Michigan
Bridgestone Intercollegiate
Rankin Leads U-M to Third-Place Finish at Bridgestone
10/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Site: Greensboro, N.C.
Course: Forest Oaks Country Club (par 72, 7,197 yards)
Tournament: The Bridgestone Intercollegiate
U-M Standing: 3rd Place of 14 Teams (293-282-299/874)
Top U-M Individual: Bill Rankin, 3rd (75-64-75/214)
Next Event: Fri-Sat., Feb. 13-14 -- at Big Ten Match Play (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Hindered by cold and windy conditions, the University of Michigan men's golf team was unable to recover as the Wolverines posted a 299 today (Tuesday, Oct. 28) to lose their first-day lead and close third with an 874 total at the Bridgestone Intercollegiate at the Forest Oaks Country Club.
The Wolverines opened strong with a 293 first-round tally yesterday with sophomore Lion Kim(Lake Mary, Fla./Lake Mary Prep School) leading the charge with five birdies and two bogeys to card a team-leading three-under 69, putting U-M in a tie for second with Michigan State after 18 holes. In the second round, senior co-captain Bill Rankin(Traverse City, Mich./Central HS) exploded to tie the U-M single-roundrecord and set the tournament record with an eight-under 64. He posted nine birdies and closed with back-to-back 32s to equal the U-M all-time single-round mark. Combining Rankin's tally with a one-under 71 from sophomore Alexander Sitompul(Jakarta, Indonesia/Bradenton Prep Academy) and a one-over 73 from junior Ross Millman(St. Louis, Mo./Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School), theWolverines closed the second round with a six-under 282 total to give them a 575 day-onetotal and a three-shot lead over the Spartans after 36 holes.
With tee times shifting due to travel plans and cold and windy weather, the Wolverines got off to a slow start on its final-round front nine. Rallying on the back nine, Millman closed with a team-best one-under 71, but the other four starters all posted rounds of more than 75 as the Wolverines tallied a 299 total to lose the team lead and drop to a third-place finish. Duke's 289 and Michigan State's 294 final-round tallies were good enough to help them pass the Wolverines as the Blue Devils rallied for the victory with an 869 total, while the Spartans placed runner up at 873. Individually, Michigan State's Payne Gniewek (69-70-74) and Notre Dame's Max Scodro (70-72-71) shared medalist honors at 213, while Rankin (75-64-75) was third at 214.
After a strong start with the three-under 69, Kim closed with rounds of two-over 74 and a 76 to close at 219, giving him a 12th-place individual finish. Using the final round one-under 71, Millman tied for 13th with a 220 total. He carded rounds of 76 and 73 during the first day. Sitompul gave the Wolverines four top-20 finishes as he tied for 19th at 221 after rounds of 73, 71 and 77. Other Wolverine finishes included senior co-captain Nick Pumford(St. Charles, Mich./St. Charles HS) closing 64th at 235 (78-75-82) and freshman Matt Thompson(Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview HS), who played as an individual, tying for 37th at 225 (78-72-75).
With three top-three finishes, including two team victories, the Wolverines have concluded the fall portion of their schedule and will not compete again until mid-February. For the first time, all 11 Big Ten schools will compete in the Big Ten Match Play event, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to open the spring season. The unique event, which is intended to mimic the formatting of the NCAA Finals, will be played at the TPC of Heron Bay.
Team Standings
1. Duke 291-289-289 = 869 2. Michigan State 293-286-294 = 873 3. MICHIGAN 293-282-299 = 874 4. Louisville 299-284-295 = 878 5. UNC Greensboro 296-291-301 = 888 6. Pepperdine 300-285-304 = 889 7. Notre Dame 297-292-301 = 890 Eastern Michigan 313-280-297 = 890 9. Minnesota 297-294-303 = 894 10. Mississippi State 299-305-293 = 897 11. Memphis 303-286-309 = 898 Maryland 299-290-309 = 898 13. Toledo 310-298-307 = 915 14. South Alabama 312-299-309 = 920
Top Individuals
1. Payne Gniewek, Michigan State 69-70-74 = 213 Max Scodro, Notre Dame 70-72-71 = 213 3. BILL RANKIN, U-M 75-64-75 = 214 4. Adam Long, Duke 73-72-71 = 216 Carlos Sainz, Mississippi State 70-76-70 = 216 Drew Younts, UNC Greensboro 76-70-70 = 216 7. Spencer Anderson, Duke 72-71-74 = 217 Riley Wheeldon, Louisville 74-71-72 = 217 9. Marc-Ettienne Bussieres, South Alabama 73-74-71 = 218 Adam Hadwin, Louisville 75-69-74 = 218 Jack Newman, Michigan State 69-77-72 = 218
Michigan Individuals
12. Lion Kim 69-74-76 = 219 T13. Ross Millman 76-73-71 = 220 T19. Alexander Sitompul 73-71-77 = 221 64. Nick Pumford 78-75-82 = 235 T37. Matt Thompson 78-72-75 = 225* * played as individual
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Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Andrew Sapp
On losing the lead to close third at the Bridgestone... "It was disappointing because we were leading going into the final round. If it were a situation where we played well but somebody just beat us, that would be different, but we just didn't play well. Ross (Millman) played terrific. The nice thing about this tournament is that we had three different players carry us each day with Lion (Kim) shooting 69 in the first round, Bill (Rankin) shooting 64 in the second and Ross with a 71 in the third. That shows our depth, but unfortunately we weren't extremely consistent across the board."
On what happened in the third round... "We teed off first -- Michigan State, Louisville and us. It was just cold in the morning and windy. We didn't get off to the greatest of starts. Lion (Kim) had a couple bad holes on the front nine but shot one-under on the back nine, so he finished strong. Nick (Pumford) has had a good fall, but he was upset with the way he played; that was a little surprising that he played poorly this week because he had played so well for us. Alexander (Sitompul) just couldn't get anything going today after a good day yesterday. Ross (Millman) just played fantastic considering the conditions; to shoot one-under, he kept us from dropping to fourth probably."
On his early thoughts of the success in the fall season... "The good thing about the fall is that we have had contributions from every guy. It hasn't been, sometimes like it was in the past where we had one guy as our low man every week. Instead, it has been good contributions, one through five, so that's promising for the future. We have a lot of work to do over the winter to get prepared for a good spring season because we want to win in the spring as well. It's nice to win the first two tournaments and to play well here. We'll have all winter to work on things and get ready for the Big Ten Match Play in February. Overall, it has been a good start, with a couple of hiccups here and there. To get two wins and a third-place finish is pretty good. If you had told me that at the beginning I would have been satisfied, but right now, I don't feel satisfied because I know we could have done better in our last three events."
U-M Senior Bill Rankin
On his record-tying round of 64... "I got off to a good start; it really wasn't much different from the round before except that I was making putts. I made the par putts I had to make and my birdie putts just seemed to go in. I felt really good on the greens all day. I made one slight change in my setup for the second round and everything just started on line. My reads were right. There's been so many times where I have gotten to two, three or four-under, but I've never been able to take it much deeper than that and I told myself that I have to learn how to take them even deeper. At the same time, I knew whether I'm six- or seven-under my score is counting and every shot mattered. I just focused and really kept my fire up to close out the round well. It meant a lot to close with the score and my teammates watching, but what made it even better was to help put us in a good position as a team."
On the tournament finish for the Wolverines... "It's very disappointing to finish third when we had a three-shot lead going into today. In college golf, with the conditions as difficult as they were, three shots wasn't even one shot per guy, so it really wasn't anything. We were happy to be in that position, but it's something where we were disappointed because it's not like it was our first time with a tournament lead. It's getting a little old to be playing like we are scared to win and we have been playing back on our heels for no reason at all. Early in the season, winning and the good start kind of masked some of the things that we were doing wrong and we've gotten sloppy. We have lost some focus. There is definitely a desire to win, but we don't play with our heads up and aggressive in tournaments, and I think there are some things that we need to address this winter. We're definitely better than this and we know that we should be playing at a higher level. I think that with the senior leadership, along with the desire of the coaches, we can turn it around and really finish events strong."
N O T E S
With Michigan's third-place finish at the Bridgestone Intercollegiate, the Wolverines posted their third top-three finish in the five fall events this season. U-M's other top finishes were back-to-back wins at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate and the Wolverine Intercollegiate.
With a six-under 282 second-round team tally at the Bridgestone Intercollegiate, Michigan closed the fall with four team rounds at or below par. Earlier this season, U-M tied the all-time team record with a nine-under 275 in the second round of the Wolverine Intercollegiate.
Bill Rankin's career-best eight-under 64 in the second round tied the U-M record for a single-round tally. Rankin equaled the 64s posted by Christian Vozza (2003-06), who shot his in the second round of the 2005 Alister MacKenzie Invitational, and Michael Harris (1997-2000), who fired his in the second round of the 1998 Northern Intercollegiate. Rankin's previous best round score was a 66 shot in the second round of the 2008 Maxwell last season.
With his start at The Bridgestone Intercollegiate, Bill Rankin has now started 29 straight tournaments and has not missed a start in the last three seasons. Rankin, Nick Pumford, Lion Kim and Ross Millman have started all five fall events.
With four more rounds under par at the Bridgestone Intercollegiate, Michigan has posted 26 total rounds at or below par in the fall season, with 20 coming from the starters. Nick Pumford and Bill Rankin closed the fall with the team lead of five red numbers.
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
