Michigan Closes Tied for Sixth at Big Ten Championships

Sunday, May 1

West Lafayette, Ind.

8:00 AM

Michigan

Big Ten Championships

Michigan Closes Tied for Sixth at Big Ten Championships

5/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

May 1, 2011

• Photo Gallery | Notes & Quotes

Site: West Lafayette, Ind.
Course: Kampen Golf Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex (par 72, 7,465 yards)
Tournament: Big Ten Championships
U-M Standing: Tie-6th Place of 11 Teams (299-293-315-288/1195)
Top U-M Individual: Matt Thompson (77-69-76-73) & Jack Schultz (71-74-78-72), tie-13th (295)
Next Event: Thu-Sat., May 19-21 -- at NCAA Regional (TBD, six total sites)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- With the backing of senior Alexander Sitompul's (Jakarta, Indonesia/Bradenton Prep Academy [Fla.]) two-under 70 and an even-par 72 from sophomore Jack Schultz (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay), the University of Michigan men's golf team closed with an even-par 288 today (Sunday, May 1) to tie for sixth with a 1,195 team total at the 2011 Big Ten Championships at Kampen Golf Course.

After posting rounds of 299 and 293 on Friday's (April 29) opening day, the Wolverines closed the first 36 holes in the fourth position. With gusty winds on Saturday (April 30), team scores soared by an average of 13 shots in the 11-team field as U-M tallied a 315 to drop into a tie for seventh after three rounds. With clear skies in today's final round, the Maize and Blue closed with a U-M conference tournament best even-par 288 to move up one spot and tie for sixth with a 1,195 total, along with host Purdue.

A total of just 17 shots separated second to eighth place, including a six-shot difference from fourth to eighth. Illinois, which closed at 1,160, took the lead in the second round and never looked back, going on to win by 19 shots. Northwestern was the runner-up at 1,179.

For the second straight year, the duo of junior Matt Thompson (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview) and Schultz led the Wolverines as they both tied for 13th with 295 tallies. Thompson opened with a 77 but rallied in the second, firing a U-M tournament best three-under 69 to put him tied for eighth. A 76 in the third round moved him up two positions as he was in a tie for sixth with 18 holes remaining. Thompson carded a one-over 73 in the final round but fell into a closing tie for 13th.

Schultz led the Wolverines with an opening one-under 71 and followed with a two-over 74 to sit tied for sixth after the first day. A third-round 78 pushed him into a tie for 13th, where he stayed following a closing even-par 72.

With Sitompul and fellow senior Lion Kim (Lake Mary, Fla./Lake Mary Prep School) each playing in their fourth conference tournament, Sitompul's final-round two-under 70 helped him tie for 28th at 302 (76-73-83-70), while Kim finished 40th at 304 (78-78-78-73). Freshman Joey Garber (Petoskey, Mich./Petoskey) closed his first Big Ten Tournament tying for 47th at 312 (75-77-83-77).

Michigan will have to wait another week before learning if it will be selected for the fourth straight NCAA at-large berth when regional selections are announced Monday (May 9) at 6 p.m.

There are a total of six regional sites playing Thursday through Saturday, May 19-21. The six regional sites for 2011 include: Indiana hosting at the Wolf Run Golf Club (Zionsville, Ind.), Virginia Tech hosting at the Pete Dye River Course (Blacksburg, Va.), Florida hosting at the Golden Ocala Golf Club (Ocala, Fla.), Colorado hosting at the Colorado National Golf Club (Erie, Colo.), Arizona hosting at the Omni Tucson National Resort (Tucson, Ariz.) and San Diego hosting at the Farms Golf Course (Rancho Santé Fe, Calif.).

The top five teams and low individual not on a qualifying team from each regional will advance to the NCAA Finals, to be held Wednesday through Saturday, May 31-June 5, at Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla.

Final Standings

 1. Illinois         293-288-298-281 = 1160 (+8) 2. Northwestern     301-293-304-281 = 1179 3. Iowa             289-297-308-287 = 1181 4. Ohio State       301-299-302-288 = 1190 5. Indiana          298-298-302-294 = 1192 6. MICHIGAN         299-293-315-288 = 1195    Purdue           301-293-312-289 = 1195 8. Minnesota        299-302-312-283 = 1196 9. Penn State       297-294-316-301 = 120810. Michigan State   304-296-315-295 = 121011. Wisconsin        312-293-313-312 = 1230

Top Individuals

 1. Luke Guthrie, Illinois       74-69-74-70 = 287 (-1) 2. Chris Brant, Iowa            67-72-79-70 = 288 3. David Lipsky, Northwestern   78-72-72-67 = 289 4. Erik Van Rooyen, Minnesota   73-73-76-69 = 291 5. Chris DeForest, Illinois     76-74-72-70 = 292    Scott Langley, Illinois      69-77-77-69 = 292    Chris Mory, Michigan State   74-69-77-72 = 292    Chase Wright, Indiana        74-74-75-69 = 292 9. Jay Woodward, Penn State     71-73-75-74 = 29310. Eric Chun, Northwestern      74-74-75-71 = 294    Thomas Pieters, Illinois     75-72-75-72 = 294    Adam Schenk, Purdue          80-67-76-71 = 294

Michigan Individuals

T13. Matt Thompson        77-69-76-73 = 295T13. Jack Schultz         71-74-78-72 = 295T28. Alexander Sitompul   76-73-83-70 = 302 40. Lion Kim             78-78-78-73 = 307T47. Joey Garber          75-77-83-77 = 312

• Previous Results: Day Two | Day One

N O T E S

• Lion Kim and Alexander Sitompul both competed in their fourth Big Ten Tournament. Kim's career finishes at the conference event include: 2011 (40th, 307); 2010 (29th, 299); 2009 (14th, 293); 2008 (t-26th, 303), while Sitompul's include: 2011 (t-28th, 302); 2010 (t-48th, 310); 2009 (t-17th, 295); 2008 (t-38th, 308).

• Matt Thompson competed in his third Big Ten Championship -- 2011 (t-13th, 295); 2010 (2nd, 283); 2009 (42nd, 302) -- while Jack Schultz played in his second -- 2011 (t-13th, 295); 2010 (5th, 287).

• Joey Garber competed in his first Big Ten Championship and tied for 47th at 312.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Andrew Sapp
On the Big Ten Championships ... "We definitely played better today, but so did the rest of the tournament field. The conditions were a little kinder to us, but basically, we finished tied for sixth because we played horribly yesterday. Some of it was the weather, and some of it was us and the fact we had to count an 80. Any time you do that, you are not going to be able to move up the leaderboard, you are going to go backwards. Today if we would have wanted to finish in the top three we would have had to play lights out. Playing even par was a good round. Yesterday's (third) round is what hurt us badly. Fortunately, we bounced back and got a good round out of Alexander (Sitompul) and Jack (Schultz), Matt (Thompson) and Lion (Kim) all played solid. So with their play we were able to at least gain one spot."

On why he thinks Matt Thompson and Jack Schultz played so well at Big Ten's two straight years ... "It's hard to say. Jack definitely played well in both conference championships. In fact, one of the guys from Northwestern said that yesterday. Matt typically starts off well and gets in the groove in late April and hopefully he can continue as we move forward. It's good for both of them to play solid, not as good as their top-five finishes last year, but good enough to help lead us this year."

On the wait for a selection to an NCAA Regional ... "The nice thing is we don't have to go back to school and take exams like a lot of other teams have to do. Hopefully we will get good weather to get out and practice, play and really work on our games. We all have some qualifiers, like the U.S. Open qualifier, and some other events next week. I know Joey (Garber) is playing in the Horton Smith at the Detroit Golf Club, so we will have some competition under our belts, which should be good for us. We will now just wait, impatiently, for a week to find out where we will be selected to go and then prepare for that. So, this week is going to be a good week to get our games sharp or even sharper hopefully."

Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423