CMS Men's Golf Pulls Away over Final Nine to Finish First at SCIAC No. 2 by Seven Strokes

GolfStat Scoring

POMONA, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team held off tough challenges from Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands to finish in first place at the second SCIAC regular season tournament on Saturday and Sunday at Mountain Meadows Golf Club.

CMS finished at -2 as a team over the 36 holes, winning by seven shots over Pomona-Pitzer and 10 over Redlands. The Stags also won the first SCIAC regular season tournament by 17 strokes back in February, leaving them as the heavy favorites for the SCIAC title when the championship is held in two weeks. 

Will Parker finished tied for second on the individual leaderboard at -2, after shooting a four-under 68 on Saturday. Vikram Chatterjee and Yuefeng (Michael) Ma earned top-10 finishes in sixth and ninth, respectively, while Vijay Jain shot a 71 on Sunday (-1) to help the Stags pull away for the team title, finishing tied for 16th. All six Stags in the competition finished in the top 20 (out of 50), as Mason Chiu was also tied for 16th, and Adrian Chiu was in 18th.   

CMS shot -1 as a team on Saturday and held a narrow three-shot going into Sunday's round. The Stags and Pomona-Pitzer were locked in a tight battle over the front nine, with the team lead changing hands several times as scores were reported in, with Redlands lurking just a few shots back. However, as the back nine kicked in, CMS was able to create some distance between itself and the challengers and was able to take a comfortable win. 

Jain was especially impressive down the stretch to help the Stags build a lead, shooting -2 on the back nine (and -3 over the final 12 holes). Ma also had his fifth birdie of the day on the 11th to go to -5 on his round, before settling for a -3, while Parker birdied 15 after starting the back nine with five straight pars. 

Joshua Fambro of Redlands earned individual medalist honors with a -7, with Parker ending as one of only four players in the red at -2. Chatterjee finished tied for sixth at +1, while Ma was tied for ninth at +2, surging up 16 spots after an opening-round 77 with a 69 on Sunday, tying for the low round of the day. 

Parker had six birdies on his Saturday round, closing out with birdies on 15 and 18 to drop from -2 to -4. Adrian Chiu also had a strong Saturday finish with a -3 over his final eight holes to shoot a 74 and earn one of the four scoring spots for CMS. 

The Stags will be back in action for the SCIAC Championships in two weeks, which will be held from April 25-27 at Morongo Golf Club in Cabazon.