CMS Women's Golf in Fifth Heading into Friday's NCAA Final Round

GolfStat Scoring

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's golf team finished the final half of its rain-interrupted second round at 7 a.m., and played its complete third round in the afternoon, and came out of the busy day in a tie for fifth place at the NCAA Division III Championships with one round to go tomorrow at Keene Trace Golf Club.

CMS had slipped to ninth after the completion of the second round, but moved back up four spots with a solid 296 (+8) in the third round to put itself in contention for the podium. The top four finishers receive NCAA trophies, and CMS is just five shots behind SCIAC rival Redlands in fourth, and 12 shots behind another SCIAC rival, Pomona-Pitzer in third. 

Carnegie Mellon holds a two-shot lead at +27, just ahead of Emory at +29. Pomona-Pitzer is in third at +36, Redlands at +43, and CMS and Illinois Wesleyan at +48 in a tie for fifth, with St. Catherine one shot back at +49. 

The Athenas had its four scorers each card identical 74s in the third round. Stella Cheng closed with two birdies over her final four holes, including on her 18th hole, to move up into a tie for 17th place on the individual leaderboard at +17. 

Christine Yu had a steady round of 14 pars and two birdies for the Athenas to card her 74, while Esther Lee had her best round of the tournament, closing with a birdie to get in with a 74 as well. Ella Chiu also added a 74, in a round that included a team-high three birdies. 

CMS was able to shoot 13 shots better than it did in the second round, when it had to battle the weather conditions. Cheng and Chiu each shot a 76 for the top round for the Athenas, with Cheng battling through some struggles on the back nine to birdie No. 16 and No. 17 back to back and take some momentum into her afternoon round. 

CMS will tee off tomorrow at 8:50 a.m. local time (5:50 a.m. Pacific) and will try to earn another NCAA trophy after finishing in third place a year ago.