This weekend the men's golf team travels to Ann Arbor, Mich., to compete in the 2005 Wolverine Intercollegiate. The 15-team field includes Big Ten programs Indiana, Iowa, Penn State and host Michigan, with a variety of other teams from around the country.
Wisconsin will be looking to improve after their 14th place finish last weekend at the 17-team Cleveland State Invitational where redshirt freshman Pat Duffy and true freshmen Nick Engen and Ben Herrera all made their collegiate debuts.
This weekend's tournament will be held at the University of Michigan Golf Course. The 6,704-yard, par-71 lay out was recently ranked as the third-best college course in the nation.
"It's an older golf course," Wisconsin head coach Jim Schuman said. "You've got greens that are very elevated, lots of slope in there. There are some holes there that are short off the tee and they kind of bait you into picking the wrong golf club."
The course underwent a multi-million dollar renovation in the spring of 1994, which restored bunkers and tee boxes, and improved the irrigation system. In addition, a new practice range was constructed, complete with practice greens and sand traps.
Scoring at the Wolverine Intercollegiate will be calculated in a five-count-four format. Five players from each team will play each round, and the four best scores from each round will then count toward the team total.
This fall, Schuman will be challenged when selecting five players for each tournament, and this weekend is no exception.
"It's a totally different chemistry than we had last year," Schuman said. "I think we're much more even across the board. All five guys will be ready to contribute at any time. That's how we're going to do well, and that's how we're going to win golf tournaments."
The Badgers will be led by junior Garrett Jones, who set the UW record for season scoring average last year with 72.7 shots per 18 holes. Last weekend, he carded the lowest Wisconsin score in each of the three rounds en route to a fourth place overall finish.
Jeff Kaiser will be the No. 2 golfer and will be looking to rebound from a 62nd-place finish last weekend.
Accompanying Jones and Kaiser to Michigan will be true freshmen Tyler Obermueller, and redshirt freshmen Paul Jacobsen and Engen. These five earned the chance to play by beating their fellow teammates in qualifying rounds at practice this week.
"We try to get in a minimum of at least three or four [qualifying rounds], and on a day-in and day-out basis you're going to get your four or five best players out of there," Schuman said.
Although Schuman does not set his lineup for each tournament based on the course being played, he feels that this week's course fits his team well.
"The five guys that we're taking this week, they all have decent short games and they're all very good putters," Schuman said. "If we can get that short game to overcome some of that inexperience then I would hope to see some good rounds out of the guys."
"It's paramount that the guys, when they are missing, that they miss on the correct side of the green. The greens tend to be very, very quick there, so you've got to really take care of your golf ball."
While Schuman concedes that his team is not as seasoned as most of the competition, he remains confident.
"It's a lot to expect out of some young, young guys," Schuman said. "But I do know this: they're up to the challenge and I'm really looking forward to it."
