Michigan
The Northern Intercollegiate
McIntosh Leads Wolverines at Northern Intercollegiate
9/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Individually, McIntosh led the Wolverines as he tied for 43rd with a career-best 54-hole total of 220. He opened with a then career-best 74 in the first round and followed with a 76 in the second round before shattering his day-old career best with a 70 in the final round. Starting on No. 9, McIntosh parred his first six holes before birding No. 15 to go one-under, then parred the remaining 11 holes.
In his first collegiate tournament, freshman Christian Vozza (Traverse City, Mich./Grand Rapids Baptist HS) played solid golf, only slipping in the final round. He tied for 47th after opening with a one-over par 72 in his first collegiate round. He followed with a 73 in the second round and closed out with a 76 for a 221 total. Tighe also tied for 47th after he tallied a 221 tournament total. He opened with a 75 but then went lower in each of the following rounds, with a 74 in the second and a career-best 72 in the final round.
Junior David Nichols (Mesa, Ariz./Rochester Adams HS, Mich.) opened the tournament with a one-under 70, tying his career best, and followed with a 73 in the second round, but he ballooned to an 80 in the last round for a 223 total, which tied him for 60th. Senior/junior Scott Carlton (Brighton, Mich./Brighton HS) was 80th at 228 (75-72-81).
Illinois (280-283-280) and Minnesota (291-283-280) battled for the top team honors as the Fighting Illini won by a single stroke over the Gophers, 843 to 844. Illinois' James Lepp won medalist honors by three strokes, firing an 11-under total of 202 (65-67-70). Penn State's Jim Fuller (66-70-69/205) was the runner-up.
The Wolverines will return to Ann Arbor to host the 2002 Wolverine Invitational, Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 5-6) at the U-M Golf Course. The 17-team field will play 36 holes Saturday starting at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start. Sunday's final round will begin with tee times at 8 a.m.
Team Standings
1. Illinois 280-283-280 = 843 2. Minnesota 281-283-282 = 844 3. Michigan State 294-281-273 = 848 4. Xavier 282-287-280 = 849 5. Indiana 295-282-283 = 860 Ohio State 294-283-283 = 860 7. Iowa 285-285-291 = 861 8. Penn State 287-291-285 = 863 9. Miami (Ohio) 293-282-293 = 868 10. Eastern Michigan 298-281-291 = 870 11. Wisconsin 292-290-292 = 874 12. Ball State 296-289-295 = 880 13. MICHIGAN 291-292-298 = 881 14. Marshall 299-289-295 = 883 15. Ohio 291-295-300 = 886 16. Western Kentucky 293-294-305 = 892
Top Individuals
1. James Lepp, Illinois 65-67-70 = 202 (-11) 2. Jim Fuller, Penn State 66-70-69 = 205 3. Mike Tapper, Iowa 66-69-71 = 206 4. Jeff Overton, Indiana 69-67-71 = 207 5. Brandon Boomsma, Ball State 70-68-70 = 208 Casey Lubahn, Michigan State 70-70-68 = 208 Matt Makinson, Xavier 70-70-68 = 208 8. Patrick Nagle, Illinois 71-72-66 = 209 9. Michael Baldwin, Wisconsin 71-71-68 = 210 Simon Nash, Minnesota 70-68-72 = 210 Wilhelm Schauman, Minnesota 70-68-72 = 210
Michigan Individual Finishes
T43. Mark McIntosh 74-76-70 = 220 T47. Christian Vozza 72-73-76 = 221 T47. Rob Tighe 75-74-72 = 221 T60. David Nichols 70-73-80 = 223 83. Scott Carlton 75-72-81 = 228
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Andrew Sapp
On the tournament ... "It was fairly disappointing. The level of consistency has not been good. We have not only consistency in each round where we count a 70 as well as an 80, but also that same consistency amongst the players. Everybody played one good round where they shot 72 or better but then they are throwing in some bad rounds too. We just need to get more consistent throughout the whole tournament. We have too many guys who are making big numbers. There was no real trouble on this golf course. There are no lakes or water hazards or out of bounds. We are just hitting a lot of bad shots backed up by more bad shots. We need to go back to the drawing board and realize that par is a good score on a hole and we have to make more of them."
On improving the team's consistency ... "I think we need to work on our focus each and every hole. Yesterday I think that they got tired. They were worn out so they are not physically in the condition that they need to be in. We are going to work on that. Today I do not know what happened. We actually finished the first round pretty well. I think we were at something like 15 over par and finished at eight over so we came back pretty well. I thought that was some good momentum going into the final round and it just did not happen. Going into next week we are going to have to take tomorrow off and get them to think a little about what they are doing and what they are doing wrong."
On Mark McIntosh's final round ... "Mark did well today. He made 17 pars and one birdie. That is a test of patience and is excellent for him. It shows he was patient enough even though he was not making a lot of the birdie putts. He at least had the patience not to get frustrated with himself and make a big number. He hung in there and shot 70, which is his first under-par round in his collegiate career."
On Christian Vozza's performance ... "He played pretty well for his first ever tournament. He stumbled some coming in today but I was impressed with his first two rounds. His final-round 76 was not what he wanted but it shows that he has some promise. That was a real nice positive."
Redshirt Freshman Mark McIntosh
On the tournament ... "It was a pretty scoreable course. We just did not have anybody play that well. I think 70 was the lowest score on out team. Dave (Nichols) and I shot 70s and it seemed that everyone else had a couple of guys shooting under par. I think that was the biggest difference because if we had somebody shoot a couple under each round consistently for the tournament it would not have been that bad of a weekend."
On what the team can do to gain consistency ... "I think our goals should be to improve every week. We have a much better team than this. I hope that we throw out some of the bad rounds this week. You cannot count an 80 and expect to do well. I do not think we even played that bad the first round. Hopefully the guys will start playing well."
On his final round ... "I hit the ball really well. I did not putt very well all week. Even today I putted quite poorly. I was pretty steady. I hit every green and really only made the one birdie putt."
Freshman Christian Vozza
On his first collegiate tournament ... "I was excited to be out here and to play in this tournament. I played well in the practice round just to get here and I knew that I was stroking the ball pretty well. I knew I had a good chance to come out and shoot a couple of decent scores. The last round I was playing well but unfortunately I had four bogeys in the last five holes so that was kind of a bummer. So, I finished poorly, but overall I was happy."
N O T E S
Redshirt freshman Mark McIntosh's final-round, one-under 70 was a career-best score, marking the first time he has shot under par in a round. His bogey-free round included 17 pars and one birdie, on the par-4 15th. His previous best score was 75, which he fired in the first and second rounds of the Ridges Intercollegiate.
McIntosh also set a new career-best 54-hole tournament total with his 220, bettering by 10 strokes his previous best, which he had at the Ridges (230).
Junior David Nichols' first-round, one-under par 70 tied his best career round. His round was highlighted by three birdies and 13 pars. The only other time he fired a 70 was in the first round of the 2001 Kepler Intercollegiate (April 14-15, 2001).
Freshman Christian Vozza played in his first collegiate tournament, tying for 47th with a 221 total. In his first collegiate round he carded a one-over-par 72. He followed with a 73 in the second and a 76 in the final round.
Junior/sophomore Rob Tighe's 54-hole total of 221 was a career best, topping the 223 he had at the Ridges. Tighe's final-round tally of 72 set his career-best single-round score. His previous best was 73, which he carded three times in his career, including twice in the first and third rounds of the Ridges.
Senior/junior Scott Carlton made his first tournament appearance of the year for the Wolverines, finishing 83rd.
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
