COSTA MESA, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team trailed Redlands by 13 shots heading into Tuesday's final round, but shot -22 as a team, with three players carding 66s (-6) and a fourth earning a 68 (-4), to come all the way back and win by seven and take the 2025 SCIAC Championship in dramatic fashion at the Costa Mesa Country Club.
The win gives CMS the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship, which will be held May 20-23 in Rochester, New York. The 23rd-ranked Stags came into the weekend unsure of their status for a potential at-large bid, but used a furious Tuesday comeback to punch their ticket.
CMS finished the three rounds at -34 overall, seven shots ahead of Redlands at -27 and eight ahead of Pomona-Pitzer at -26. The Stags were tied for fourth after the first round, eight shots behind Redlands, and moved up to second place after Monday's second round, but lost ground as the Bulldogs held a 13-stroke lead coming into Tuesday, before the Stags used a 20-stroke swing (-22 to -2) to win by seven.
Yuefeng (Michael) Ma shot a 66 to finish the three-day event at -10, tying for his third SCIAC individual championship of his four-year career. Ma shot a 75 on Sunday's opening round, but came back to shoot a 65 and a 66 over his final two rounds, to tie John Kim of Pomona-Pitzer for first at -10, adding the co-championship to individual titles he won in 2022 as a first-year, and last season as a junior.
Jamison Tan and
Arnold He added 66s on Tuesday to tie for third at -9 overall for the weekend, one shot behind the co-leaders and help lift the Stags to the team title and earn first-team All-SCIAC honors by finishing in the top eight.
Yiqi (Andy) Sun shot a 68 to move up six spots into a tie for 13th and earn second-team All-SCIAC honors at -4 for the tournament.
The four scorers for CMS combined for 26 birdies and an eagle on Tuesday, while amassing just six bogeys combined.
CMS got off to a hot start, with seven birdies on the first three holes, led by Ma, who had birdies on all three. Tan was the only one of the four to start slow, but then he caught fire with four birdies in a stretch of five holes (No. 5, No. 6, No. 8 and No. 9) to take the turn at -3.
The Stags were able to make up most of the deficit at the turn, with 15 birdies and one bogey combined on the front nine, but were still in a battle. All four Redlands scorers took the turn in the red as well, leaving the Stags still down by five, while Pomona-Pitzer had 13 birdies and no bogeys on the front nine to make it a three-way race.
The two par-fives on the back nine proved to be pivotal, as Sun had an eagle on 14, while Ma, Tan and He all had birdies. Ma, Tan and He added birdies on 18 to seal the win. Tan was -3 on the back nine with no bogies, while He was -3, with birdies on No. 17 and No. 18 to help the Stags secure the team title.
CMS will head back to nationals for the 12th season in a row (skipping the 2020 and 2021 seasons for the pandemic). The Stags finished 13th last season after tying for third in 2022 and 2023.
