SANTA ANITA, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team surged in front over the final few holes at the Santa Anita Golf Course on the first day of the SCIAC Championships on Thursday afternoon, finishing the day at -5, eight shots ahead of second-place Occidental.
The team leaderboard was a tight battle for most of the day, with four or five teams often within a couple shots of the lead. The Stags, though, ended the day as the only team in the red, eight shots up, to get the early upper hand.
Samson Li,
Jamison Tan and
Sebi Aliaga all stand in a tie for fourth place on the individual leaderboard at -2, with a three-way tie for first at -5 between Ken Cremers of Pomona-Pitzer, Jay Alvarado Wing of Redlands, and Amaan Kanji of Occidental.
Logan Mills and
Arnold He are tied for tenth at +1 following the first 18 holes.
Tan had three birdies in a row on the back nine to help lead the CMS surge, carding a four on No. 13, a three on 14 and a two on 15 as birdied a par-5, par-4 and par-3 in succession.
Aliaga had 14 straight pars before picking up a birdie on No. 18 to pull into the tie at -2, while Li, who birdied four holes on the front nine, including No. 8 and No. 9 back-to-back had a late birdie on No. 17.
The second round will get underway tomorrow at 9 a.m., with the Stags teeing off in the later groups, beginning at 9:35 a.m. The final round will be on Saturday, with the winner earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in May, which will be held in Florida.
