Nov. 2, 2009

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan men's golf juniors Lion Kim (Lake Mary, Fla./Lake Mary Prep) and Alexander Sitompul (Jakarta, Indonesia/Bradenton Prep Academy [Fla.]) were selected to participate in the 35th annual Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic, taking place Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 23-24, at the El Paso Country Club in El Paso, Texas.

The Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic, sponsored by the Sun Bowl Association, is considered the nation's No. 1-ranked collegiate tournament in the country and has featured the game's top players for more than three decades. The 54-hole event invites the top players from around the nation to compete individually for medalist honors. As part of the invitation, each participating school is awarded a $1,000 scholarship for golfers

The Golf Classic is the only individual stroke-play event in collegiate golf and has featured such winners as Tiger Woods, David Duvall, Jerry Pate and Davis Love III. Alumni of the event have gone on to win in excess of $1.2 billion on the PGA Tour and over 500 tournament titles. Overall, the Sun Bowl Association has donated over $640,000 to the scholarship funds of competing schools in the event.

Kim and Sitompul are the first two Wolverine golfers to participate in the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic since Michael Harris in 1998, who finished 19th. It also marks just the third time a Michigan golfer has been in the field. The first appearance by a Wolverine came in 1980, when John Morse finished 19th in the event.

The Wolverine duo earned the invitation by virtue of earning All-America status last year at the 2009 NCAA Finals in Toledo, Ohio. After becoming the first U-M players to be named to an NCAA All-America team in almost 10 years, Kim and Sitompul posted top-15 individual finishes -- sixth and tied for 13th, respectively -- to help U-M advance to NCAA match play for a shot at the national title. Following a first-round win over Southern Cal, the Wolverines dropped a close semifinal match to the eventual national champion Texas A&M Aggies.

Kim led the way for U-M during the 2008-09 season, starting all 14 events -- one of three players to do so -- and finishing as the top Wolverine in five events. Highlighting his season was his conversion of an eight-foot putt on the 18th hole to secure a place in the NCAA match play finals for U-M, which was followed by a 212-yard fairway shot that rolled to less than a foot from the cup, helping U-M defeat USC in first-round match play. Kim closed the season as just the second Wolverine all-time to post a scoring average below 73 strokes, finishing with a career-best average of 72.89. So far this season, Kim is ahead of his sophomore year's pace, averaging 72.14 strokes per round in the five fall events.

Sitompul was just behind Kim as he started 12 events in 2008-09, finishing as the top Wolverine in two tournaments. He completed the season averaging a career-best 73.16 strokes per round, which is a stroke better than his first season. Sitompul has played in just one event this fall season after battling injuries to start the season.

Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423