Stags Golf in 15th After First Day of NCAA Division III Championships

GolfStat Results

BOULDER CITY, Nev. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team shot a 292 (+4) on the first day of the NCAA Division III Championships at the Boulder Creek Golf Club, putting them in a tie for 15th place with three rounds to go.

Only the top 18 teams will advance after tomorrow's second round, and CMS stands three shots above the cutline, where Whitman is in 19th place at +7. A total of 10 teams finished under par after the opening round, led by Methodist (-17), Emory (-16) and Redlands (-13) before a drop-off to Illinois Wesleyan in fourth at -8. 

First-year Jamison Tan shot in the red in his first career NCAA round for the Stags, finishing at -2 to tie for 20th (out of 221 golfers) on the individual leaderboard, carding four birdies on the day. Joshua Kwon also finished in the red at -1, good for a tie for 33rd place, after opening his round with two straight birdies. 

Jason Klutznick of Emory is in first on the individual leaderboard at -8 after an opening-round 64, while Jonathan McEwen of Washington & Lee is one stroke back and three others are tied at -6. 

Tan, Kwon and Riley Lai were all -1 on the back nine as they closed out their opening rounds strong to try to carry some momentum into tomorrow. Yuefeng (Michael) Ma also had a birdie on the 17th to finish at even par over the last eight holes. 

CMS finished tied for third in each of the last two NCAA Championships, and will need to follow a familiar path in order to earn its way onto the podium (top four). Last year, CMS was 15th after the first day, but then moved up to ninth after the second round, seventh after the third, and surged into the lead at one point on the last day of the championship. The Stags will hope to have similar results this year, beginning with making up some ground during tomorrow's second round.