Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Wolverines Prepped for Trip to Big Ten Championships
4/22/2025 3:33:00 PM | Men's Golf
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's golf team starts postseason play heading to the Big Ten Championships, Friday through Sunday (April 25-27) at the Baltimore Country Club's Five Farms East Course in Baltimore, Md. The three-day, 54-hole championships will have all 18 conference squads battling for the conference crown. The course is scheduled to be set up for a par 72 with 7,002 yards.
Notes
• All 18 Big Ten teams will compete at the 2025 Big Ten Championships, including No. 11 Illinois, No. 13 UCLA, No. 27 Northwestern, No. 36 Oregon, No. 37 Purdue, no. 50 USC, No. 65 Michigan State, No. 72 Michigan, No. 79 Indiana, No. 82 Nebraska, No. 83 Ohio State, No. 86 Iowa, No. 101 Washington, No. 108 Minnesota, No. 111 Wisconsin, No. 123 Rutgers, No. 135 Maryland and No. 144 Penn State.
• The three-day, 54-hole Big Ten Championships return to Baltimore Country Club for the third time and first since 2017 and 2018. The conference tournament is playing its 14th straight year at a neutral site. No. 8 seed Michigan is slated to play with No. 7 seed Michigan State and No. 9 seed Indiana.
• Michigan's Big Ten championship starting five will include senior Hunter Thomson, senior Yuqi Liu, freshman Dean Muratore, freshman RJ Arone and fifth-year senior Ben Hoagland. Fifth-year senior Jack O'Donnell will travel and prepare as a potential substitute player.
• Thomson makes his fourth straight start at the Big Ten Championships. After tying for 27th (77-76-73/226) as a freshman, he has produced back-to-back top-10 finishes, tying for ninth (75-67/142) and tying for eighth (76-74-69/219). Liu is making his fourth appearance and posted his championship-best tie for 55th (233) last year.
• Michigan has seven top-five team finishes in its 11 events, including a team win at the Virtues Intercollegiate (559, -17) and a runner-up finish at the Canadian Collegiate (852, -12) and the Buckeye Classic (847, -17). U-M averages 286.84 per round with 15 team totals under par, including its season-low 284 (-10) tallied in the second round of the Boilermaker Invitational.
• Thomson continues his stellar play in his final season and is on pace to reset the U-M single-season record with his career-best 69.84 scoring average. He could break his U-M record of 70.56 (2023-24) and would be the first Wolverine to crack the sub-70 barrier. Thomson's 71.54 career average is ahead of U-M's record holder, Kyle Mueller (71.71).
• This season, Thomson has 20 sub-par rounds, including a season-best 66 (-6) three times -- back-to-back rounds (first, second) in his win at the Canadian Collegiate Invitational and the second round of the Boilermaker Invitational. Thomson has fired 62 of 136 career rounds under par (46 percent).
• Thomson has led the Wolverines in 10 of U-M's 11 events, including the entire spring schedule. He has eight top-10 finishes with five in the top five, including wins at the Canadian Collegiate Invitational and the Boilermaker Invitational. He adds three runner-up finishes at the Qubein Cup, the Desert Mountain Collegiate and the Buckeye Classic. He has finished as the top Wolverine in 33 of 47 career events (70 percent). Over his last two seasons, he has produced 18 of his 25 top-10 finishes.
• Liu is averaging a career-low 72.21 in 10 starts. He has 10 sub-par rounds, with seven of those in the spring season. Over his three prior seasons, he totaled 10 sub-par rounds. After tying his career-best 68 three times, he posted a career-low 65 (-6) in the second round of the Boilermaker Invitational in U-M's regular-season finale. That tally helped him tie the third-lowest round in program history.
• U-M's freshman duo of Muratore and Arone has continued to make strides and impacts in their first seasons. Both have played in all 11 events this season, with Muratore holding a slight edge in scoring average, 72.94 to 73.34. Muratore has two top-10 finishes, while Arone has one.
Players Mentioned
