ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Under a new tournament name, the University of Michigan men’s golf team makes a return visit to Little Rock, Ark., on Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 16-17) for the Everett Buick GMC Classic. The 15-team, 54-hole event (36-18) will be played at the Chenal Country Club’s Founders Course.
Notes
• There will be 15 teams in the field for the Everett Buick GMC Classic, including: Ball State, Boston College, Central Arkansas, Lamar, Little Rock (host), Louisiana, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, Northern Colorado, Oral Roberts, Troy, ULM, UT-Arlington and UTEP.
• U-M will travel five starters and one individual for the Everett Buick GMC Classic. Senior Will Anderson and junior Hunter Thomson head up the starters with redshirt-junior Ben Hoaglandjunior Yuqi Liu and senior Jude Kim round out the top five. Redshirt-junior Jack O’Donnell will travel and play as an individual.
• Last season, Thomson’s tie for sixth (215, -1) and Anderson’s tie for 14th (217, +1) paced the wWolverines to an eighth-place team finish with an 884 (289-290-305) 54-hole total. Playing as an individual, Kim posted his first, and only to date, sub-par 54-hole total (213, -3) to record his career-best finish (fourth). Kim closed with a career-best tying 67 (-5) on the Founders Course.
• Thomson is expected to make his 27th consecutive start for the Wolverines. He has not missed a tournament for U-M in three seasons. Anderson is set up to make his 17th straight start and 31st of his 32-event career. Additionally, Liu has started his last 12 events for U-M, while Hoagland has started all four this season.
• It has been quite the start to the fall season for Thomson. Leading U-M with a 69.22 scoring average, he has posted all nine of his season rounds at par or better — with six of the nine under par with five sub-70 tallies, including a career-low 65 (-7) in the second round of the Island Resort Intercollegiate (Sept. 3-4). His remaining three all were even-par tallies of 72.
• In addition to his scoring, Thomson has posted four straight top-20 finishes dating back to last season. This season he has two top-five finishes including the runner-up (202, -14) at the Island Resort Intercollegiate. He added a tie for fourth (208, -8) at the Virtues Intercollegiate (Sept. 25-26).
• With three straight sub-par 54-hole totals, Thomson is averaging 207.67 per event. He has 12 career sub-par 54-hole events. He set his career-best 54-hole total with a 202 (-14) at the Island Resort Intercollegiate. That tally tied the second-lowest 54-hole tally in program history (Bill Rankin, 2008 The Maxwell).
• Anderson has averaged a career-best 72.11 per-round average early into his senior season. Six of his nine rounds have been at or below par, with five sub-par tallies. He rattled off three straight sub-par tallies to post the second-lowest 54-hole total of his career at the Virtues Intercollegiate (209, -7).
• Kim and freshman Jason Gordon were able to get some tournament experience as individuals at the Indy at Forest Hills. They went 1-2 individually after 36-hole tallies of 139 (-1) and 140 (E), respectively, at Forest Hills Country Club.
• Kim’s medalist finish continues U-M’s successful fall season, as the Wolverines have won two team titles in three events and have back-to-back events with individual wins after Hoagland (207, -9) and Liu (207, -9) were part of tri-medalists at the Virtues Intercollegiate.
• Hoagland used a career-low 64 (-8) in the second round of the Island Resort Intercollegiate to set a new career-low 54-hole total of 206 (-10). He topped his prior best by four shots (210, -6) tallied at the 2022 Island Resort event. With six of his nine rounds this season at or below par, he has posted a 70.78 average.
• Michigan has produced 34 of 45 rounds at or below par, with 24 sub-par and 10 at even. This has helped the Wolverine post seven of nine team totals under par, including a season-low 273 (-15) in the second round of the Island Resort Intercollegiate. As a team, U-M is averaging 281.78 — nearly seven shots below par.
2023-10-13 14:51:53
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