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Mason Chiu won the individual SCIAC title by seven strokes with a -5 over the three rounds.
Mason Chiu won the individual SCIAC title by seven strokes with a -5 over the three rounds.
Posted: Apr 20, 2019

Mason Chiu Earns Individual SCIAC Title By Seven Strokes, CMS Men's Golf Finishes as Runner-Up

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PASADENA, Calif. - Sophomore Mason Chiu finished off a wire-to-wire win to capture the individual title at the 2019 SCIAC Men's Golf Championship, finishing with a -5 for a seven-shot margin of victory, but the CMS men's golf team finished second to La Verne by just a stroke to finish as the runner-up after Saturday's final round at the Brookside Golf Club.

The second-place finish snaps a streak of three straight SCIAC titles for the Stags, although CMS looks to still be in a strong position to earn a team bid to the NCAA Division III Championships, which will be held May 14-17 in Nicholasville, Kentucky. 

On an individual level, Chiu was the story of the SCIAC Championship, shooting a 63 (-7) on Thursday's opening round and maintaining a lead of six shots or better the rest of the way. He didn't have his first bogey until the 13th hole on Friday's second round, a streak of 30 holes with nothing but pars and birdies, and he ended up with a -5 in a tournament when nobody else managed to shoot even par (second place was just +2). 

On a team level, the story was just how close the top three teams in the SCIAC were and have been all spring. La Verne ended up winning both the the three-round SCIAC Championship this weekend and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, which combines the three postseason rounds with the four rounds from the two regular season tournaments. In this weekend's championship, the Leopards shot an 877 (+21) to win by one shot over CMS, while Redlands was third with an 880, just three shots back.

Over the course of the whole spring, La Verne finished with a score of 2057 over the seven rounds, four shots ahead of Redlands with 2061 and six ahead of CMS with 2063. Coming into today's final round, the three teams were separated by just two shots, but La Verne's 291 (+3) was the best showing of the day and earned the Leopards the title. 

Sophomore Ken Kong joined Chiu in the top 10 for the Stags, earning an eighth place finish with a 223 (+8). Senior Alex Wrenn had his best round of the tournament on Saturday, shooting an even-par 72 to move up to a tie for 18th place with a 227, while junior Austin Long was one spot ahead of him in a tie for 16th after a 75 on Saturday left him with a 226. 

CMS will await its possible selection to the NCAA Division III Championships after a ninth-place finish a year ago. The Stags won the national title in 2016, Wrenn's freshman year, when he finished as the runner-up after tying for first place after 72 holes.