Stags Battle Back, Finish in Top-10 at Jekyll Island Invite
JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. – The No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team shot a season-worst 22-over, 310 in the First Round of the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational on Friday. The Stags flipped a switch overnight and played the final two rounds of the tournament at eight-under par. CMS posted back-to-back rounds under-par on both Saturday and Sunday to climb the leaderboard and finish in sixth-place. Across the three days, the Stags shot 878 (+14) to finish two shots ahead of No. 49 Hampden-Sydney and Kenyon College who tied for seventh at 880 (+16).
Day Three – Stags finish 6th (310-283-285—878, +14)
On Sunday, the Stags shot a three-under, 285 to move up from 12th place into the top-10. Jonathan Shaw (CMC) led the strong day for the Stags with a five-under, 67 in the Final Round. Shaw finished in a tie for 18th place among the 150-player field at one-over. Shaw's card in the final round was nearly perfect. After a bogey on his second hole of the day, Shaw put six birdies on the card to finish the day at five-under. He birdied four holes in a five-hole stretch right around the turn to highlight his round.
Tying Shaw on the weekend was his teammate, Austin Long (CMC) who fired a two-under 70 on Sunday to also finish in a tie for 18th. Long also collected his fair share of birdies, making five in the middle of his round en route to his best round of the weekend.
Ken Kong (CMC) carded the third-best round of the day for CMS with a one-over, 73. Starting on the back-nine, Kong went two-over on his first nine holes before making three birdies down the stretch, including a birdie-birdie finish on his final two holes. On the weekend, Kong finished at four-over in a tie for 31st place with five other players.
Alex Wrenn (CMC) and Josh Hunter (HMC) shot identical 75s (+3) to round out the Stags' effort on the day. Wrenn had the more adventurous round, making three birdies, three bogies, and a triple to shoot his 75. Hunter finished at three-over in a little more conventional manner, he made one birdie and four bogies in the final round. Wrenn finished the three days tied for 54th place at eight-over, while Hunter tied for 109th at 18-over.
No. 5 Methodist University (853, -11) ran away with the team title, shooting 11-under on the weekend to claim the top-spot in the highest quality NCAA Division III tournament outside of the NCAA Championships. No. 14 Guilford College (864, E), No. 2 Huntingdon College (869, +5), No. 22 Southwestern University (870, +6), and No. 7 Emory (870, +6) rounded out the top five ahead of the Stags.
Day Two – Stags in 12th of 30 (310-283—392, +17)
The No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team dropped 27 shots off their Friday score and carded a five-under, 283 in the Second Round of the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational on Saturday. The score of five-under allowed the Stags to climb 12 rungs on the leaderboard. After sitting in 24th place overnight, CMS will head into Sunday's final round in a tie for 12th place at +17 (593).
After shooting a five-over, 293 on Friday, Methodist University carded the best score of the day with a six-under, 282 on Saturday to remain in first-place. The Stags' five-under, 283 was the second-best score on the day in the 30-team field.
The Stags made 19 birdies on the day with Alex Wrenn (CMC) and Ken Kong (CMC) combining for 11 of those red numbers. Wrenn made six birdies, including five in a seven-hole stretch to start the back nine en route to a two-under, 70 on the day. Ken Kong finished with five birdies on the card and only had one blemish to finish with a four-under, 68 to lead the Stags in Round Two.
Jonathan Shaw (CMC) was the third-best finisher for CMS, firing an even-par, 72 on Saturday. Shaw made eight pars on the front, but doubled the par-five seventh hole for a two-over 38 on the way out. Thanks to back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th holes, he shot two-under (34) on the back-nine and evened his card out.
Both Austin Long (CMC) and Josh Hunter (HMC) shot identical rounds of 73 (+1) to round out the scoring for CMS in the second round. Long and Hunter both went out in 36 strokes (E), before each shooting a one-over, 37 on the back for rounds of 71.
In the individual standings, Long and Kong are currently tied for 25th place with a two-round total of 147 strokes (+3)
The Stags will try and continue their climb up leaderboard in the final round on Sunday. CMS is currently nine strokes back of fifth-place and just three shots behind of the top-ten.
Day One – Stags in 24th of 30 (310, +22)
The No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team shot an opening round 310 (+22) to sit a little further down the leaderboard than they are normally accustom. Taking on a field of 30 schools, including 20 of the top 50 NCAA Division III programs, the Stags did not post their best round of the spring in the Opening Round of the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational. Playing on the 6,700-yard, par 72 Pine Lakes course at Jekyll Island, Austin Long led the way for the Stags with a two-over, 74 on Friday.
Long posted four birdies on the day, including red numbers on each of his last two holes to finish Day One in a tie for 31st-place. Behind Long was Jonathan Shaw, who carded a six-over 78 on Friday. Shaw started on the back nine and shot a five-over on his first nine, before rebounding for a one-over, 37 on his second nine for the 78.
Alex Wrenn and Ken Kong each shot rounds of seven-over, 79 and Josh Hunter rounded out the Stags' effort with an 86 (+14).
With a few teams still on the course, CMS sits in a tie for 27th place and are currently 22-strokes off the lead set by Illinois Wesleyan, who shot a 288 (E) to lead the tournament.
Round Two of the three-day tournament coming up on Saturday with play concluding on Sunday.