Feb. 22, 2011
Site: Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
Course: Rio Mar Country Club, River Course (par 72, 6,902 yards)
Tournament: Puerto Rico Classic
U-M Standing: 12th Place of 15 Teams (300-302-286/888)
Top U-M Individual: Lion Kim, tie-31st (76-75-67/218)
Next U-M Event: Mon-Tue., Feb, 28-March 1 -- at USC Collegiate Invitational (Westlake Village, Calif.)
RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico -- A final-round, five-under 67 from senior Lion Kim (Lake Mary, Fla./Lake Mary Prep School) helped the University of Michigan men's golf team close today (Tuesday, Feb. 22) with a two-under 286, lifting the Wolverines to a 12th-place finish with an 888 total at the Puerto Rico Classic at the Rio Grande Country Club's River Course.
After opening Sunday (Feb. 20) with a 300, the Wolverines followed with a 302 on Monday (Feb. 21) to stay in the 15th position at 602 with 18 holes remaining in the first stroke-play event of the spring. Opening with two birdies in his first three holes today, Kim, who tied for 31st with a two-over 218 (76-75-67), added four additional birdies and a bogey in his final round to pick up his 11th sub-par round this season.
Senior Alexander Sitompul (Jakarta, Indonesia/Bradenton Prep Academy [Fla.]), junior Matt Thompson (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview HS) and sophomore Jack Schultz (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay HS) each shot final-round 73s for their best scores of the event. In all, U-M's five-man team posted 18 birdies in the final round after combining for a total of 22 birdies and one eagle the previous two rounds.
Freshman Joey Garber (Petoskey, Mich./Petoskey) paced U-M's play during the first two rounds and closed with a top-50 finish as he was 47th at 221 (74-73-74). Sitompul closed tied for 57th at 224 (74-77-73), Schultz tied for 63rd at 227 (76-78-73), while Thompson finished tied for 65th at 228 (78-77-73).
The Wolverines will have just about a week off before heading to California for their spring break training trip, which opens with U-M playing at USC's Collegiate Invitational, Sunday and Monday (Feb. 28-March 1). The 54-hole event will be held at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif.
Final Standings
1. Alabama 281-281-274 = 836 (-28)
2. Georgia Tech 278-284-279 = 841
3. Oklahoma State 283-285-279 = 847
4. Georgia 289-291-278 = 858
5. Virginia Tech 286-287-290 = 863
6. Oklahoma 287-289-288 = 864
7. Texas 292-285-290 = 867
8. N.C. State 288-295-288 = 871
9. Clemson 290-291-292 = 873
10. Ohio State 295-296-284 = 875
11. Purdue 289-301-290 = 880
12. MICHIGAN 300-302-286 = 888
13. Northwestern 289-303-297 = 889
14. UNC Greensboro 294-295-301 = 890
15. East Tennessee State 294-293-306 = 893
Top Individuals
1. James White, Georgia Tech 69-69-68 = 206 (-10)
2. Bud Cauley, Alabama 69-68-70 = 207
3. Kyle Scott, Georgia Tech 70-69-69 = 208
4. Marshall Bailey, Virginia Tech 69-71-69 = 209
Peter Uihlein, Oklahoma State 72-72-65 = 209
Bobby Wyatt, Alabama 69-71-69 = 209
7. Morgan Hoffmann, Oklahoma State 71-67-72 = 210
8. J.T. Griffin, Georgia Tech 70-72-70 = 212
Hunter Hamrick, Alabama 72-73-67 = 212
Riley Pumphrey, Oklahoma 70-71-71 = 212
Michigan Individuals
T31. Lion Kim 76-75-67 = 218
47. Joey Garber 74-73-74 = 221
T57. Alexander Sitompul 74-77-73 = 224
T63. Jack Schultz 76-78-73 = 227
T65. Matt Thompson 78-77-73 = 228
N O T E S
• Lion Kim shot a 67 for the fifth time in his career. The round tally was also the 19th sub-70 round of his career.
• Lion Kim has finished as the top Wolverine in his last four Puerto Rico Classics and snapped his streak of closing among the top 25. Overall, Kim has now led U-M in three of the six events this season.
• Lion Kim, Alexander Sitompul, Matt Thompson and Joey Garber have started all six stroke play and lone match-play events this season.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Andrew Sapp
On the Puerto Rico Classic ... "This was a great opportunity for us, as will be the USC event, to play a lot of top-20 programs. If we want to be in the top 20 ourselves we need to beat some of those teams. Unfortunately, we just played nowhere near what we are capable of in the first two rounds. There is no mistake about it. We played very poorly. It was good to come back in the final round and Lion (Kim) carried us with his five-under 67. Everyone played better and that was good to see. It was nice to see we could bounce back and pass at least a few teams. However, finishing 12th in this tournament is not what we had in mind going into it.
"It's going to be hard to take away a lot of positives from this, but I would rather finish a tournament with an under-par score than start with it. Hopefully, this will help us build momentum going into our next event in California. We were able to see some improvements and guys really battled. We just had a lot of big numbers during the first two days. The River Course is called the river course for a reason; unfortunately, we found the river too many times this week. We will move forward from this and head to another strong event. It will be good to get back out there because we know we can play a lot better than this."
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
