Final Round Canceled, U-M Places 15th at Brickyard Collegiate

Saturday, October 10

Macon, Ga.

8:30 AM

Michigan

The Brickyard Collegiate

Final Round Canceled, U-M Places 15th at Brickyard Collegiate

10/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

Site: Macon, Ga.
Course: The Brickyard at Riverside (par 72, 7,175 yards)
Tournament: Brickyard Collegiate Championships
U-M Standing: 15th Place of 15 Teams (312-291/603)
Top U-M Individual: Lion Kim, tie-21st (75-70/145)
Next Event: Sat-Sun., Oct. 24-25 -- at Bridgestone Intercollegiate (Greensboro, N.C.)

MACON, Ga. -- With heavy rain mixed with lightning and the forecast looking even worse for the rest of the day, the final round of the Brickyard Collegiate Championship was cancelled today (Monday, Oct. 12), giving the University of Michigan men's golf team a 15th-place finish with a reduced 36-hole tournament score of 603 at The Brickyard at Riverside.

The Wolverines got off to a rough start on Saturday (Oct. 10), posting a 312 first-round tally. The Maize and Blue recovered, however, rallying on Sunday (Oct. 11) in the second round and dropping 21 strokes to post the fifth-best score of the day at 291. Despite the drop in score, the Wolverines remained in 15th place after 36 holes.

Players were only able to get in about six holes before the rains fell today as the Wolverines were off to a strong start in the final round, playing two over before the scores were thrown out and the event was cancelled, which reverted scores back to 36 holes.

For the fourth event in a row, the U-M individual battle was between junior Lion Kim (Lake Mary, Fla./Lake Mary Prep School) and sophomore Matt Thompson (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview HS). After posting a 75 in the first round and following with a two-under 70 in the second, Kim won the battle with a tie for 21st at 145. After playing above par for most of the round, Kim brought it back to even with four holes remaining, before a round-closing eagle helped him to his fourth sub-par round of the season. Thompson opened with a 79 but recovered with an even-par 72 in the second round to tie for 52nd at 151.

Freshman Rahul Bakshi (Chandigarh, India/St. John's HS) closed the reduced event tied for 61st at 152 after rounds of 77 and 75, while fellow freshman Jack Schultz (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay HS) posted an 82 in the first round and dropped eight strokes in the second with a 74 to tie for 74th at 156. In his third straight start, sophomore Alex Frankel (Atlanta, Ga./Lovett School) also tied for 74th at 156 (81-75), while freshman Miguel Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia/The Columbus School) played as an individual, tying for 68th at 154 (74-80).

The Wolverines will have 12 days off before closing out their fall season with a trip to Greensboro, N.C., Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24-25, for the 2009 Bridgestone Intercollegiate. The 54-hole tournament will be played at the Forest Oaks Country Club. Last year, U-M finished third at the event when Bill Rankin nearly won medalist honors and placed third. He highlighted his tournament by tying a U-M record with an eight-under 64 in the second round.

Team Standings

 1. Augusta State   282-281 = 563 (-13) 2. Clemson         293-283 = 576    Chattanooga     291-285 = 576 4. Georgia         300-279 = 579 5. VCU             291-293 = 584 6. LSU             293-292 = 585 7. Mississippi     294-294 = 588    Florida State   296-292 = 588    Virginia Tech   296-292 = 58810. North Florida   293-296 = 589    Charlotte       297-292 = 58912. Georgia Tech    298-295 = 59313. Mercer          299-295 = 59414. Penn State      296-300 = 59615. MICHIGAN        312-291 = 603

Top Individuals

 1. Russell Henley, Georgia            69-65 = 134 (-10) 2. John Tyler Griffin, Georgia Tech   69-70 = 139* 3. Lanto Griffin, VCU                 69-71 = 140    Patrick Reed, Augusta State        69-71 = 140 5. Taylor Floyd, Augusta State        71-70 = 141    Kevin Foley, Penn State            69-72 = 141    Brooks Koepka, Florida State       72-69 = 141    Carter Newman, Augusta State       72-69 = 141    Henrik Norlander, Augusta State    70-71 = 14110. Luke Hopkins, Clemson              73-69 = 142    Fredrik Qvicker, Chattanooga       71-71 = 142

Michigan Individuals

T21. Lion Kim            75-70 = 145T52. Matt Thompson       79-72 = 151T61. Rahul Bakshi        77-75 = 152T74. Jack Schultz        82-74 = 156T74. Alex Frankel        81-75 = 156T68. Miguel Echavarria   74-80 = 154* * played as individual

N O T E S

• With the cancellation of the final round, Michigan played in its first non-54-hole event in over two years -- a span of 30 regular-season, match-play and postseason events. The last time the Wolverines played in an event with fewer than 54 holes was the 2007-08 season opener at Purdue's Midwest Shootout (Sept. 7, 2007), which was reduced to one round due to weather.

• In all four events this fall, either Lion Kim or Matt Thompson has finished as the top Wolverine. Thompson leads with three top finishes, while Kim has two. The duo tied for the top U-M individual finish at the Wolverine at Radrick Farms (Sept. 26-27).

• With his second-round, two-under 70, Lion Kim shot his fourth sub-par round of the season in 11 total rounds. Matt Thompson leads U-M with seven of his 11 rounds at or below par.

• Alex Frankel made his third straight start, while newcomers Jack Schultz and Rahul Bakshi have started all four events this season.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Andrew Sapp
On the Brickyard Collegiate and the cancellation of the final round ... "You always want to finish out a tournament, just to get some more experience. We played so horribly the first round but sometimes failure brings about a good teaching moment. I think our young guys learned a lot from that. Obviously, we improved tremendously in the second round. We had the fifth-best score in the second round. Our goal was to have the best score in the final round but did not get the opportunity to do that. You always feel a little upset that you did not get to complete the tournament because there were a few teams that we could have caught and passed. But they bounced back from an incredibly poor performance in the first round to shoot a good score in the second. We would have liked to play the third to see if we could have improved upon that and maybe get under par."

On what was the Wolverines teaching moment ... "We need to be able to manage our games better when we are not hitting exactly how we want to. That first round we let get away from us when we were not hitting the ball well. We would double or triple when we should have just taken a bogey. I think it was learning to manage our game when we do not have our best swing out on the golf course. Being able to get in at a 73 or 74 instead of a 77 or 78 is what we need to do."

On facing some of the top teams in the nation in Georgia ... "We came down here to compete against the best. We have been playing well this fall, but it has all been in the Midwest. The national championship is in the south, we have other tournaments in Florida. You have to travel around to test out your game on different grass and different courses against different competition. I expected us to compete with top teams, but I didn't feel like the other teams shot scores that we are incapable of shooting."

Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423