Back Nine Surge Carries CMS Men's Golf to West Cup Championship

LA VERNE, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team was locked in a three-team battle for the championship of the West Cup with the last group approaching the turn, with only one shot separating CMS, Redlands and La Verne, but the Stags pulled away over the back nine to win the team championship by nine strokes on Tuesday afternoon at Sierra La Verne Country Club.

CMS was in sixth place after the first of two rounds on Monday, shooting a 304, before finding its groove and shooting a 284 in the second round yesterday and a 286 in today's final round to finish with an 874, nine shots ahead of Redlands and 15 ahead of La Verne. 



Sophomore Ken Kong led the charge, moving from 25th place after the first round to winning the individual championship by seven strokes. Kong finished with a 75-68-69-212 to come in one shot under par, while the second-place finisher was his own teammate, junior Austin Long, who also surged from a 75 on his opening round to finish with a 219 (75-73-71). 

In fact, with the course playing tough on the entire field, there were only three rounds in the 60s over the two days combined, with Jason Brown of La Verne shooting a 69 in the first round. Kong then had the second and third rounds under 70 with his second round on Monday and the final round on Tuesday. 

Kong had a blistering finish to his day, shooting -4 over the final six holes. He had a birdie on the par-five 13th hole and then had an eagle on the par-four 14th to move below par on the day. He then added one final birdie on the 16th, helping to sew up both the individual and team titles. 

Sophomore Mason Chiu also recovered from a tough first round, shooting 73 in his second round on Monday and finishing the tournament with an even-par 71 on Tuesday, moving from 57th place after 18 holes all the way up to 16th after 54. He netted six birdies on the day, including four on the back nine to help create separation between the Stags and Redlands and La Verne. 

Junior Harrison Brenner, who was the first Stag to tee off, also contributed to the final push for CMS by getting birdies on the 13th, 14th and 17th to earn a 75 for the day and give the Stags the final score they needed. 

CMS will be back in action in two weeks when it heads to Industry Hills for the second SCIAC regular season tournament on April 6-7.