Battling adverse weather conditions and shaken self-confidences, the Michigan men’s golf team tied for 11th place out of 20 teams at this weekend’s Furman Intercollegiate in Greenville, S.C. Michigan opened the tournament on Friday with its third-best team total of the season and top total of the spring (292). The team also put together a strong second round Saturday with a 296, sitting in eighth place at the end of the day. But Michigan’s play went from sharp to sloppy with a disappointing 306 yesterday that forced Michigan into a tie with Rhode Island with a total score of 894.
“We had some good individual performances,” coach Andrew Sapp said. “But we couldn’t put three or four good scores together during a single round to boost up the team’s score and morale.”
Sapp attributed the team’s unsatisfactory performance to an inconsistent short game and very costly bogies but, above all, a lack of confidence.
“Getting behind early in the rounds resulted in a snowball effect where mistakes began piling up,” Sapp said. “By the middle of the round, we got to a point where we couldn’t recover.”
But the weekend was not without its highlights. Junior Christian Vozza led the Wolverines for the fifth time in eight tournaments with a 220 total, tying for 20th individually. Vozza opened the tournament with an impressive 3-under 69. Fifth-year senior Rob Tighe was also a bright spot for the Wolverines, tying for 45th with a 225 total. He shaved off a stroke from his first round 74 to card in the second round an 1-over 73.
The team has ample opportunity to bounce back from this frustrating weekend with some practice before the next competition, the 2005 Boilermaker Invitational in just under three weeks. Much of the time before heading over to West Lafayette will be devoted to short-game drills and ball striking technique.
“Despite a frustrating weekend, it does not take a lot to keep the guys motivated,” Sapp said. “I know that some more playing time and some good weather will keep their games up and heads high.
We have faced some tough opponents so far this season. But what it will take for us to have success at the Big Ten Championship is a focused mindset in which we are only competing against ourselves. With that in place nothing will slow us down.”
Hey, the baseball and Softball teams are pretty good.
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