Golfers use break to catch up in school

After its season-best fifth-place finish in the Xavier Invitational, the Michigan men's golf team finally gets to enjoy a well-deserved two weeks away from tournament play. During the hectic start to their fall season, the young Wolverines had the opportunity to grow and learn more about themselves.

When making travel plans last summer for this September's fall opener in Minnesota, Michigan coach Jim Carras knew of just two people who would surely be going to Minnesota: himself and junior Mike Harris.

With Harris being the only experienced varsity golfer, the other four spots on the plane to Minnesota were wide open.

When weather permits, the Michigan men's golf team will take advantage of a break in its fall schedule to prepare for the Stanford Invitational.

"The intent was to give every newcomer the opportunity to compete," Carras said. "Then we would evaluate everyone and see where we were at."

In the first four matches of this fall season, eight different Wolverines saw action.

Harris, freshman Andy Matthews and sophomore Scott Hayes are the only three to have played in all four matches so far.

Freshmen Kyle Kilcherman, Brian Seipke and Andy Chapman also have seen some action in the final two spots, as have sophomore Nick Lossia and junior Mike Affeldt.

After watching his team's best finish of the year last week in Cincinnati, Carras hopes that he may have finally found some stability in his lineup.

Harris' score of 217 (70-74-73) led the team at the Xavier Invitational, but Michigan finally showed some consistency throughout the lineup.

Matthews' 221 (78-73-70) was only a few strokes behind Harris, while Chapman was right there in his collegiate debut by posting a 223 (76-73-74). Hayes' and Kilcherman's scores of 224 put them right up there with their teammates.

It has been a long time since just seven shots separated the lowest and highest Michigan scores during a 54-hole event.

"I'm quite pleased and excited about the effort and performance from this particular lineup," Carras said. "This was by far our best effort all fall ... We finally got the balance we've been striving for."

In addition to looking for balance throughout his lineup on the golf course, Carras also expects his players to balance schoolwork and golf effectively.

With their previous two matches falling on weekdays, each Michigan golfer missed four days of class during a two-week span. And unlike Andy Katzenmoyer, they were not earning class credits for fixing their divots.

Because of his strong commitment to coaching student athletes, Carras has given his players plenty of time during the past week to get re-acquainted with textbooks and lectures.

"I've always felt that school comes first and golf second," Carras said. "Having played in two consecutive tournaments where they missed Monday and Tuesday's classes, we've allowed them a lot of freedom this week to catch up on their studies."

Michigan plans on using its practice time this week to prepare for the Stanford Invitational, which begins on Oct. 29.

While some of the positions in the lineup are starting to come into focus, Carras is still excited to watch several players compete for the bottom couple spots. He will decide in about a week who exactly will be making the trip to Palo Alto, Calif.

One thing is for sure, though: Carras has a better guess who will be sitting with him on the flight to Stanford than he did a few months ago when making plane reservations for Minnesota.

SARA SCHENCK/Daily

10-20-98