At the Masters this past weekend, announcers and players bemoaned the chilly weather. Temperatures in the 40s and strong winds made play difficult. But the pros at Augusta had nothing on the Michigan men's golf team.

At the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, temperatures hovered in the low 30s with winds roaring at about 35 miles per hour. The tournament was scheduled to go for 54 holes but was reduced to 36 after a weather delay on Saturday.

The Wolverines struggled out of the gate Saturday, ending the day in ninth place. But they bounced back on Sunday, finishing in fifth place out of 15 teams. Michigan recorded the second-best team score on Sunday. Big Ten rival Michigan State beat the Wolverines 293 by one stroke in the final round.

"We knew today we had to come out and make moves," Michigan coach Andrew Sapp said. "There were a lot of teams that weren't too far in front of us. I was proud of the guys."

Official scores weren't available yesterday, but Sapp said junior Brian Ottenweller and sophomore Nick Pumford tied for ninth individually. Ottenweller shot a 1-under par 71 on Sunday, continuing a solid week for him. During last Tuesday's qualifier he shot a 60 on the University of Michigan Golf Course.

"That really helped him gain a tremendous amount of confidence," Sapp said. "For him to be able to do that on Tuesday helped his mindset going into this tournament. He was able to get it done when it counted."

Billy McKay bounced back with an even-par 72 after a rough first round. Kevin Dore and Tim Schaetzel both shot 75 on Sunday and played soundly.

Even though Michigan State won the tournament, the Wolverines defeated fellow Big Ten rivals Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois and Indiana. Purdue and Northwestern also finished ahead of Michigan, but by slim margins, Sapp said. The Wolverines will see most of those teams again next weekend in the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate at Ohio State.

"I think it was really good for our guys to get some key Big Ten wins and get some confidence," Sapp said.

Michigan also beat Baylor, which was ranked No. 31 nationally by Golfweek as of last week. Michigan was ranked 83rd. But the Wolverines have finished better than fifth in four out of their last five tournaments.

Still, Sapp was cautiously optimistic about his team's chances of moving up in the rankings.

"This late in the year it's hard to make huge moves in the rankings because of all the tournaments you've already played," Sapp said. "Hopefully we'll play well next week and keep moving up. It's not really something we can control so I don't necessarily worry too much about that."