Mason Chiu Shoots 63 (-7) on First Day of SCIAC Men's Golf Championships
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PASADENA, Calif. - Sophomore Mason Chiu shot a seven-under 63, the lowest round of his career, to help the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team to an 11-shot lead after the first of three rounds at the 2019 SCIAC Championships at Brookside Golf Club's E.O. Nay Course on Thursday.
Chiu had a bogey-free round, shooting seven birdies, including five on the back nine, to move out to a five-shot lead on the individual leaderboard with 36 holes still to play. CMS leads in the team standings after a 278 (-2), 11 shots ahead of La Verne (+9), 12 shots ahead of Occidental in third (+10), and 13 shots ahead of Redlands in fourth (+11).
After earning pars on the first four holes, Chiu moved into the red with a 2 on the par-3 fifth hole, and then added a birdie on the sixth to take the turn at -2. He then caught fire with five birdies in a seven-hole stretch, moving to -4 with birdies on 10 and 11, and then after two straight pars, he bagged three birdies in a row from 14-16 to move to -7.
Chiu closed out his round with pars on the final two holes to get in the clubhouse with a personal-best 63, five shots ahead of Sam Miller and Tanay Srivastav of Occidental and Owen Rosebeck of Pomona-Pitzer in a three-way tie for second at -2. Only five golfers total came in under par, with Ricky Hoefert of Chapman carding a 69 to place fifth.
The length of the holes wasn't a factor in Chiu's performance either, as he was exceptional on both the long holes and the short ones. He earned birdies on both par-5s on the course (No. 11 and No. 16) and also had birdies on three of the four par-3s (No. 5, No. 10 and No. 15).
Chiu's 63 was the storyline of the day, but CMS had three other players in the top 15 as the team's depth was a factor in its lead as well. Sophomore Ken Kong is currently in sixth place after the first round, coming in with a 70 after picking up birdies on 13 and 16 to get back to even par after standing +2 through 12. Junior Austin Long carded a 72 to tie for ninth place, while freshman Alex Yun earned a 73 to tie for 14th.
In the battle for the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships, which factors in the four rounds from the two SCIAC regular season tournaments in addition to the three rounds this weekend, CMS came in trailing La Verne by five and Redlands by four. The Stags now lead that competition by six shots over La Verne and nine over Redlands, giving them a little bit of cushion over the final 36 holes.
The second day of the SCIAC Championships will take place tomorrow on the longer C.W. Koiner Course at Brookside Golf Club, a par-72 course measuring 7,104 yards.