This Week in Michigan Men's Golf: NCAA Finals
5/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 23, 2015
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THIS WEEK
Fri-Mon., May 29-June 1 -- at NCAA Finals (Bradenton, Fla.)
NCAA Men's Golf | Live Scoring | The Concession Club
Next on the Tee: NCAA Finals
Postseason continues for the Maize and Blue! Though the Wolverines did not qualify as a team, Kyle Mueller will represent the University of Michigan men's golf team at the NCAA Finals as an individual after finishing as the medalist runner-up at the NCAA Washington Regional (May 14-16). Mueller will travel to Bradenton, Florida, and compete for a national title Friday through Monday (May 29-June 1) at the Concession Golf Club.
There are 30 teams and six individuals who advanced from regional play to make up the 156-player field at the national championships. The entire field will compete in 54 holes of stroke play Friday through Sunday (May 29-31) before the field will be cut in half for a final 18 holes of play. The top 15 teams and nine individuals of a non-qualifying team will play on Monday (June 1) to determine the top-eight seeding for team match play as well as crowning the 72-hole individual champion. The top eight teams will play Tuesday and Wednesday, June 2-3 to determine the team national champion. The Concession course will be set up for a par of 72 at 7,483 yards.
The NCAA Finals Field
From the six NCAA regional sites, five teams and an individual of a non-qualifying team advanced to the NCAA Finals. The 30-team field (by seeding) includes: #1 Florida State, #2 Texas, #3 Arizona State, #4 Illinois, #5 Vanderbilt, #6 South Carolina, #7 LSU, #8 Oregon, #9 Texas Tech, #10 Georgia Tech, #11 Stanford, #12 Oklahoma, #13 South Florida, #14 UAB, #15 Charlotte, #16 Washington, #17 Auburn, #18 UCLA, #19 Southern California, #20 Oklahoma State, #21 Virginia, #22 SMU, #23 TCU, #24 San Diego State, #25 UNLV, #26 Georgia, #27 Houston, #28 Clemson, #29 Florida and #30 Duke.
The six individuals (by seeding) include: #1 Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Louisville), #2 J.T. Poston (Western Carolina), #3 Kyle Mueller (Michigan), #4 David Oraee (Colorado), #5 Gudmundur Kristjansson (East Tennessee State) and #6 Tolver Dozier (Troy).
Mueller's NCAA Finals Schedule
Thursday, May 28 -- Practice Round (18), 9 a.m. (shotgun start), starting at No. 9
Friday, May 29 -- First Round (18), 2:20 p.m. tee time off No. 1
Saturday, May 30 -- Second Round (18), 9 a.m. tee time off No. 10
Sunday, May 31 -- Third Round (18), 2 p.m., tee time off No. 1
Monday, June 1 -- Final Round (18), if qualifies, 11:30 a.m., tee TBD
The NCAA Finals Lineup
Freshman Kyle Mueller will be Michigan's lone representative at the NCAA Finals.
How Mueller Advanced to the NCAA Finals
Kyle Mueller opened the NCAA Washington Regional by carding an even-par 72 Thursday (May 14), before an eight-birdie second round gave him a career-best six-under 66, placing him just two shots out of the lead and in contention for medalist honors. Playing alongside regional leader Cheng-Tsung Pan of Washington in the final round, Mueller went back and forth with Pan during the final 18. Mueller closed with a three-under 69, giving him a nine-under 207 total, while Pan carded a five-under 67 to finish at 13-under 203 (67-69-67). Mueller closed as the highest finishing individual of a non-qualifying team.
One of 10
Kyle Mueller is the first individual Wolverine to play at the NCAA Finals since 1985 and is the 10th overall U-M individual to reach the finals. Mueller is the first U-M player to advance since Dan Roberts played as an individual in 1985. U-M has three national champions. John Fischer won the individual title in a match-play format in 1932, as did Chuck Kocsis, who won in 1936. Dave Barclay is U-M's third national champion after winning in match play at the 1947 NCAA Finals hosted at the U-M Golf Course.
Michigan in the NCAA Postseason
Michigan's regional and finals appearance marks U-M's 38th overall NCAA postseason appearance. Overall U-M has had 10 regional selections -- eight as a team and two individual. U-M has made 22 team trips to the NCAA Finals and 10 additional trips with an individual. The Maize and Blue won back-to-back national crowns in 1934 and 1935, and U-M has four runner-up finishes (1943, '45, '46, '52). Individually, Michigan's John Fischer won the program's first NCAA individual title in 1932 (match play) while Chuck Kocsis won in 1936 (match play) and Dave Barclay in 1947 (match play).
WOLVERINE BITES
• Michigan posted five top-five finishes in its 12 events during the regular season, including winning the Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 6-7) and collecting runner-up finishes at the Big Ten Match Play Championship (Feb. 14-15) and the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate (March 6-7). The Wolverines finished 11th at the Big Ten Championships (April 24-26) and seventh at the NCAA Washington Regional (May 14-16).
• Kyle Mueller became the 26th Wolverine to be named to the All-Big Ten team, earning second team honors. In his first season, he has paced the Maize and Blue in eight events, including a win in his first collegiate event, the Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 6-7).
• Kyle Mueller leads U-M with 11 sub-par rounds, including a career-best six-under 66 fired May 15 in the second round of the NCAA Washington Regional. His per-round scoring average of 72.56 ranks seventh best in school historyand is nearly a full stroke better than the U-M freshman record (73.54) set by Matt Thompson in 2008-09.
• Kyle Mueller is one of two Wolverines to start all 12 events this season. Chris O'Neill is the other Wolverines to start all 12 events, improving his streak to 36 straight events. O'Neill has yet to miss an event/start in three seasons.
• Kyle Mueller has recorded the top two 54-hole tournament totals of the season for the Wolverines. He holds a season- and career-best seven-under 206 (67-70-69) carded in his first career event, the Wolverine Intercollegiate (Sept. 6-7). He also has the second best with a nine-under 207 (72-66-69) posted in the NCAA Washington Regional (May 14-16). In his 12 starts, Mueller had five 54-hole events with a score of par or better -- two sub and three even par. He averaged 216.20 per 54-hole event.
• U-M nearly won its second straight Big Ten Match Play Championship (Feb. 14-15), losing a heartbreaker to No. 1 seed Illinois, 3-2, in the title match. Overall, Kyle Mueller paced the Wolverines with a perfect 4-0 record. U-M defeated Wisconsin (2-1-2), Ohio State (3-2) and Iowa (4-1) to advance to the final for the second straight year.
• Breaking down his first season, Kyle Mueller averaged 72.33 per round in the five fall events, getting off to strong starts by averaging 72.80 in the first round and 70.80 in the second round. He posted a 73.40 average in the final round as he averaged 217.00 per 54-hole event. After the winter break, he reversed his course. In six spring events, he averaged 73.50 in the first round before improving with a 71.83 second-round average and closing with a 72.33 average -- nearly a full shot better than the fall. Overall he averaged 72.74 per round in the spring but improved his 54-hole output with a 215.40 average.
| Mueller's Averages | Fall | Spring |
| 1st Round | 72.80 | 73.50 |
| 2nd Round | 70.80 | 71.83 |
| 3rd Round | 73.40 | 72.33 |
| Total | 72.33 | 72.74 |
| 54-hole | 217.00 | 215.40 |
LAST TIME OUT
With his nine-under 207, Kyle Mueller finished as the NCAA Washington Regional medalist runner-up at Gold Mountain Golf Club to advance to the NCAA Finals. Despite posting a regional-best five-under 283 in final round, U-M did not qualify as a team, finishing seventh with a one-under 863 (292-288-283), nine shots away from a top-five finish. [ Recap ]
Communications Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
