CMS Women's Golf Has Six-Shot Lead After Opening Round of SCIAC Championships
VENTURA, Calif. - All four scorers for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's golf team shot even par or better as the Athenas took a six-shot lead over Pomona-Pitzer with a 286 (-2) after the first round of the SCIAC Championships on Sunday at Olivas Links.
Stella Cheng and Esther Lee each shot -1 on the day to tie for first place with Hannah Jugar of Redlands. Irene Jun and Ella Chiu, meanwhile, each came in with an even-par 72 to give the Athenas a team score in the red after the first round. Pomona-Pitzer is in second at 292, with Redlands in third with a 299.
Cheng started on the tenth hole and began her round with two straight birdies to quickly get to -2. She dropped a stroke in the 16th, but then finished with a steady 11 pars in a row to get into the clubhouse at -1.
Lee birdied her second hole of the day (No. 12), and added birdies on No. 14, No. 2 and No. 4 before coming in with a -1. Jun had 14 pars on her round, and picked up a big birdie on her 17th hole of the day (No. 10) to get back to even par.
Chiu, meanwhile, had a team-best five birdies, showing great composure after a 7 on her third hole put her at +3, but she was able to get all the way back to even par with a birdie on her 17th hole (No. 12) to finish one shot off the lead.
CMS came into the SCIAC Championships with a big deficit after the first four rounds of regular season play, but made up 13 shots on league-leading Redlands, closing the gap from 37 to 24. The Athenas are also now just 15 shots behind Pomona-Pitzer in second, after coming in 21 shots behind, while stretching their lead over fourth-place Cal Lutheran from nine to 28.
The second round will take place tomorrow, with the third and final round on Tuesday.