CMS Men's Golf, Mason Chiu Maintain Leads after Second Day of SCIAC Championships
GolfStat Live Scoring
PASADENA, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team leads by five strokes in the race for the team title after the second of three rounds at the SCIAC Championships at Brookside Golf Club, while sophomore Mason Chiu holds a seven-shot lead on the individual leaderboard heading into tomorrow's final round.
CMS began the day with an 11-shot lead over La Verne and a 13-shot lead over Redlands after a strong opening round, but saw its lead tighten a bit after the second day. Redlands shot a 293 to make up eight shots on CMS (which shot a 301) and pull within five, while La Verne shot a 297 to stand in third, just seven shots back.
Chiu, meanwhile, followed up his impressive opening-round 63, which included seven birdies and no bogeys on Brookside's par-70 course, with a solid round on the par-72 course, shooting a one-under 71 to improve to -8 over two rounds. Chiu had two birdies on the front nine to improve to -9 and started the back nine with three pars before suffering his first bogey of the tournament on his 31st hole. He had another bogey on the 16th to slip to even par on the day, but closed out with a birdie on 18 to shoot in the red for the second day in a row.
Only two golfers are under par after two rounds, with Chiu holding a seven-shot lead over Pitiluk Phanomchai of La Verne, who tied for the low round on Friday with a 70. Sam Miller of Occidental and Alex Stroes of Redlands are tied for third with a 143 (+1) after two rounds.
Sophomore Ken Kong is also in the top 10 for the Stags after two rounds, standing in seventh place with a 146 after two rounds. Junior Harrison Brenner, playing in the No. 6 spot, came through with a solid round of 76 to tie Kong for the second-best score for CMS behind the 71 from Chiu.
The race for the league's automatic bid, which includes all seven rounds from the two regular season tournaments and the SCIAC Championships is remarkably close. CMS leads with a 1764, one shot ahead of Redlands (1765) and two shots ahead of La Verne (1766). All three teams rank in the top 15 in the GolfStat computer rankings and have a chance to earn bids to the NCAA Division III Championships anyway even without the automatic bid, but if CMS can hold its slim lead after the final round, it will earn its way in before the NCAA committee convenes.
CMS will be back in action tomorrow for the final round of the SCIAC Championships at Brookside, with the Stags teeing off at 8:52 a.m. as they will try to win their fourth straight league title.