Mueller Concludes NCAA Championships, Ties for 94th

Monday, June 1

Bradenton, Fla.

7:00 AM

Michigan

NCAA Championships

6/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

June 1, 2015

Kyle Mueller

• Notes & Quotes | NCAA Championships

Site: Bradenton, Fla.
Course: The Concession Club (par 72, 7,483 yards)
Tournament: NCAA Championships (Day 4 of 4)
U-M Team Standing: No Team Scoring
Top U-M Individual: Kyle Mueller, tie-94th (74-80-75/229)
Next U-M Event: Season Complete

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Returning to the Concession Golf Club for his final five holes after yesterday's weather suspension, University of Michigan freshman men's golfer Kyle Mueller closed his NCAA Championships posting a three-over 75 in today's (Monday, June 1) third round and did not advance to the individual championship final round.

Overall, Mueller tied for 94th after closing with a 229 three-round tally. Playing as the lone Wolverine in the 156-player field, he opened his NCAA Finals on Friday (May 29) carding a two-over 74 paced by five back-side birdies highlighting his scorecard. He was unable to match the first round's success as he slipped back in Saturday's (May 30) second round with an 80.

Returning for his third round yesterday (Sunday, May 31), Mueller stood three over par through 13 holes, before lightning strikes in the area suspended play. Returning this morning, he played his final five holes even par after two bogeys were erased by an eagle on the 17th hole to give him a closing 75 and a 229 total.

With his three-round tally, Mueller did not make the cut for the final round to decide the NCAA individual champion as well as determine seeding for the team match play final.

Top Individuals (After Day 3 of 4)

 1. Bryson Dechambeau, SMU          70-67-72 = 209 (-7) 2. Paul Dunne, UAB                 72-69-69 = 210 3. Claudio Correa, South Florida   68-75-69 = 212    Thomas Detry, Illinois          68-71-73 = 212    Zach Healy, Georgia             70-72-70 = 212 6. Zach Wright, LSU                70-70-73 = 213 7. Cheng-Tsung Pan, Washington     72-70-72 = 214    Eric Ricard, LSU                72-74-68 = 214    Hunter Stewart, Vanderbilt      74-69-71 = 21410. Andrew Presley, TCU             73-70-72 = 215    Brandon Pierce, LSU             71-71-73 = 215    Mookie DeMoss, Georgia          71-74-70 = 215    Doug Ghim, Texas                72-73-70 = 215

Michigan Individual

T94. Kyle Mueller   74-80-75 = 229

N O T E S

• In the third round, Kyle Mueller played the four par 5s at five-under par. He recorded birdies on Nos. 3, 7 and 13 before eagling the 17th to give him the five-under score. After a perfect driver, he hit a 4-iron from 238 to the back of the pin. With an 18 foot putt below the hole, he thought he left it short, but as it looked like it was going to stop it fell in for eagle.

• Mueller is the first Wolverine individual to play at the NCAA Finals in 30 years. The last U-M individual to play at the NCAA Finals was Dan Roberts in 1985.

• Mueller started all 13 events this season for Michigan. He along with teammate Chris O'Neill were the only Wolverines to start 12 events, with Mueller gaining an extra event after earning an individual trip to the NCAA Finals.

• Mueller finish the season with a 72.89 per round average, which ties him for the eight lowest scoring average in U-M history. The mark also shattered the freshman scoring record of Matt Thompson (73.54; 2008-09). He finished the season with team-best 11 sub-par rounds.

Q U O T E S

U-M Freshman Kyle Mueller
On his NCAA Finals ... "Obviously it is not how I wanted to finish. I was looking for a little better week to cap off the year, but it was definitely a great experience and a great learning experience about myself and the game of golf. Overall it was a lot of fun."

On any specific takeaway he learned and will bring back to the team ... "I learned you need to be mentally sound. The course was a lot tougher than we played all year. If you have one or two bogeys you have to be mentally sound to bounce back and forget it. I fell into trouble this week getting upset after one or two shots and carrying that to the next swing, which is never good. Everyone is going to have a bad swing or a bad hole, the ability to forget that and to step up on the next hole and treat it like it is brand new is what we have to do. Really take it one shot at a time. Everyone says that, but trying to do it is a lot harder than staying it."

On looking ahead to the future ... "I know moving forward as a team, getting to NCAA regionals was a goal we set at the beginning of the year and we accomplished that. However, we didn't make it to NCAAs as a team. Achieving goal and getting that experience can only help next year. We are headed in the right direction and we are looking forward to getting back next year. With the addition of Nick (Carlson) we should be a pretty strong team. If and when we do make it, I would love to be able to draw on my experiences from this week to try and help the team out in any way I can."

On his freshman season ... "I never really had an expectations coming into this year. I just wanted to stay consistent. I didn't have any thoughts or true goals coming in. Honestly, I just wanted to make the team as a freshman and from there play in every tournament. This has really been an incredible year for me. If I did have any expectations this season has, and would have, blown them out of the water."

Michigan Head Coach Chris Whitten
On the experiences and takeaways from the season as well as the NCAA Finals ... "The season was definitely a positive step for the team. Making it to the NCAA regional was a goal we have had for a couple of years now. Overall, we competed well. Ultimately we wanted our season to continue all the way to this week (at NCAA Finals) and to the very end of the championship. We need experiences like this to build on and to keep going in the right direction because when you get to this next stage everyone can play and it really becomes a mental game -- a game of confidence. Having experiences like this, especially for Kyle, is going to help us so much going forward."

On looking to next season ... "We have to keep building. We are to a point now where guys in the lineup will be in there fourth year of starting an event. It should be a deep team with high expectations. We have to have momentum from all there summer play coming into the fall. We are going to go and try to win tournaments and when we get to the end of the year we want to be playing to win a championship. I am expecting to have a fun year and I am looking forward to it already."

• Previous Results: Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

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