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Men's Golf tries to get back to par

After struggling last weekend in windy Texas at the Dr. Pepper invitational, the Michigan men's golf team hopes to end its season-long funk in stormy West Virginia.

Michigan is one of 18 teams in this weekend's Marshall Invitational in Huntington, W.Va., beginning Friday. The event is scheduled to be played at the Guyan Golf and Country Club.

The weekend features some familiar foes for the Wolverines. Rival Ohio State is the favorite of the strong field. Xavier's top player, Jim Zettler, took home top individual honors last weekend at the Dr. Pepper invitational. He led the Musketeers to a seventh place finish in Dallas. Miami (Ohio) is coming off a ninth-place showing at the Dr. Pepper invitational.

This 54-hole tournament is a golden opportunity for the Wolverines to recover from their recent lackluster play.

"Hopefully, we have the right group of guys this weekend," Michigan coach Jim Carras said. "We hope to play our way into the top five this weekend, but it (the invitational) has a good, strong field. Many of the teams are in District four and we will be up against them for the rest of the season."

Carras has once again shaken up the lineup for this weekend. Senior captain Chris Brockway is back in his familiar No. 1 slot after missing last weekend's Dr. Pepper invitational.

Brockway had played in 14 consecutive tournaments before sitting out last weekend. The senior from Ann Arbor has struggled this year. His 77.4 average is the highest of his Wolverine career.

Junior Kyle Dobbs is in the No. 2 slot for Michigan. He is coming off a disappointing 40th-place showing last weekend. While Dobbs struggled in Texas, he has still been Michigan's most consistent golfer this year, posting a 76.68 average.

Moving down to the No. 3 spot is freshman Isaac Hinkle. Hinkle has struggled with his consistency this season. His 237 last weekend is a far cry from his career-best of 226 that he shot in the fall.

Keith Hinton will be manning the No. 4 position over the weekend. The sophomore from Port Huron has also found difficulty regaining last year's form. The only walk-on making the trip this weekend, Hinton looks to improve upon last weekend's 235 in Dallas.

Brent Idalski moves into the No. 5 position after not playing in last weekend's invitational. The left-hander from Alpena is trying to improve upon his efforts of the fall season, which he ended with a 79.5 average.

Junior David Jasper is out of the lineup this weekend . Jasper came back from last weekend's tournament very sick.

"Jasper's absence is gonna hurt us," Carras said. "David's been our most consistent golfer lately, but we hope to do well without him this weekend."

Jasper was Michigan's top finisher last weekend. His 226 was his best 54-hole effort of the year.

The Wolverines hope to do something this weekend that they did not accomplish last weekend.

They hope to start playing up to their own expectations.

"There is no getting around the fact that we are struggling right now," Carras said. "I don't think any of us expected to be at the level we are based on last year's success.

"Marshall always provides a tough field and we're going to have to play our best to be there at the end."