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Kevin Jiang had a hole-in-one on his opening round (photo by Ricky Bassman)
Kevin Jiang had a hole-in-one on his opening round (photo by Ricky Bassman)
Posted: May 16, 2023

Jiang's Hole-in-One Highlights Opening Day of NCAA Championships, Stags Stand in 15th

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NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. - Kevin Jiang shot a hole-in-one and Joshua Kwon shot a team-best 73 to highlight the opening-day performance of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team at the NCAA Division III Championships on Tuesday at the Keene Trace Golf Club.

CMS stands in 15th place after the first round 296 (+8), which is just 12 shots off the pace of leader St. John's (Minn.) at -4 on a crowded leaderboard that still has 54 more holes to sort itself out. Just three teams shot in the red, with Illinois Wesleyan second at -3, and Christopher Newport in third at -2. 

All five competitors for CMS shot within two strokes of each other, with Kwon's 73 leading the way, followed by Vikram Chatterjee and Yuefeng (Michael) Ma at 74, and Jiang and Will Parker at 75. 

Jiang holed out on the 181-yard par-3 second hole, which was his 12th hole after beginning on No. 9 in the tournament's shotgun format on opening day. He kept the momentum up after his ace by carding two birdies in his closing stretch, including one on No. 8 (his 18th). 

Kwon also closed strong with two birdies on his final four holes to lower his score from +3 to +1 and move into a tie for 35th on the individual leaderboard. Parker had an eagle on his second hole of the day, while Chatterjee had a steady round with 16 pars. 

The second round will get underway tomorrow morning as CMS will try to stay in the top pack as it begins to thin out before the final two round on Thursday and Friday.