Weekly Release #1
9/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, Sept. 8 -- at Purdue/Midwest Shootout (West Lafayette, Ind.)
Mon-Tue., Sept. 10-11 -- at Inverness Intercollegiate (Toledo, Ohio)
On the Tee: Wolverines Open Quickly with Back-to-Back Tournaments
With less than a week of school under its belt, the University of Michigan men's golf team will open with two tournaments during a four-day period. The Wolverines will head to West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday (Sept. 8) for the 36-hole Purdue/Midwest Shootout at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, Kampen Course, host site of the 2008 NCAA Championships. Purdue will have the Kampen Course set up for a par 72 and 7,345 yards.
After playing at Purdue, the Wolverines will head eastward to Toledo, Ohio, Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 10-11) for the Inverness Intercollegiate at the prestigious Inverness Club. The 54-hole tournament will bring in some of the top teams from around the country. The Wolverines will be making their first trip to the Toledo-hosted tournament in seven years. The Inverness Club will be set up for a par 71 and 7,255 yards.
The Tournament Fields
The Purdue/Midwest Shootout field will include 16 teams, including: Arizona, Bowling Green, Dayton, Eastern Illinois, George Mason, IUPUI, Kent State, Loyola, Michigan, Missouri, Northern Illinois, Oakland, Purdue, Rice, SMU and Western Illinois.
The Inverness Intercollegiate field will include 16 teams, including: Florida, Florida State, Indiana, Kent State, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Southern Cal, TCU, Texas A&M, Toledo, UNC Greensboro and UNLV.
The Tournament Schedules
The Purdue/Midwest Shootout will consist of 36 holes played on Saturday (Sept. 8), beginning with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. The Inverness Intercollegiate will consist of 54 holes played Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 10-11). Toledo's tournament will begin with 36-holes Monday at 8 a.m. in a shotgun start, followed by a final 18 holes beginning with tee times at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
| Date | Event | Time |
| Friday, Sept. 7 | Practice Round | Purdue - 8:45 a.m. (shotgun) |
| Saturday, Sept. 8 | First Round | Purdue - 9 a.m. (shotgun) |
| Final Round | Purdue - continuous play following completion of first round | |
| Sunday, Sept. 9 | Practice Round | Toledo - 1 to 3 p.m. (tee times) |
| Monday, Sept. 10 | First Round | Toledo - 8 a.m. (shotgun) |
| Second Round | Toledo- continuous play following completion of first round | |
| Tuesday, Sept. 11 | Final Round | Toledo - 8 a.m. (tee times) |
The Tournament Scoring Format
Scoring for the Purdue/Midwest Shootout and the Inverness Intercollegiate will be five players, count the low four scores each round. Selected schools might have an invited individual.
The Tournament Scoring on the Web
Even though fans will not be able to follow the Purdue/Midwest Shootout live, they will be able to follow the Inverness Intercollegiate live through the Golfstat website. [ Inverness Intercollegiate ]
The Tournament Lineups
With two tournaments in a four-day span, the Wolverines will bring six players to the Purdue/Midwest Shootout. Starting for the Wolverines will be senior co-captain Brian Ottenweller (Grand Rapids, Mich./Catholic Central), senior co-captain Tim Schaetzel (Atlanta, Ga./Pace Academy), junior Bill Rankin (Traverse City, Mich./Central), sophomore Billy McKay (Grand Blanc, Mich./David Leadbetter Golf Academy) and freshman Lion Kim (Lake Mary, Fla./Lake Mary Prep). Freshman Alexander Sitompul (Jakarta, Indonesia/Bradenton Prep) will travel and play as an individual in West Lafayette, Ind. For the Inverness, the same six Wolverines will travel to Toledo, but the five-man line-up will be determined following the evaluation of play from Purdue.
TEAM NOTABLES
The Maize and Blue will play in six fall tournaments in 2007. For the season, Michigan will play in 11 regular season events, starting postseason play with the Big Ten Championships in late April. [ schedule release ]
The last time the Wolverines competed at the Inverness Intercollegiate was during the 2000-01 season, when then-fifth-year senior Scott Hayes took medalist honors after a scorecard playoff. He finished with a 213 total (71-72-70). As a team, U-M tied for 9th of the 13 team field with a 909 total (306-298-305). [ story ]
The senior duo of Brian Ottenweller and Tim Schaetzel were named team captains for the upcoming 2007-08 season. [ release ]
Freshmen Lion Kim and Alexander Sitompul will be making their collegiate debuts at the Purdue/Midwest Shootout. Kim will play among the starting five, while Sitompul will travel as an individual. Both players were ranked among the top 20 high school senior players in the country last season. [ rankings ]
Michigan closed the 2006-07 season averaging 301.09 per team round. In 11 total tournaments a year ago, the Wolverines posted five top five finishes, including three runner-up trophies -- the Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 16-17, 2006), the Nike Purdue Kiahuna Collegiate Invitational (Nov. 22-23, 2006) and the Pinehurst Intercollegiate (March 18-20, 2007).
With four U-M players among the U.S. Amateur field -- and Bill Rankin's win at the Eastern Amateur Championship -- the Wolverines posted several top finishes among the summer top amateur and junior tournaments. To read all about the summer, please visit the summer update blog. [ 2007 summer blog ]
Michigan coach Andrew Sapp begins his sixth season at the helm of the Wolverine program. He is assisted by Chris Whitten, who is in his second season with the program.
PLAYER NOTABLES
Senior Brian Ottenweller
Named co-captain, along with teammate Tim Schaetzel
Played in 29 career events, with 26 starts
Started his last 20 tournament appearances for the Wolverines
Averaging 76.14 strokes per round for career, posting a single season best average of 75.24 as a sophomore
Shot a career-best 60 during a practice round (April 3, 2007) at the U-M Golf Course. During the round hit nine of 14 fairways, found the green in regulation on 15 of 18 holes, and needed only 23 total putts in the round. He made a remarkable 12 birdies in addition to five pars and a bogey
Shot a career-best-competitive round total of five-under 66 in the first round of the 2005 Alister MacKenzie Invitational (Oct. 10-11). He has posted five career rounds under 70
Two-time Academic All-Big Ten, three-time U-M Athletic Academic Achievement honoree and the 2006 Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree for men's golf
Senior Tim Schaetzel
Named co-captain, along with teammate Brian Ottenweller
Played in 30 career events with 29 starts
Started 27 straight tournaments for the Wolverines
Averaging 75.75 strokes per round for career, posting a single season best average of 74.81 as a junior.
Shot a career-best four-under 67 in the first round of the 2005 Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 24-25). He has posted five career rounds under 70
Named a 2007 GCAA Cleveland All-America Scholar, becoming just the eighth Wolverine to do so in the history of the program. In addition, was named a two-time Academic All-Big Ten and three-time U-M Athletic Academic Achievement honoree
Junior Nick Pumford
Played in eight career tournaments with five starts
After playing in one tournament as a freshman, played in seven events last season with five starts
Averaging 76.78 strokes per round for career, posting a single season best average of 74.67 as a freshman
Shot a career-best four-under 67 in the first round of the 2006 Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 16-17) ... Played the event as an individual and finished as the individual runner-up with career-best four-under 209 54-hole total.
Junior Bill Rankin
Played in 18 career tournaments with 15 starts
One of three Wolverines to have started all 11 tournaments last season
Averaging 76.37 strokes per round for career, posting a single season best average of 76.20 as a freshman
Shot a career-best three-under 68 in the third round of the 2006 Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 16-17).
Led the Wolverines in one tournament as a sophomore, posting a career-best tie for second at the 2007 Pinehurst Intercollegiate (April 7-8)
Highlighted his 2007 summer play capturing the Eastern Amateur Championship with a tournament scoring record with his 15-under 265 [ article ]
Sophomore Billy McKay
Played in nine tournaments, with seven starts as a freshman
Started six straight tournaments for the Wolverines
Led the Wolverines in two tournaments as a freshman C Puerto Rico Classic (tie-61st) and Robert Kepler Intercollegiate (t-18th)
Finished third on the Wolverines as a freshman with a 75.96 per round scoring average
Shot a career-best one-under 69 in the third round of the 2006 Nike Purdue Kiahuna Collegiate Invitational (Nov. 22-23)
Sophomore Michael Slovitt
Played as an individual in two tournaments as a freshman
Made collegiate debut at 2006 Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 16-17), tying for 63rd
Played as an individual at 2006 49er Collegiate Classic (Oct. 23-24), tying for 71st
Finished first season averaging 78.50 strokes per round
Shot a career-best even-par 71 in the first round of the Wolverine Intercollegiate
Sophomore Ross Millman
Played in one tournament, as an individual, during his freshman season
Made collegiate debut at 2006 Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 16-17), finishing 80th
Finished first season averaging 81.33 strokes per round
Shot a career-best 78 in the third round of the Wolverine Intercollegiate
Sophomore David Weisfeld
Walked onto the Michigan program after taking freshman year off to concentrate on academics
Former roommate of Billy McKay at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy
Freshman Lion Kim
Comes to Michigan as the No. 2 rated departing senior by Golfweek
Will make his collegiate debut at the Purdue/Midwest Shootout, playing as a starter
Given name is Jun Min Kim, but goes by "Lion" which is a nickname given to him by his parents
Freshman Alexander Sitompul
Comes to Michigan as the No. 18 rated departing senior by Golfweek
Will make his collegiate debut at the Purdue/Midwest Shootout, playing as an individual
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
