Wolverines to Continue Spring at Inaugural Invitational at the Ford

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's golf team will head to Georgia Southern's inaugural Invitational at the Ford on Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 26-27) in Richmond Hill, Ga. The two-day, 54-hole event is scheduled to be played at the Ford Field & River Club with eight teams in the field. The course is set to be played at a par of 72 and 7,409 yards.

Notes

• U-M will travel the five starters and two individuals to the Invitational at the Ford. Junior Hunter Thomson, senior Will Anderson, redshirt junior Ben Hoagland, junior Yuqi Liu and senior Jude Kim will make up the Wolverines starting five, while redshirt junior Jack O'Donnell and freshman Jason Gordon will play as individuals.

• There will be eight teams among the field for the Invitational at the Ford, including: Georgia Southern, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Utah, Wake Forest and Wisconsin

• Thomson is expected to make his 31st consecutive start for the Wolverines. He has not missed a tournament for U-M in three straight seasons. Anderson is set up to make his 21st straight start and 35th of his 36-event career. Additionally, Liu has started his last 16 events for U-M, while Hoagland has started all eight this season.

• Michigan has won two team titles – the Island Resort Intercollegiate and the Virtues Intercollegiate -- while collecting six top-five finishes in the seven events. Individually, U-M has four medalists with three runner-up finishes this season. In fact, U-M has posted 13 top-10 individual finishes.

• As a team, the Maize and Blue combines for a 282.95 team scoring average. U-M has 17 of its 21 team rounds below par with a season-low 273 (-15) in the second round of the Island Resort Intercollegiate. With that team average, U-M posted five 54-hole events under par, including two sub-30 finishes -- 830 (-34) at the Virtues Intercollegiate and 834 (-30) at the Island Resort Intercollegiate.

• Thomson earned his fourth Big Ten Golfer of the Week after his final-day 64 (-8) led him to the individual title at the Palmas del Mar Collegiate (Feb. 11-13). He won by two shots with a career-best 201 (-15) 54-hole total. The following week, Kim's career-low 207 (-9; 68-70-69) and fourth-place finish at the Border Olympics (Feb. 19-20) helped him to his first Big Ten Golfer of the Week honor.

• Thomson is averaging 69.52 scoring average -- a U-M record pace. He fired 18 of his 21 rounds at or below par with a team-best 14 sub-par tallies. He fired a career-low 64 (-8) in the final round of the Palmas del Mar. That 64 ties U-M's second-lowest single-round score record, and marks the second time a Wolverine has reached that mark after Hoagland fired a 64 (-8) in the second round of the Island Resort Intercollegiate (Sept. 3-4).

• With nine sub-par tallies this season, Hoagland is averaging a career-best-pace 71.57 per round, nearly four shots better than any prior season. He has four sub-par 54-hole totals after recording just one in his two prior seasons. He had a career-low 206 (-10) in the season opener at the Island Resort Intercollegiate.

• With four total Wolverines averaging below 72, Anderson adds his name to the list with his career-best-pace 71.86 per round, with nine sub-par tallies, while Kim is at 71.29 per round with five sub-par rounds. With eight tallies of par or better, Liu is averaging his career-low-pace at 72.57 per round, nearly four shots better than any of his prior two seasons.

• With five sub-par 54-hole totals, Thomson is averaging 208.57 per event, nearly eight shots under par. Overall, Thomson has 14 sub-par 54-hole totals in 30 career events. During his career, he has averaged near even par per event with a 216.43 average.

• Thomson's 201 (68-69-64, -15) winning total at the Palmas del Mar tied U-M's second-lowest single-round total in program history, trailing only Kyle Mueller's record 198 (69-65-65, -15) at the 2015 Alister MacKenzie Invitational (Oct. 12-13). This season, Thomson has posted two of the top 3 best individual 54-hole totals in U-M history -- the 201 and his 202 (71-65-66, -14) at the Island Resort Intercollegiate (Sept. 3-4).