament victorious. Coburn responded similarly when asked how being in the playoff with Cosler felt.
“It was great. I mean, kind of the same thing, just went out and played golf, enjoyed myself out there this past weekend,” Coburn said. “It was really nice to just be up there and kind of see that hard work paying off that we’ve all been putting in this season, so it was a good feeling.”
Head coach Halley Morell acknowledged the challenges of coaching two players at different spots in the same three-hole playoff.
“Yeah, it was kind of nuts,” said Morell. “It worked out because they just had fun together. I mean, obviously, they were rooting for each other to do well, and we just wanted to see more birdies go in. I tried to keep both of them relaxed, and then I was just bopping around like a chicken without a head…trying to coach two players at once.”
Morell found that having two players on the same wavelength can make it easy on a coach, but it can also be a little scary because of how identical the two can be.
“They’re the same person,” Morell said. “In a normal tournament when we go five, four, three, two, one…they’re four and two or three and two, whatever it is. One of them will go first and go through, and we’ll be talking about something, and then the other comes and says the same thing. I was like, ‘Okay, this is weird, you two.’”
Suppose Coburn is going to follow in anyone’s footsteps in the program. In that case, she shouldn’t look any further than Cosler, who won the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year award last season as a freshman.
“It was awesome. It was kind of just a testament to the hard work that I put in,” Cosler said. “But I don’t want to stop there. I’ve got that under my belt, but I want to keep working towards Player of the Year and any other accolades I can find. It’s a great motivator.”
In addition to being MVC’s Newcomer of the Year, Cosler was named to the all-conference team with her three top-10 finishes and a team-best 74.88 stroke average, a program record for a freshman.
“I loved all my teammates. They were so welcoming and I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better freshman year,” Cosler said. “It made me so excited to come back this year and see what we could do, this team is incredible as well.”
The team thrives because of the special bonds between players. Cosler and Coburn showcase that on and off the course.
“We spend a lot of time together, so I really feel like I see her genuine self,” Coburn said. “She’s always the best-foot-forward person. She gives so much of herself to everyone around her…It’s nice to see her outside of the golf course because she’s the exact same person that she is on the golf course.”
Cosler agreed that she sees herself within Coburn and through the similarities they share.
“She’s got an incredible work ethic, and I just feel like we both have that determination to get better,” Cosler said. “She’s incredible, and I’m inspired by her as much as, hopefully, she’s inspired by me.”
Cosler and Coburn will look to help the Braves close out a successful fall season at the Diamante Intercollegiate, which will be held from Sunday to Tuesday.
