The Michigan men's golf team headed into the Memphis Intercollegiate Tournament on Monday looking to build upon their home victory at the Wolverine Intercollegiate last week with a road victory against many of the same universities.

Michigan finished ninth overall in the 15-team field with a three-round total of 888, 12 strokes out of first place. Tournament host Memphis University, led by individual winner Keven Fortin-Simard, was the team champion with a three-round total of 876, five strokes ahead of second-place Southern Mississippi.

The Wolverines left the Colonial Country Club in Cordova, Tenn., yesterday knowing there was still a good deal of work to do to prove they can consistently compete against top competition.

The team's performance was capricious during the first two rounds on Monday, and they entered the clubhouse tied for seventh. That inconsistency continued into Tuesday's final round.

"There was some good and some bad in this tournament," Michigan coach Andrew Sapp said. "No one played consistently well for three rounds."

Tim Schaetzel was Michigan's lone bright spot from the tournament. The sophomore from Atlanta, Ga., followed up his fourth-place finish at the Wolverine Intercollegiate by tying for fifth in Memphis. He recorded an even-par 216 over the three rounds.

But even Schaetzel suffered from some erratic play. After shooting a 4-under 68 in the first round, the sophomore followed with a 5-over par 77 in the afternoon round. His combined 145 earned him a share of seventh place overall after the first day.

Schaetzel shook off the bad second round and shot a 1-under 71 in the final round yesterday.

"The confidence that I carried over from last week allowed me to have a selective memory and put the second round out of my mind when I teed off for the final round," Schaetzel said. "I tried to get into a good rhythm out there. I wanted to shoot a lot of pars and take advantage of birdie opportunities."

If Schaetzel was the bright spot from the tournament, senior Christian Vozza was the opposite.

Vozza was the individual winner of the Wolverine Intercollegiate and was expected to have another strong showing in Memphis. Instead, Vozza finished tied for 52nd with a total of 230, 14 over par, for three rounds.

"It's hard for the team to do well when the best golfer has an uncharacteristically poor showing," Sapp said. "We count on Christian to lead the team, but he never found his game here."

In fact, Vozza finished with the worst score of Michigan's five golfers. Senior Brian Duff and sophomore Brian Ottenweller tied for 33rd with totals of 224. Junior Matt McLaughlin finished 51st, one stroke ahead of Vozza.

Despite the disappointing finish, Coach Sapp hopes that the team's struggles down South will serve as a learning experience for the final two tournaments of the fall.

"We have a short week before we head out to California," Sapp said. "We've got to have a short-term memory regarding this tournament and make sure we don't let the inconsistency follow us out west."

The team hopes to focus on the positives from Memphis as it spends the next five days preparing for the Alister MacKenzie Invitational at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif., beginning on Monday.