Austin Long shot -1 over his last 12 holes on Day 3 of the NCAA Championships (photo by Justin Sweeney)
Austin Long shot -1 over his last 12 holes on Day 3 of the NCAA Championships (photo by Justin Sweeney)
Posted: May 16, 2019

CMS Men's Golf Moves Up to Eighth with One Round Left at NCAA Championships

GolfStat Live Scoring

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team moved up two spots to eighth place with a 303 over the third round of the NCAA Division III Championships on Thursday morning in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

CMS now has 904 through its first three rounds, leaving it 24 shots behind co-leaders Illinois Wesleyan and Huntingdon at 880 (+16) through 54 holes. Guilford is two shots back with an 882 (+18), and then 13 shots separate third and fourth place, where Wittenberg sits at 895 (+31). Methodist (899), Concordia-Texas (900) and Ogelthorpe (901) hold down the 5-7 spots just ahead of the Stags, while Trinity-Conn. (907) and Hope (911) round out the top 10. 

On the individual leaderboard, sophomore Mason Chiu is still within striking distance for the Stags, standing in a tie for eighth at +3 for the tournament (219). Sam Goldenring of Williams holds down the top spot at -3, six shots ahead of Chiu, while Drew Mathers of Huntingdon (-1) and Josh Gibson of Hope (E) are in second and third. 

Chiu and senior Alex Wrenn had the low rounds for CMS on Thursday with each carding a 75. Wrenn (tied for 30th at +10), had just one bad hole on No. 4 (his 13th hole of the day after teeing off on No. 10), but he closed out with five straight pars from 5-9 to gain some momentum going into his final collegiate round tomorrow. Chiu birdied two of his final three holes to get back into the top 10 on the individual leaderboard. 

Junior Austin Long had his best round of the week so far, earning a 76, settling in after standing at 5-over through six to shoot 1-under over his last 12 holes, including birdies on No. 16, No. 17 and No. 6. Sophomore Ken Kong was the fourth scorer for CMS on Thursday with a 77, while tying for team-high honors with three birdies. 

CMS will be among the first groups on the course tomorrow morning, teeing off at 7:30 EST (4:30 Pacific) as it tries to close the gap before the top three teams tee off at 9:20, hoping to make a late run up the leaderboard.