Michigan
Border Olympics
Anderson's Top-Five Final-Round Rally Gives U-M Third-Place Finish at Border Olympics
2/14/2023 5:18:00 PM | Men's Golf
» With a final-round best 290, Michigan jumped four spots to finish third with an 879 total at Houston's Border Olympics at the Laredo Country Club.
» With a 215 (-1), Will Anderson led U-M tying for fifth, which is his first top five finish of the season and second sub-par 54-hole total of the season.
» Hunter Thomson tied for 21st with a 221 total.
» U-M has now posted five top-five finishes in six events this season.
Site: Laredo, Texas
Tournament: Border Olympics
Course: Laredo Country Club (Par 72, 7,240 yards)
U-M Team Standing: 3rd Place of 17 Teams (297-292-290/879)
Top U-M Individual: Will Anderson, t-17th (72-71-72/215, -1)
Next U-M Event: Mon-Wed., Feb. 27-March 1 -- at Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate (Henderson, Nev.)
LAREDO, Texas -- Using a top-five finish by senior Will Anderson and a final-round rally producing a closing 290 on Tuesday (Feb. 14), the University of Michigan men's golf team tallied an two-day total of 879 to jump four spots and finished third at the Border Olympics played at the Laredo Country Club.
Coming off the team victory at the Big Ten Match Play Championship, the Wolverines opened their first spring stroke-play event posting a 304 and were led by Anderson's even par 72 to position themselves 10th. Making their way around to the second 18 of the day, U-M responded and had moved up four positions before play was suspended due to darkness. As all five Wolverine starters had one or two holes remaining, the Wolverines closed with a seven-shot improvement (292) and moved into seventh with a 589 36-hole total.
With a feel for the course, the Wolverines went into the final round red hot, as they reached as low as seven-under midway through the round. As Anderson and sophomore Yuqi Liu each posted even 72s, redshirt-sophomore Ben Hoagland and sophomore Hunter Thomson followed with a pair of 73s (+1) giving U-M a closing 290 team tally -- the lowest final-round total of the 17-team field.
"Another very solid day in the books," said U-M head coach Zach Barlow. "Will (Anderson) led the way all week and that was great to see. This team has just scratched the surface as far as how good they can be. It's getting fun around here and the hard work they've put in is continuing to show up at tournaments. The low final round is something we can build on these next two weeks while we get ready for Las Vegas.
"As far as challenging ourselves all the way to the end … that's just who we are. We're fighters. Every shot counts, every win counts -- especially in men's team golf. The way they fight says a lot about what this team and this university means to them."
With his 215 (-1) total, Anderson (72-71-72) paced the Wolverines the entire event as he tied for fifth individually -- his first top-five of the season and second sub-par top 54-hole total.
"I definitely learned a lot this week about my game," said Anderson. "It gives me confidence going forward. I made a ton of birdies which is always fun; I just need to clean a few things up for the next event. Overall, this was another good week. Having the low final round (as a team) is definitely something to build off of. We closed off the second and third round really well with our short games. But we fought hard all tournament and found a way up the leaderboard which is awesome."
Thomson tallied a 221 (74-74-73) to give U-M two in the top 25 as he tied for 21st, while Liu (77-75-72) and Hoagland (79-72-73) each tied for 34th with 224 totals. Junior Jude Kim tied for 52nd at 228 (74-79-75).
With two strong spring finishes, the Wolverines will head west in two weeks for their next competition -- the Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate at the Reflection Bay Golf Club in Henderson, Nev. -- Monday through Wednesday, Feb. 27-March 1. Last year, the Maize and Blue was 10th as three Wolverines posted top-40 finishes.
Final Team Standings
 1. Baylor                283-280-293 = 856 (-8)  2. Houston               291-289-291 = 871  3. MICHIGAN              297-292-290 = 879  4. ULM                   289-299-292 = 880  5. Coastal Carolina      287-294-300 = 881  6. Wright State          298-295-292 = 885  7. Louisiana Tech        292-294-302 = 888  8. Sam Houston           287-295-307 = 889  9. New Mexico State      290-304-298 = 892 10. Rice                  293-301-299 = 893 11. Illinois State        294-298-302 = 894 12. Lamar                 307-301-299 = 907 13. Bowling Green         306-297-306 = 909 14. Miami (Ohio)          309-305-296 = 910    Western Carolina      299-305-306 = 910 16. UT-Rio Grande Valley  314-293-308 = 915 17. Houston Christian     310-303-309 = 922
Top Individuals
1. Santiago De La Fuente, Houston  70-71-71 = 212 (-4)  2. Johnny Keefer, Baylor            70-69-74 = 213  3. Davis Root Wright State         73-71-70 = 214    Raghav Chugh, Rice              69-74-71 = 214  5. WILL ANDERSON, U-M              72-71-72 = 215    Otto Van Buynder, ULM           70-75-70 = 215    Trey Bosco, Baylor              70-74-71 = 215  8. Seth Taylor, Coastal Carolina   69-76-71 = 216    James Swash, Louisiana Tech     71-73-72 = 216    Tyler Isenhart, Baylor          73-68-75 = 216    Drew Wrightson, Baylor          72-69-75 = 216
Michigan Individuals
T21. Hunter Thomson  74-74-73 = 221 T34. Ben Hoagland    79-72-73 = 224 T34. Yuqi Liu        77-75-72 = 224 T52. Jude Kim        74-79-75 = 228
Players Mentioned
