THIS WEEK
Mon-Tue., Oct. 27-28 — Royal Oaks Intercollegiate (Dallas, Texas)
Live Scoring
Next on the Tee
The fall finale is upon the University of Michigan men’s golf team as the Wolverines will head south to Dallas, Texas, for Baylor’s Royal Oaks Intercollegiate, Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 27-28). The 54-hole event, which will feature a 12-team field, will be played at Royal Oaks Country Club. Scoring will be the unique 6-count-5 and Royal Oaks will be set up for a par of 71 and 7,068 yards.
Tournament Variation
The Royal Oaks Intercollegiate will be played in a 6-count-5 format, offering an additional player to each of the 12 teams. U-M is not a stranger to the format, as the Wolverines played 6-count-5 in back-to-back years at the 2010 and 2011 Fresno State Lexus Classic.
The Tournament Field
There will be 12 teams competing at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate, including Baylor, Duke, Houston, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, SMU, UT Arlington and Texas Tech.
The Tournament Schedule
Sunday, Oct. 26 — Practice Round beginning at 1 p.m. CDT (shotgun start)
Monday, Oct. 27 — First Round (18) beginning at 8:30 a.m. CDT (shotgun start)
Monday, Oct. 27 — Second Round (18), continuous play after completion of first round
Tuesday, Oct. 28 — Final Round (18), beginning 8:30 a.m. CDT (tee times off No. 1 & 10)
The Tournament Lineup
The Wolverine six-man starting group will consist of junior Chris O’Neill (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run HS), junior Brett McIntosh (London, Ontario/Saunders Secondary School), freshman Kyle Mueller (Athens, Ga./Athens Academy), sophomore Reed Hrynewich (Muskegon, Mich./Mona Shores HS), sophomore Bryce Evon (Windsor, Ontario/Vincent Massey Secondary) and senior Noori Hyun (Seoul, Korea/Centreville HS [Va.]).
WOLVERINE BITES
• Noori Hyun will make his first start of the season at Baylor’s event. He played as an individual in the season-opening Wolverine Intercollegiate, tying for 28th with a 218 total. He has started 26 of 31 career events and has a career scoring average of 76.27.
• Michigan has faced at least one Big Ten team in each of the four events this season. The Wolverines will make it five straight as Iowa and Minnesota will join the Maize and Blue at the Baylor event. Overall, U-M has an 8-3-1 record against conference foes in tournament play.
• As a team, Michigan is averaging 73.09 per round individually and near par as a team with a 289.17 average.
• Kyle Mueller leads U-M with a 71.92 per round average, which is currently on pace as the lowest of all-time at U-M.Chris O’Neill is just behind at 72.08, which is nearly a stroke better than his prior season best of 73.03 (2013-14). Overall the Wolverines have five players averaging at or below 73.00 per round.
• Kyle Mueller has made the most of his first four career starts, which has included three top-25 individual finishes. He was named the Big Ten’s Golfer of the Week after winning his very first collegiate event — the Wolverine Intercollegiate — with a seven-under 206 total. He leads the Wolverines with a 71.92 per round average and has had seven of his 12 rounds at or below par, including a career-best four-under 67 in his first collegiate round.
• Chris O’Neill also has posted three top-25 individual finishes. He was sixth at the Wolverine Intercollegiate, tied for 25th at the Olympia Fields Country Club/Fighting Illini Invitational and tied for 14th at the Windon Memorial Classic. Overall he has finished as the top Wolverine in 13 of 28 career events.
• With his start at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Chris O’Neill increased his consecutive event streak to 28 starts. He has yet to miss an event in three seasons. Classmate Brett McIntosh has played in 27 straight events.
• Reed Hrynewich has started three of the four events this season. So far, he has maintained a career-best stroke average pace of 73.00 per round, shattering last year’s 76.00 per round average in 10 events. The lefty has three sub-par rounds, including a season-best two-under 69 in the final round of the Wolverine Intercollegiate.
• In 28 career events, Chris O’Neill has 13 top-20 finishes, with eight among the top 10 and five in the top five — including his first individual title at the 2013 Windon Memorial Classic.
• Chris O’Neill carded a career-best 65 during first round of the Wolverine Intercollegiate, besting his previous career low by one stroke — 66 shot in the final round of the 2013 Wolverine Intercollegiate. En route to the shooting his best round, he posted four birdies, one eagle and 13 pars on the par-71, 6,704-yard U-M Golf Course.
• Bryce Evon opened the 2014 fall season by posting a career-best 54-hole tournament total with his 215 (71-71-73) at the Wolverine Intercollegiate. He bested the 217 (73-76-68) he recorded at the 2014 Puerto Rico Classic (Feb. 23-25).
• Michigan’s roster features two lefthanded golfers — Brett McIntosh and Reed Hrynewich. U-M’s last lefty was Kevin Dore (2004-07).
LAST TIME OUT
Led by a top-20 individual finish from Kyle Mueller, the Wolverines finished 13th with an 873 team total at the Cal’s Alister MacKenzie Invitational played Oct. 13-14 at the Meadow Club. Mueller was the top finishing Wolverine for the third time this season, tying for 20th with a 214 tally. Chris O’Neill and Tom Swanson tied for 41st at 219. [ Recap ]
