Chips and Putts: Hard Work Pays Off
9/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Chips, Putts and Fairway Drives
THURSDAY, SEPT. 11 -- Hard Work Pays Off
With the first tournament days away for the Wolverines, Ross Millman will make his first collegiate start after coming into this season with re-invigorated and determined to make an impact.
"I'm very excited to play this weekend for our team," said Millman. "While this will be my first start, I still feel very prepared for what's to come. I am confident in my game and am eager to display it. My goal is to have fun and help our team to a victory. We have a great team this year and winning this weekend would be a strong start to the year."
With Millman's new outlook, even his teammates noticed the differences as soon as he came back to qualifying. He had a swagger about him. He admitted it was always strange to compete against your best friends for a spot on the team, but he had learned to put that behind him and really focus on playing his game and helping U-M to wins.
"This year our team is stacked with talent," said Millman. "So I knew qualifying would be a grind. Going into it I thought I would have to shoot par or better to get the start. Due to a couple days of poor weather, my one-over par for four rounds was good enough to get the nod from coach. Qualifying is a different type of competitiveness and it can be tough to get used to. The best way to approach it is to forget that you're good buddies and just play golf."
After playing as an individual in two events over his first two seasons with the Wolverines, Millman took the 2008 summer to re-evaluate "everything." He did not want to ride the bench any longer. He wanted to make a push to take his game to the next level and become a starter on the deep Wolverine squad.
"For me, qualifying for Wolf Run really started in May," he added. "My goal was to start our first tournament, so it's good to see that my hard work has paid off."
Captains Corner with Bill Rankin
THURSDAY, SEPT. 11 -- Qualifying Rounds Offer Encouraging Signs
With our first qualifying in the books, our line-up is now set for Wolf Run. Alexander Sitompul led the way after blistering through the first three qualifying rounds at 9-under par. Lion Kim, Nick Pumford, Ross Millman and myself round out the rest of the line-up.
Everyone is very excited for Ross since he is making his first appearance in the starting five. He worked very hard last year and this summer overhauling his game to compete at a higher level. It has shown in his recent results. His dedication and hard work is transforming him from someone that is playing "good" to someone that is considered a "good player."
Since we get to take an individual to Wolf Run, newcomer Alex Frankel will have a chance to play this weekend. After a week of school and practice he has shown he has fire for competition. Although I want him to play well, I hope the individual champion this week comes from a guy in the starting five rather than from the guy in the individual spot ... ahem,Nick Pumford'07.
The results from our first qualifying were encouraging. We had 14 rounds under par, and 4 more at even par. In addition, four different guys had two or more rounds under par. Those qualifying under par rounds mean a lot to the guys because we get block 'M' stickers for under par rounds -- Maize for qualifying and Blue for tournament rounds. You would think stickers would not be of much importance to 18 to 21 year old guys... But it is our version of a helmet sticker in football.
Wolf Run is a tournament we look forward to each year because of the demanding shot values and high level of competition. Also, it's a chance to jump out to a lead in blue stickers!
From the Fringe with Coach Andrew Sapp
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 10 -- Ready For Another Season
We are finally here, ready for the first tournament! The summer flew by, with all of the travel Chris (Whitten) and I did recruiting trying to find the next best Wolverines, but the anticipation for this time of year is over. It has been exciting to see qualifying for Wolf Run. We had four guys average under par and two more average under 72 and now I just hope the good scores in practice translate over to success in competition.
Wolf Run is a great course and one where our players have had success in finishing second last year. Nick (Pumford) is the defending medalist and is excited to return. The field is a bit better this year so it will be a challenge to win the event, but our experienced core will have a great feeling when we get back there. It is also great to get Ross (Millman) in his first start. He has worked very hard and improved so much in the past two years and earned this with his solid play in qualifying. We are also excited to see Alex (Frankel) play in his first collegiate tournament as an individual there. His incredible 67 (with a hole in one) in the first round of qualifying raised the bar for some of our veterans and they stepped up to the challenge for the last three rounds of qualifying.
It has been a very busy couple of weeks with the start of school, qualifying and recruits on campus, but now we are set to get the season started.
Captains Corner with Nick Pumford
SUNDAY, SEPT.8 -- Weekend Comes and Goes
Back to class again! My weekend seemed like it just flew by. I went to the game Saturday and then played a little tennis afterwards with Bill (Rankin). I still have yet to beat him, but his time is coming! Sunday was a long day! I woke up at 7 a.m. to pouring rain outside, knowing we have 36 holes all day! The weather eventually cooperated after six holes and things were rolling. I played pretty solid, shooting 70 and 69 to go along with my 71 previously in the week. That puts me at second place on the team, with the top four automatically qualifying. Alexander (Sitompul) has been on fire. His rounds have been 69, 67 and 68 and apparently he could have gone much lower than that. It's exciting to see that from him! The guys overall played decent, but we have some improvement to do throughout the year. One more round of qualifying then we leave Thursday for Wolf Run. Now it's back to class!
Captains Corner with Nick Pumford
FRIDAY, SEPT.6 -- New Year, New People, New Beginnings
It's finally good to be back with the guys again to get ready for a new year! Everyone seems really excited to get the season started and qualifying on the way. We had our first qualifier on Thursday of last week. I played okay shooting even par but still need to work on things and be more consistent. What really impressed me though was the consistency on our team. No one shot above 74 which I think is a first in my three years here and Alex Frankel -- aka "Frank" -- shot a four-under 67. Not too bad for a freshman in his first qualifier. We have a 36-hole qualifier on Sunday so basically I went to the football game today and going out later tonight to practice. Assignments and readings are starting to roll in with classes so that will pretty much take up my entire weekend. Also, Entourage starts Sunday night so I think the team is going to have a get together to watch that.
Players Mentioned
