College Preview: Univ. of Michigan Men
By Tom Wywrot
Moving forward and gaining experiences was the mantra for coach Zach Barlow's Michigan men's golf team last season. This year, it will be capitalizing on those moments to take that next step for not only in the Big Ten, but nationally as well.
The Wolverines are led by their young core of sophomore Hunter Thomson and junior Will Anderson. Thomson burst onto the scene, leading U-M in scoring (73.09) in his first year, while Anderson was just behind at 73.40 per round. They combined to pace the Wolverines in eight of 11 events highlighted by Anderson's win at the Macdonald Cup and Thomson's runner-up finish at Desert Mountain.
With the decision to not sign any newcomers, Barlow elected to bring in graduate transfer James Hill from Detroit Mercy. Finishing as the top Titan in 12 of his 26 career events, he carried a career average of 75.86 per round.
Michigan will use its young depth to help fill the lineup card. Current juniors Jude Kim (five starts) and Ben Hoagland (three events) gained valuable experiences last season, while in addition to Thomson's team-best 11 starts, fellow newcomers Bavake Sihota (six starters) and Yuqi Liu (five starts) got a taste of collegiate golf as they look to take that next step.
Barlow has created a challenging 2022-23 schedule with four fall events with seven in the spring. Opening at the Island Resort Invitational in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, U-M heads to events at Yale, Georgetown and Little Rock to begin the season. After the winter training break, the Wolverines will make return trips to the Big Ten's Match Play event as well as Houston's Border Olympics and Arkansas State's event in Las Vegas.
The Maize and Blue will once again host the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate in Scottsdale, Ariz., over spring break before finishing the regular season in Big Ten country at Illinois. The Big Ten Championships move to the east coast at Galloway National in New Jersey.
"There are always going to be challenges -- covid-19, roster changes as well as straight up competition,” Barlow said. “We are looking forward to continuing to move forward with our culture and taking those experiences from last season and applying them this season. I am excited to see where we can go this year."
