This Week in Michigan Men's Golf: Inverness Intercollegiate
9/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 16, 2016
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THIS WEEK
Mon-Tue., Sept. 19-20 -- at Inverness Intercollegiate (Toledo, Ohio)
Live Scoring | Inverness Club
On the Tee: Inverness Intercollegiate
The University of Michigan men's golf team opens the season Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 19-20) at the Inverness Intercollegiate in Toledo, Ohio. The 13-team field will play 54 holes over the two-day event held at the prestigious Inverness Club. Selected teams, including U-M, will be allowed to have an invited individual. The field will open with 36 holes on Monday and a final 18 on Tuesday. The course will be set up for a par 71 and 7,300 yards.
The Inverness Intercollegiate Field
There will be 13 teams in the field at the Inverness Intercollegiate including: Auburn, Austin Peay, Ball State, Bowling Green, Duke, Miami (Ohio), Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, Saint Mary's (Calif.), Toledo and Virginia.
The Inverness Intercollegiate Schedule
Sunday, Sept. 18 -- Practice Round (18), 12:30 p.m. (tee times off No. 1)
Monday, Sept. 19 -- First Round (18), 8:30 a.m. (shotgun)
Monday, Sept. 19 -- Second Round (18), continuous play following first round completion
Tuesday, Sept. 20 -- Final Round (18), 8 a.m. (tee times off No. 1 & 10)
The Inverness Intercollegiate First Day
Michigan will be paired with Miami (Ohio) and Virginia for the first 36 holes of the Inverness Intercollegiate. The Wolverines, Red Hawks and Cavaliers will start on holes 5, 6 and 7.
The Inverness Intercollegiate Lineup
Michigan will bring a five-member starting squad for the Inverness Intercollegiate -- junior Kyle Mueller, senior Tom Swanson, senior Reed Hrynewich, sophomore Nick Carlson and senior Bryce Evon. Freshman Taisei Negishi will make his collegiate debut as an invited individual.
The Inverness Intercollegiate History
• Michigan has played in five Inverness Intercollegiates since the tournament began in 2000.
• U-M competed in the inaugural event in 2000, tying for 9th (306-298-305/909). Playing as an individual, Scott Hayes won the event in a scorecard playoff after finishing with an even-par 213 (71-72-70).
• Seven years later, the Wolverines returned to the event in 2007, finishing 15th (909).
• Over the past five years, the Maize and Blue has made three trips to the Rockets' home event -- 2011 (t-7th, 301), 2012 (t-9th, 900) and 2015 (3rd, 884).
• Last season, Kyle Mueller was the medalist runner-up with a one-over 214 (70-74-70).
• The Wolverines had a sixth visit to the Inverness Club during the 2009 NCAA Championships. Finishing sixth (296-285-287/868) in the stroke-play team qualifier, U-M was as a national semifinalist in new match-play format to determine the team champion. Michigan defeated USC, 3-2, in the quarterfinal before losing to eventual national champion Texas A&M, 3-1-1, in the semifinal.
REVIEWING 2015-16
Led by the duo of Chris O'Neill and Kyle Mueller, U-M continued its steady climb up the Big Ten ladder as well as within the national scene in 2015-16. The Wolverines posted their best finish in six years at the Big Ten Championships and earned an NCAA regional team bid for the second straight season. Mueller's third-place individual performance at the Big Ten Championships helped Michigan tie for fourth at the conference tournament, and the Maize and Blue finished 10th in NCAA Regional action at Vanderbilt's Legends Club to end its season. The Wolverines, who had a pair of runner-up tournament finishes, broke a school record with their 290.21 per-round stroke average, and Mueller set the U-M individual scoring record (71.72).
WOLVERINE BITES
• Former Ball State golf standout, professional player and Ann Arbor native Patrick Wilkes-Krier was named the Wolverines new assistant coach after Nick Pumford left the program to take over as the head coach at Oakland. During an eight-year professional career, Wilkes-Krier competed primarily on the National Golf Association Tour and was named the 2011 Tour's Most Improved Player. Following his professional career, he became an instructor in 2015 at the Kendall Academy at Miles of Golf outside of Ann Arbor. He continues to serve as the director/instructor of the elite junior program, where he teaches and mentors middle- and high-school golfers.
• After three seniors graduated from last year's roster, U-M replaced them with Idaho transfer Ian Kim and freshmen Brent Ito and Taisei Negishi. Kim will have immediate eligibility and two seasons remaining. He played two years with Idaho starting eight of 11 events last season, carrying a 73.88 per-round average. He earned All-Big Sky second team honors and posted three top-25 individual finishes. Ito played at Ardsley High School and qualified for four straight NYSPHSAA Golf Championships, finishing as runner-up in 2016. Negishi played at Rancho Bernardo High School and was named the 2015 Palomar League Golfer of the Year and first team. He led Rancho Bernardo team runner-up finish at the 2014 CIF/CGA State High School Championship, tying for 13th individually.
• With his expected start in the season opener at the Inverness Intercollegiate, Kyle Mueller has started the all 24 tournaments of his career. He played in 13 events as a freshman after earning an individual invite to the NCAA Finals after nearly winning the 2014 NCAA Washington Regional (t-2nd). Last season, he started all 11 events.
• Last season, Michigan set the program record for team scoring with a 290.21 per-round average. The Wolverines averaged 868.56 per 54-hole tournament and shattered the school 54-hole record by 15 strokes with an 824 (-28) total at the MacKenzie (Oct. 12-13), which included a new team single-round record of 272 (-12) in the first round.
• The Wolverines posted a Michigan Big Ten Tournament record of 867 (-3) and tied for fourth at the Big Ten Championships (April 22-24) -- the program's best finish in six years. Kyle Mueller earned All-Big Ten Tournament honors after finishing third with a 209 (-7), setting the U-M 54-hole record at the conference tournament by five shots. Chris O'Neill earned his third career top-20 conference tournament finish as he tied for 12th at 215 (-1).
• Michigan finished the regular season with five top-five finishes in nine events, including runner-up placing's at the Windon Memorial Classic (Sept. 27-28), where Mueller and freshman Nick Carlson both tied for third individually, and the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate (March 5-6).
The Maize & Blue Run at the U.S. Amateur
Michigan had three players -- Nick Carlson, Kyle Mueller and Tom Swanson -- qualify and compete at the 2016 U.S. Amateur played at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich. Carlson, who earned the 41st seed for match play, was the lone Wolverine to advance out of match play and had a magical run to the Final Four.
After a 2-and-1 win over Zach Foshee (Oregon), Carlson faced No. 9 Scott Gregory (England). With the first of two 19-hole wins on the day, he took down Gregory and followed with a second extra hole win over No. 8 K.K. Lambhaust (Cal) to reach the Elite Eight.
Trailing by two after nine holes to No. 33 seed Dylan Meyer (Illinois), a weather delay midway through the match helped Carlson refocus as he rallied to win five of the first six backside holes which led to an eventual 3-and-1 victory. Facing Curtis Luck in the semifinal, Carlson held a 1-up lead through 17 holes before dropping the 18th hole sending the match to extra holes. In a dramatic three extra holes, Carlson came up just short losing 1-up to the eventual U.S. Amateur champ Luck. [ Reliving the U.S. Amateur | U-M at U.S. Amateur ]
UP NEXT
Sun-Mon., Sept. 25-26 -- at Windon Memorial Classic (Glenview, Ill.)
Mon-Tue., Oct. 3-4 -- at Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate (Vestavia Hills, Ala.)
Communications Contact: Tom Wywrot
Players Mentioned
