The Michigan men's golf team had a small home-course advantage at the Pinehurst Intercollegiate, even though it was far from Ann Arbor.

Frost delays and high winds brought some frigid conditions to the south.

"We're used to it, playing Midwest golf," Michigan coach Andrew Sapp said. "Everybody probably thought we brought the weather down with us."

The less-than-desirable setting might have felt familiar to the Wolverines, but the play of freshman Billy McKay and sophomore Bill Rankin had much more to do with their second-place finish out of 18 teams.

With junior Tim Schaetzel, Michigan's top player and rock all season, having a rough tournament (tie for 52nd), his teammates helped fill the void.

McKay shot even par for the tournament and finished in a tie for fourth - his first career top-five finish.

Rankin one-upped his teammate, shooting 1-under par and finishing in a tie for second, highlighted by a 2-under par 70 in the first round. His runner-up finish was the best any Wolverine has had this season.

"Billy (McKay) is a talented player, and it's taken a semester and a half for him to get the experience to play the way he's capable of," Sapp said. "I'm really pleased with his progress. Bill (Rankin) until this year hadn't started full time. This was his breakout week."

Michigan started out rough, sitting in fifth place following a mediocre first round. But thanks to the strong play of McKay and Rankin, the Wolverines tied Indiana at the top after the second round. But Michigan couldn't overtake the Hoosiers on the final day.

Even though the Wolverines finished behind Indiana, they still defeated No. 33 Southern Methodist and No. 34 Wisconsin, the only two top-50 teams at the tournament.

"Being able to battle back from a bad start with all the pressure of being in the final group and competing for a championship will help us," Sapp said. "You have to have some experience with that situation in order to come back and win the next time."

Sapp feels the improvement of the team's younger players, with the usual consistency of veterans like Schaetzel, will help Michigan in its final two tournaments before the Big Ten championships in April.

"If our veteran players had played as well as they have in the past, we would have won easily," Sapp said. "I'm really excited for the last two tournaments because if we play like we're capable, and get three or four guys in the top 10 or 20, the wins start coming."