Michigan
Big Ten Championships
This Week in Michigan Men's Golf: Big Ten Championships
4/27/2022 2:36:00 PM | Men's Golf
» Michigan begins its postseason heading to the Pete Dye Course at French Lick for the Big Ten Championships.
» Four of the five starting Wolverines will be playing in their first conference championship.
» The Maize and Blue are the No. 12 seed and will play with Minnesota and Maryland on day one.
» U-M has won a total of 12 Big Ten titles in its history.
THIS WEEK
• Fri-Sun., April 29-May 1 -- at Big Ten Championships (French Lick, Ind.)
Live Scoring | The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort | Big Ten Men's Golf
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Next on the Tee: Big Ten Championships
Postseason play is here! The University of Michigan men's golf team will shift focus towards its second season as the Wolverines travel to French Lick, Ind., on Friday through Sunday (April 29-May 1) for the Big Ten Championships. For the 10th straight year, the conference tournament will be played at a neutral site -- the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort. Earning the No. 12 seed for the first time, U-M will be paired with Minnesota and Maryland on day one of the championships, which will be played in a five players, four lowest scores count format. The Dye course is scheduled to be set up for a par of 72 at 7,033 yards.
The Big Ten Championships Field
All 14 conference schools will play in the 2022 Big Ten Championships. The seeding for the championship will be No. 1 Illinois (20), No. 2 Purdue (29), No. 3 Ohio State (35), No. 4 Michigan State (37), No. 5 Northwestern (47), No. 6 Indiana (59), No. 7 Iowa (69), No. 8 Penn State (88), No. 9 Wisconsin (106), No. 10 Rutgers (109), No. 11 Nebraska (110), No. 12 Michigan (117), No. 13 Minnesota (142) and No. 14 Maryland (177).
The Big Ten Championships Schedule
Wednesday, April 20 -- Travel Day
Thursday, April 21 -- Practice Round
Thursday, April 21 -- Coaches Meeting, 3:30 p.m.
Friday, April 22 -- First Round (18), 10:18 am (tee times off No. 1 and 9) -- with Illinois and Michigan State
Saturday, April 23 -- Second Round (18), 8:30 a.m. (tee times off Nos. 1 and No. 10)
Sunday, April 24 -- Final Round (18), 8:00 a.m. (tee times off Nos. 1 and No. 10)
The Big Ten Championships Pairings
First Round
Tee #1 (9:00 a.m.) -- #1 Illinois, #2 Purdue, #3, Ohio State
Tee #1 (9:45 a.m.) -- #4 Michigan State, #5 Northwestern, #6 Indiana
Tee #10 (9:00 a.m.) -- #7 Iowa, #8 Penn State
Tee #10 (9:40 a.m.) -- #9 Wisconsin, #10 Rutgers, #11 Nebraska
Tee #10 (10:25 a.m.) -- #12 Michigan, #13 Minnesota, #14 Maryland
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.) -- #4 Team, #5 Team, #6 Team
Tee #1 (8:45 a.m.) -- #1 Team, #2 Team, #3 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 travel a five-member starting group to the Big Ten Championships. Freshmen Hunter Thomson and Bavake Sihota head up the Maize and Blue squad, while graduate student Brendan O'Reilly, sophomore Will Anderson and freshman Yuqi Liu round out the starting five.
Michigan Big Ten Championships Experience
• Will Anderson -- second (2021; t-42nd; 233)
• Brendan O'Reilly -- first
• Yuqi Liu -- first
• Bavake Sihota -- first
• Hunter Thomson -- first
Michigan at the Big Ten Championships
Michigan has won a total of 12 Big Ten championships in 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 most recent coming in 1999 by Michael Harris.
Last Year at the Big Ten Championships
Michigan closed the 2021 Big Ten Championships with a 305 team total to finish 13th with a 934 54-hole total at the Crooked Stick Golf Club. Brent Ito (78-76-77) and Charlie Pilon (74-80-77) paced the Wolverines tying for 34th in their final conference tournament with 231/54-hole totals. Playing in his first Big Ten Tournament, Will Anderson tied for 42nd with a 233 (81-76-76).
Wolverine Bites
• U-M has four top-five finishes this season including a rally to tie for the team titles at the Desert Mountain Collegiate. The Wolverines opened the season with a third-place showing at the Island Resort Intercollegiate and followed with a runner-up finish at the Macdonald Cup, where Will Anderson won his first collegiate event. The Maize and Blue add a tie for fifth at the Rich Harvest Farms Intercollegiate after tallying a season-best 857 (-7) team total.
• Hunter Thomson continues to shine in his first season in Ann Arbor. The only Wolverine to start all 10 events this season, he is carrying a 72.87 per round average, which is just barely out of the team lead (Will Anderson, 72.81). Additionally, he is just behind the U-M freshman scoring mark held by U-M great Kyle Mueller (72.86; 2014-15). He leads U-M with 11 sub-par rounds, with a U-M season-low and career-low 66 (-4) fired in the second round of the Macdonald Cup. He adds a team-best five sub-par 54-hole totals, including a career-low 207 (71-66-70, -3) at the Macdonald Cup.
• Leading U-M in three events, Will Anderson has finished as the top Wolverine in seven of his 15 career tournaments. He leads the team with a 72.81 scoring average as he has nine sub-par rounds, which includes a career-low 66 (-4) at the Macdonald Cup (first round). He leads U-M with a 218.44 54-hole average.
• The U-M duo of Hunter Thomson and Will Anderson have combined to lead the Wolverines in eight of 10 regular-season events. Thomson leads with five, while Anderson is second with three. The two are battling for the scoring lead with Anderson ahead 72.81 to 72.87. Thomson's five sub-par 54-hole totals in one ahead of Anderson's four. Additionally, Thomson's 11 sub-par rounds are two ahead of Anderson (9). Both have shot the season's lowest round with a 66 (-4) at the Macdonald Cup -- Anderson (first) and Thomson (second).
• In addition to their parallel stats, the U-M duo of Hunter Thomson and Will Anderson have earned the first Big Ten's Golfer of the Week honors in two years. After winning his first collegiate title, Anderson earned his on Sept. 29. Carding a career-low 204 (-6), Anderson led from start to finish to win Yale's Macdonald Cup. With his fifth sub-par 54-hole total (211, -5), Thomson earned his on April 14, after finishing seventh at the Mossy Oak Collegiate -- the third top-10 finish of his rookie campaign. There he posted four birdies in all three rounds and notched tallies of 70, 73 and 70 to lead the Maize and Blue.
• Leading U-M for the first time at the Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate (t-21st) and followed by tying for 11th at the Desert Mountain Collegiate, Brendan O'Reilly has continued his upward tick as the season winds down. In his last five events, he has posted two sub-par, two par and eight of 15 rounds of 73-or-better. He is now averaging 73.66 per round his season, which is third on the Wolverines.
• After spending four years at Illinois, Brendan O'Reilly may have not competed in the conference championships, but he has three Big Ten title rings to his credit (2018, '19, '21). The 2020 championship was canceled due to Covid-19.
• All three freshmen will get their first taste of the postseason as Yuqi Liu, Bavake Sihota and Hunter Thomson are among the Wolverines' starting five. Thomson has paced U-M the entire season, while Sihota is averaging 76.00 strokes per round, starting five of seven events this season, including five of the last six events. In his last time out (Robert Kepler Intercollegiate) he set a new career-low and broke 70 for the first time with a first-round 68 (-4), which helped him to a career-best 219 54-hole total. Liu has started four of six events and is carrying a 76.29 per round mark.
Next on the Tee
Sun-Thurs., May 15-19 -- at NCAA Regional (TBD, if selected for one of six sites)
Players Mentioned
