Michigan
NCAA Southwest Regional (Day 3)
Inverness Bound! Team Effort Helps U-M Advance to NCAA Finals
5/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Site: Austin, Texas
Course: University of Texas Golf Course (par 71, 7,412 yards)
Tournament: NCAA Southwest Regional
U-M Standing: 5th Place of 13 Teams (301-295-292/888)
Top U-M Individual: Lion Kim, tie-18th (73-76-73/222)
Next Event: Wed-Sat., May 27-30 -- at NCAA Finals (Toledo, Ohio)
AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Michigan men's golf team rallied today (Saturday, May 16) in a dramatic final round to post the day's top team round, 292, and jump two positions to finish fifth at the NCAA Southwest Regional and advance to the NCAA Finals for the first time in 12 years.
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Lion Kim
With the top five teams and the top individual from a non-qualifying team advancing to the NCAA Finals, which will be held Wednesday through Saturday, May 27-30, at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio, the Wolverines kept themselves in position all regional long before a final-round push that helped move them on to the NCAA Championship.
Opening Thursday's opening round, a two-over 73 from sophomore Lion Kim (Lake Mary, Fla./Lake Mary Prep School) and a three-over 74 from freshman Matt Thompson (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview HS) helped U-M posted a 301 team total putting the Wolverines in seventh after 18 holes. With an even-par 71 from senior co-captain Bill Rankin (Traverse City, Mich./Central HS) along with a 72 from Thompson on day two, the Wolverines improved with a 295 team tally but still found themselves in a tie for seventh, just three shots off the pace heading into the final day of play.
After getting through one hole in today's final round, the entire 13-team field was called off the course as heavy rains hammered the course. After two and a half hours, the tournament field went back out to close the final round. With an 8:20 p.m. deadline to finish, the field knew they had to push to get 18 holes in before darkness. With that in mind, U-M pushed using a strong team effort to help the Wolverines advance to the NCAA Finals for the first time since 1997.
Sophomore Alexander Sitompul (Jakarta, Indonesia/Bradenton Prep) and senior co-captain Nick Pumford (St. Charles, Mich./St. Charles HS) guided the way for U-M's 292 in the final round reaching the clubhouse with a one-over 72 and two-over 73, respectively. With the momentum growing for the Maize and Blue, Rankin followed with a solid three-over 74 as the Wolverines grew closer and closer to the berth. In the end, Kim clinched U-M's berth by carding a two-over 73 and giving the Maize and Blue an 888 54-hole total.
In addition to U-M's advancement, the eighth-ranked Florida Gators used a 294 final round to move from third to first, winning the Southwest regional with an 874 total (293-287-294). Seventeenth-ranked Texas Tech (282-296-298) closed as the runner-up at 876, while host and 24th-ranked Texas (291-285-301) was third at 877. Fifth-ranked Stanford also advanced after finishing fourth at 887 (294-299-294). Lamar's Hugues Joannes moved on as the individual after tying for fourth with at 216 (68-74-74).
Individually for U-M, all five Wolverines posted top-50 finishes. Kim, who finished at 222 (73-76-73), led the way, tying for 18th in his team-leading fifth top-20 finish of the season. In his first NCAA postseason, Thompson tied for 23rd at 223 (74-72-77), while Sitompul (77-76-72) and Rankin (80-71-74) both tied for 31st at 225. Pumford rounded out the Wolverines starting five, tying for 50th at 231 (77-81-73).
Michigan is one of five Big Ten teams to advance to the NCAA Finals after Illinois was third at the Northeast regional, Ohio State tied for third at the Central regional, Northwestern tied for fourth at South Central regional and Iowa closed fifth at Southeast regional.
Team Standings
1. Florida 293-287-294 = 874 2. Texas Tech 282-296-298 = 876 3. Texas 291-285-301 = 877 4. Stanford 294-299-294 = 887 5. MICHIGAN 301-295-292 = 888 6. Lamar 296-298-297 = 891 7. UNLV 296-289-307 = 892 8. Texas-Arlington 308-290-295 = 893 9. California 306-290-300 = 896 10. Mississippi State 305-297-299 = 901 11. New Mexico State 309-292-308 = 909 12. Virginia Tech 302-306-302 = 910 13. Jackson State 335-315-342 = 992
Top Individuals
1. Lance Lopez, Texas 68-69-72 = 209
2. Billy Horschel, Florida 72-74-68 = 214
3. Chris Ward, Texas Tech 71-73-71 = 215
4. Nils Floren, Texas Tech 70-73-73 = 216
Hugues Joannes, Lamar 68-74-74 = 216
Dodge Kemmer, Stanford 76-70-70 = 216
7. Tyson Alexander, Florida 75-68-74 = 217
Travis Reid, New Mexico State 72-70-75 = 217
9. Eddie Olson, UNLV 72-69-77 = 218
10. Eric Mina, California 74-71-74 = 219
Michigan Individuals
T18. Lion Kim 73-76-73 = 222 T23. Matt Thompson 74-72-77 = 223 T31. Alexander Sitompul 77-76-72 = 225 T31. Bill Rankin 80-71-74 = 225 T50. Nick Pumford 77-81-73 = 231
NOTES
• Michigan advances to its first NCAA Finals appearance since 1997. In that year, the Wolverines closed 25th, missing the cut after 36 holes. Overall, U-M has 23 NCAA postseason appearances, winning the NCAA title in 1934 and 1935.
• The NCAA Southwest Regional marked the fourth modern-era, regional-formatted event for U-M and the second straight for the Wolverines. U-M also played in the 1997, 2000 and 2008 Central Regionals.
• After U-M dedicated the 2009 Big Ten Championships to former U-M great Ed Schalon, who passed away in December, the Wolverines continued in the NCAA postseason dedicating their run to another U-M legend, Woodrow Malloy, who passed away this May. Malloy was the last surviving member of U-M's 1934 and 1935 NCAA Championship teams.
• Michigan made its second straight NCAA regional appearance. Last year, U-M closed tied for 12th at the NCAA Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio, missing advancing to the NCAA Finals by just three shots.
• Michigan closed the NCAA Southwest Regional as the only team to descend all three of its team rounds. U-M closed with an 888 total after a 301, 295 and 292. The final round 292 was the top team round of the final round by two strokes.
• With the fifth-place finish, Michigan has six top-five finishes in the 12 events this season.
• With U-M's only par round of the regional, Bill Rankin continues to lead U-M with 12 total rounds of par-or-better this season. The next closest Wolverines are Lion Kim, Matt Thompson and Nick Pumford, who all have nine.
• Nick Pumford, Bill Rankin, Lion Kim and Alexander Sitompul played in their second straight NCAA Regional, while Matt Thompson made his first appearance in the NCAA postseason.
• With his start at the NCAA Southwest Regional, Bill Rankin has now made 36 straight and has not missed a start in the last three seasons. Nick Pumford made his 22nd straight start for the Wolverines dating back to his junior year, while Lion Kim extended his consecutive start streak to 18. All three are the only Wolverines to start all 12 events this season.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Andrew Sapp
On U-M advancing the NCAA Finals ... "It's great. It's so much fun. Honestly, I wasn't nervous out there. I was just having fun and it was just really exciting. The guys were playing well on the back nine and I think we turned at 37-over (for the tournament). I was on the No. 2 tee with Chris (Whitten, assistant coach), and I said if we shoot even par on the front we are going to get there. Sure enough, I think we shot one-under, which is clutch because the front side was playing harder than the back. It has a stretch of holes that were much more difficult. These guys just came through in the clutch. I am so proud of them and of how hard they have worked to get to this point. It's fun. It's a lot of fun. Even after we re-started, we didn't know if we were going to be able to get this round in, but the skies kind of cleared up and it stopped raining with about seven or eight holes remaining and that is when the guys really turned it on."
On the final round performance ... "They played with a sense of urgency today. It was either play well or we are going home. They really came through for us. I told Alexander (Sitompul) and Nick (Pumford) after their rounds yesterday that they can be the heroes with one good round. That is team golf. It was good to see clutch play down the stretch. In team golf, you need to pick each other up. Matt (Thompson) led the way on the first two rounds, Lion (Kim) was solid all three days and when Matt didn't play well, the others picked up the slack. It's great for the seniors, Nick and Bill (Rankin) as they get to end the season on their own terms as opposed to losing out and not getting to go to nationals. I am excited for them because it has been four years of hard work and they get to go to the NCAAs just 45 minutes away from Ann Arbor."
On the new format helping U-M ... "If we were playing the old format with 27 teams, we would have never been able to get today's round in. So, I am in favor of this new format. I like having 13 or 14 teams in a regional and five teams making it out as opposed to 10 teams making it out of 27. It just makes it more manageable for the golf course as well as for the players."
On the progression of the program reaching the NCAA Finals ... "All I have to say is I hope this is normal. I want the guys to make this the norm. I have three young guys with me right now, and I want them to get used to this feeling. This is what our program needs to be all about -- making it to a regional and qualifying for the national championship and continuing to compete at the national level. Hopefully, this is what the new normal is going to be for Michigan golf."
On previewing the prestigious Inverness Club ... "It's a great golf course. You will have to hit the ball long and straight in order to be successful. The rough is going to be high, but fortunately for us we were able to play a practice round a week or so ago. We had to call the NCAA in order to do that, since we are only 45 miles away, but we were allowed to do that. So, all of these guys were able to play the golf course in the past week. I feel good about that. The greens are very small. You have to be able to hit it long but be accurate. So, the nice thing we finished in the top five here. We finish in the top eight there and you start match play. It should be fun. I am glad we made it because it is going to be an interesting format and we are going to be able to see it firsthand."
U-M Sophomore Lion Kim
On making it to the NCAA Finals ... "It means so much. Like Coach said, every guy on this team worked so hard. To be honest with you, I feel we deserve to be in the national championship as we have worked so hard and put so much time and effort into it. I am just glad our practice and all that determination has paid off."
On his play leading U-M at the regional ... "When one guy is off, we really pick each other up. Mentally, we are tough enough that we can say to ourselves we need to play well because every shot counts. Personally, I kept telling myself if I want to keep the season going I need to play to the best of my ability and really focus on every shot. I still feel I could have played better this tournament, but overall we are going to Toledo and that is all I really care about. Right now, I am just really happy for the team. This is what it is all about. It isn't about my finish. It is about the team's finish. I am pumped and I am just happy for the guys and the two coaches because they have put a lot of effort into this too."
U-M Freshman Matt Thompson
On his thoughts of making it to the NCAA Finals ... "It's amazing. Obviously, this is my first regional so I just kind of went out there and played golf. I was pretty relaxed the entire time because I really didn't know what it was going to be like. I just knew each guy was playing well out there and we had to go out there and trust our swings and do what we do for it to work out and it did."
On if he ever thought he would carry the team on the first two days ... "I wasn't really expecting that to happen. Coming in, I was playing well. I just tried to hold it together and play well. I just tried to hang in there and pick it up when some of the other guys were not playing well. That is what this team is about. Look at today, when I struggled someone else picked it up to cover for me. So, that is a nice feeling."
Players Mentioned
