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Ken Kong shot a second-round 68 to move from 25th place into first
Ken Kong shot a second-round 68 to move from 25th place into first
Posted: Mar 25, 2019

Second Round's The Charm: CMS Men's Golf Surges Back into Contention at West Cup

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LA VERNE, Calif. - After the first 18 holes of the West Cup on Monday, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team stood in a distant sixth place, 13 shots back at +20, but the Stags roared back in the day's second round to get back in contention, standing just two shots back of host La Verne heading into the third and final round tomorrow.

CMS shot 304 as a team in the first round (+20 on the par-71 course), but shot even par in the second round (284) to end the day in second in the 16-team field, two shots behind La Verne and two ahead of Redlands, while being 10 shots clear of fourth place (Pacific Lutheran at +30). None of the other 15 teams shot better than +10 over the second 18 holes, as CMS was able to make up a ton of ground heading into tomorrow.

Sophomore Ken Kong led the second-round charge, shooting a 68 to leapfrog all the way from a tie for 25th place into sole possession of first at +1 (75-68-143). Kong had five birdies on the round, the last coming on the 17th to move him out of a tie for first into sole possession of the lead. 

Kong wasn't the only one who turned the second round into essentially "moving day" for the Stags. Senior Alex Wrenn shot a 74 (+3) in the first round, and then came back over his second 18 holes to shoot a 1-under 70 to finish the day 2-over, moving from 14th place into a two-way tie for second.  Kong and Wrenn were the only two players to end up in the red in the second round, with only two others (Jacob Wade of Dallas and Jordan Brajcich of Pacific Lutheran) even shooting even par.

Junior Austin Long, meanwhile, moved up 18 places into a tie for seventh with a 73 in the second round, giving him 148 (+6) after 36 holes, while sophomore Mason Chiu moved up 24 places with a 73 in the second round into a tie for 33rd. 

Wrenn and Long helped set the tone in the second round by birdieing the first hole, with Wrenn beginning his round birdie-birdie-birdie on the first three. He ended up with five birdies for the round, tying Kong for the team lead, while shooting -4 on the front nine.

The third and final round of the West Cup will get underway tomorrow morning as the Stags will try to continue the momentum from their strong second-round performance.