Wolverines' Postseason Begins with Big Ten Championships
4/26/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 26, 2017
Tomorrow's start of #B1GMGolf Champs has new meaning for seniors @ReedHrynewich & Bryce Evon, experience as yielded maturity in big events! pic.twitter.com/4GEWvsa2bY
— Michigan Golf (@umichgolf) April 28, 2017
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• Honors & Awards: 2016-17 | Scholar Story: Bryce Evon
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sun., April 28-30 -- at Big Ten Championships (Baltimore, Md.)
Live Scoring | Big Ten Men's Golf | Big Ten Championships | Baltimore Country Club
Next on the Tee: Big Ten Championships
Postseason play is finally here! The University of Michigan men's golf team will shift its focus toward the Wolverines' second season as they travel to Baltimore, Maryland, Friday through Sunday (April 28-30) for the 54-hole Big Ten Championships. For the sixth straight year, the conference tournament will be held at a neutral site. This year's conference event will be held at Baltimore Country Club. The conference tournament will be played in a 5-count-4 format with the Baltimore C.C. set up for a par of 70 at 7,181 yards.
The Big Ten Championships Field
All 14 conference schools will participate in the 2017 Big Ten Championships. The seeding (1-14) with GolfStat relative rankings (as of April 19th) include: #1 Illinois (23), #2 Northwestern (37), #3 Purdue (49), #4 Penn State (66), #5 Michigan (89), #6 Maryland (94), #7 Ohio State (96), #8 Iowa (97), #9 Minnesota (99), #10 Michigan State (120), #11 Nebraska (153), #12 Wisconsin (171), #13 Indiana (197) and #14 Rutgers (225).
The Big Ten Championships Schedule
Thursday, April 27 -- Practice Round (18), 9:49 a.m.
Thursday, April 27 -- Coaches Meeting, 6 p.m.
Thursday, April 27 -- B1G Championships Banquet 6:30 p.m.
Friday, April 28 -- First Round (18), tee times off No. 1 and No. 10, 9 a.m.
Saturday, April 29 -- Second Round (18), tee times off No. 1 and No. 10, 9 a.m.
Sunday, April 30 -- Final Round (18), tee times off No. 1 and No. 10, 8 a.m.
The Big Ten Championships
First Round
Tee #1 (9:00 a.m.) -- #1 Illinois, #2 Northwestern, #3, Purdue
Tee #1 (9:45 a.m.) -- #4 Penn State, #5 Michigan, #6 Maryland
Tee #10 (9:00 a.m.) -- #7 Ohio State, #8 Iowa
Tee #10 (9:40 a.m.) -- #9 Minnesota, #10 Michigan State, #11 Nebraska
Tee #10 (10:25 a.m.) -- #12 Wisconsin, #13 Indiana, #14 Rutgers
Second Round
Tee #1 (9:00 a.m.) -- #4 Team, #5 Team, #6 Team
Tee #1 (9:45 a.m.) -- #1 Team, #2 Team, #3 Team
Tee #10 (9:00 a.m.) -- #7 Team, #8 Team
Tee #10 (9:40 a.m.) -- #9 Team, #10 Team, #11 Team
Tee #10 (10:25 a.m.) -- #12 Team, #13 Team, #14 Team
Final Round
Tee #1 (8:00 a.m.) -- #1 Team, #2 Team, #3 Team
Tee #1 (8:45 a.m.) -- #4 Team, #5 Team, #6 Team
Tee #10 (8:00 a.m.) -- #7 Team, #8 Team
Tee #10 (8:40 a.m.) -- #9 Team, #10 Team, #11 Team
Tee #10 (9:25 a.m.) -- #12 Team, #13 Team, #14 Team
The Big Ten Championships Lineup
Michigan will have five players travel to the conference championships, including junior Kyle Mueller, sophomore Nick Carlson and seniors Reed Hrynewich, Bryce Evon and Tom Swanson.
Big Ten Championships Experience
• Reed Hrynewich -- fourth: 2014 (t31st, 306), 2015 (t-38th, 304), 2016 (t-55th, 232)
• Kyle Mueller -- third: 2015 (t-42nd, 305), 2016 (3rd, 209, -7)
• Bryce Evon -- second: 2015 (t-42nd, 305)
• Tom Swanson -- second: 2016 (t-28th, 221)
• Nick Carlson -- second: 2016 (35th, 224)
Last Year at the Big Ten Championships
Michigan posted an 867 (-3) total and tied for fourth at the Big Ten Championships (April 22-24) -- the program's best finish is six years. Kyle Mueller earned All-Big Ten Tournament honors after finishing third with a 209 (-7) and set 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 with a 215 (-1). [ Recap ]
Michigan at the Big Ten Championships
Michigan has won 12 Big Ten championships throughout the history of the program with the last coming in the 1952 season. Individually, U-M has had 15 players win medalist honors at the conference event with the last in 1999 by Michael Harris.
WOLVERINE BITES
• How has the season gone? Michigan has posted six top-three finishes, with three team titles (Dayton Flyer Invitational, Desert Mountain Intercollegiate and Aggie Invitational), four individual medalists and one individual runner-up. The Wolverines are averaging a U-M record pace 290.50 per team round with Kyle Mueller (71.11) and Nick Carlson (72.71) in a battle for the individual scoring record.
• U-M's individual battle for the top two spots is still close. Kyle Mueller is holding the lead with a 71.11 per-round average with 16 sub-par rounds. Nick Carlson has 10 rounds under par and is second at 72.71. U-M has 42 sub-par rounds to date and average 74.06 per individual round.
• After having to withdraw from the final round of the Desert Mount Intercollegiate due to illness, Kyle Mueller has responded, leading the Wolverines tying for 10th at the Linger Longer Invitational and winning the rain-shortened Aggie Invitational. In fact, he has produced five of his last eight rounds under par. Overall, he has six top-10 finishes and continues to lead U-M with a record-pace 71.11 per-round average, producing 16 of U-M's 42 sub-par rounds this season.
• With his expected start at the Big Ten Championships, Kyle Mueller will have started all 36 tournaments of his career. He played in 13 events as a freshman after earning an individual invite to the NCAA Finals and started all 11 events as a sophomore. In addition to Mueller, Nick Carlson has yet to miss a tournament in two seasons, starting all 22 of his events in his young career.
• Kyle Mueller is averaging 213.29 per 54-hole event. In fact, four of his seven tallies are under-par with a season-low 209 (-7) posted at the Windon Memorial Classic (Sept. 25-26). All five of Mueller's 54-hole event tallies are part of the top 10 tallied this season.
• Reed Hrynewich led the Wolverines to their second team title this season at the Desert Mountain intercollegiate (March 4-5). Hrynewich guided the Maize and Blue with his runner-up medalist honor, posting a career-best 207 (-9) total and smashing his 54-hole previous best by seven strokes. En route to his best finish since his freshman season, he opened his tournament with a 68 (-4) and followed with a career-best 66 (-6), which included two eagles and four birdies. In his final season he is averaging a career-best 73.61, just under a stroke better than his prior best as a sophomore (74.39).
• Using four individual sub-par rounds, Michigan posted a 270 (-14) final round at the Inverness Intercollegiate (Sept. 19-20) to lower the program single-round record by two shots. Last fall, U-M posted a 272 (-12) in the first round of the MacKenzie (Oct. 12-13, 2015) to set a new program mark. Overall, it is just the seventh double-digit under par team total in U-M history. In addition, the record round shattered the event's single-round record by seven, which was posted by Duke (277) in the tournament's first round.
• En route to U-M's record-breaking 270 (-14) team total, Tom Swanson and Nick Carlson each carded career-best rounds of 67 (-4). Swanson, who broke 70 for the first time in his U-M career, played the opening nine holes at six under with two eagles and three birdies to help record his top round. With five birdies and an eagle of his own, Carlson lowered his previous best by a shot.
• U-M coach Chris Whitten had three early signings in the fall -- Connor Prassas (Winnetka, Ill.), Charlie Pilon (Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia) and Henry Spring (Whakatane, New Zealand). [ Release ]
FILLING THE SHOWCASE WITH INDIVIDUAL TROPHIES
• Kyle Mueller used back-to-back rounds of 69 (-3) to win the rain shortened Aggie Invitational (April 1-2) with a U-M 36-hole record tying 138 (-6) total. He made 10 birdies in his 36 holes en route to the victory. The individual title is the second this season and the third of his career. [ Recap ]
• Ian Kim walked away with the individual title at the Dayton Individual (Oct. 17-18), winning a playoff against teammate Nick Carlson and helping U-M to its first team title of the season. Kim opened with a U-M career-best 70 (-1) and battled gusty winds to shoot 72 in the second round, finding himself tied with Carlson after regulation. Kim then got up and down for par on the first playoff hole to claim the individual trophy. [ Recap ]
• Kyle Mueller was the only individual to shoot three sub-par rounds at the Windon Memorial Classic (Sept. 25-26). Using his length to his advantage, he played the par 5s at six under while recording 12 total birdies and an eagle. After back-to-back rounds of one-under 71, he was tied for seventh. Battling the gusty winds in the final round, he posted at 67 (-5) for the 78-player field's only sub-70 round to cap his second career title by three shots at 209 (-7). [ Recap ]
• Winning the first hole of a playoff, Nick Carlson won U-M's season-opening event -- the Inverness Intercollegiate (Sept. 19-20) played at the famed Inverness Club. With a final-round career-best 67, Carlson finished regulation with a career-best 209 (69-73-67, -4) and tied with Duke's Jake Shuman (70-71-68). With a playoff needed to determine the overall medalist, Carlson stuck his approach to 15 feet for birdie and then tapped in for par on the opening hole, while Shuman missed right and bogeyed from 30 feet. [ Recap ]
Michigan at the NCAA Postseason
Last year's NCAA regional selection marked U-M's 39th NCAA postseason appearance and the program's ninth team regional since the format changed to regional play in 1989. The Wolverines have participated in six Central Regionals (1995, '97, 2000, '08, '10, '11), the Southwest Regional (2009), the Washington Regional (2015) and the Vanderbilt Regional (2016). Overall, U-M has made 22 NCAA Final appearances, winning back-to-back national titles in 1934 and 1935.
Team History at the Regional
1995: Central - 12th (890)
1997: Central - 8th (874)
2000: Central - t-11th (866)
2008: Central - t-12th (904)
2009: Southwest - 5th (888) - advanced to NCAA Finals
2010: Central - t-6th (848)
2011: Central - 1st (841) - advanced to NCAA Finals
2015: Washington - 7th (863)
2016: Vanderbilt - 10th (872)
Chips & Putts
• Michigan has a record of 78-50-2 overall and 15-9-1 against the Big Ten this season.
• U-M is averaging just over a school-record-pace 290.50 per team round. The all-time mark was set last season (290.21, 2015-16).
• The Wolverines tallied a U-M-record 270 (-14) in the final round of the Inverness Intercollegiate (Sept. 19-20). It topped the 272 (-12) set last season set in the first round of The MacKenzie in 2015.
• A Wolverine has won four stroke play events -- Nick Carlson at the Inverness Intercollegiate, Kyle Mueller twice -- at the Windon Memorial Classic and the Aggie Invitational -- and Ian Kim at the Dayton Flyer Invitational. Reed Hrynewich was the medalist runner-up at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate.
• With four individual titles and one runner-up -- the Wolverines have garnered four Big Ten Golfer of the Week honors.
• Through 11 events, Mueller (71.11) and Carlson (72.71) are close to resetting U-M's all-time mark for scoring average, set by Mueller (71.72, 2015-16) last season.
The Maize and Blue Run at the 2016 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, Michigan. 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
Thursday, May 4 -- NCAA Selection Show (Golf Channel), Noon
Mon-Wed., May 15-17 -- at NCAA Regional (TBD)
Fri-Wed., May 26-31 -- at NCAA Finals (Sugar Grove, Ill.)
Communications Contact: Tom Wywrot
Players Mentioned
