The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 11A

'M' golfers
By Naweed Sikora
Daily Sports Editor
Not many people on this campus can say
that they have broken a golf club on their leg
after hitting a poor shot. But not many can say
they have shot a 74 (2-over par) at the Univer-
sity of Michigan golf course either.
Michigan freshman Bruce Svechota-Kings-
bury can say both.
Thankfully for the Michigan men's golf
team, the freshman has been doing less club-
snapping of late, as he is turning into a solid
contributor for the Wolverines.
Growing up in Ann Arbor, getting in a
round of golf was not always possible, so Sve-
chota-Kingsbury played other sports to pass
the time.
"I would get out to the golf course when it
got warm," Svechota-Kingsbury said. "But I
played basketball in the winter and baseball in
the spring."
His love for basketball has carried over to
Michigan, where he and his teammates often
spend time practicing their jumpshots when
they're not at the driving range. Svechota-
Kingsbury even joined an IM basketball team
with a few other golfers.
"A lot of us guys play other sports - we're
not all just golf nerds," Svechota-Kingsbury
said.
Svechota-Kingsbury said that just like when
playing golf, his teammates all have different
strengths on the hardwood.
"(Sophomore) Rob Tighe - he's a big guy,

hoop it up
so he's got solid post-moves," Svechota-
Kingsbury said. "I'm a perimeter type player, I
pretty much take a lot of outside shots."
But the freshman admits that the two sports
are almost polar opposites, both physically and
mentally.
"When playing basketball, anger manage-
ment is not quite as much an issue," he said.
"If you take a bad shot, you can make up for it
on the defensive end. But if you start getting
mad in golf, it's hard to recover.
"I used to break a lot of things (when I got
angry). I've broken a couple clubs. I broke my
bag once. But that's all done now; I've
improved greatly since coming here."
Svechota-Kingsbury finished with Michi-
gan's lowest single-round score (75) at the
Johnny Owens Invitational two weekends ago.
He says he "thinks the prospects are good"
that he will be in the lineup at the Kepler Invi-
tational in Columbus this weekend, played at
Ohio State's Scarlet Course.
Fellow freshman and Florida native Blake
Burman also stressed the importance of anger
management when struggling on the course.
Burman says that he plays with a "silent inten-
sity," and that it is often difficult to know how
well he is doing by looking at his face.
"Expressing anger can only be a negative
thing," Burman said. "I'm a firm believer in
making the next shot better."
Unlike Svechota-Kingsbury, Burman grew
up on the warm beaches and courses of Miami
and never started playing other sports because
golf was a year-round possibility.

Blue trying not to break bubble

By Chris Burke
Daily Sports Editor

It's not exactly college basketball's Selection
Sunday, and ESPN probably won't be anywhere
near the golf courses of Ann Arbor, but the Michi-
gan women's golf team can definitely relate to all
those teams that had to suffer through March "on
the bubble."
That's because, entering this weekend's Lady
Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, the
Wolverines are firmly entrenched in a fight for a
spot in the 21-team NCAA Central Regional that
begins May 8.
"I think we're probably about twentieth based on
scoring averages and things of that sort," Michigan
coach Kathy Teichert said. "Illinois, Nebraska,
Northwestern and Wisconsin will all be at the tour-
nament this weekend, and they are teams that are
just ahead of us or right there with us.
"One win could solidify our spot."
The 21 teams for the Central Regional are cho-
sen based on several factors, including head-to-
head competition and scoring averages. But, just
like in basketball, if a team captures its conference
championship, it receives an automatic berth in the
Regional. That means that there are usually one or
two teams a year that are ranked outside of the top-
21 that earn the right to compete in the Regional,
knocking another team out.
"This is all hypothetical," Teichert said. "But if
we can get into the top 17, we'll get a spot."
The Lady Boilermaker marks the last regular
season competition of the year for the Wolverines,
with the Big Ten Championships on deck, April

25-27 in Iowa City.
'All things considered, the Wolverines ought to
feel comfortable heading to Purdue. That's because
Michigan is less than a week removed from a
sixth-place finish at the Indiana Invitational.
"We just went to Indiana last week, but it's actu-
ally a warmer climate now, so we'll take it,"
Teichert said. "We'll take anything south of Ann
Arbor right now"
The Wolverines would also take a performance
from senior Kim Benedict similar to the one she
turned in at Bloomington.
Benedict captured her third career victory as a
Wolverine, firing an even-par 222 over 72 holes,
enabling her to hold off Kim Connelly of Wiscon-
sin by a single stroke.
In addition to the individual tournament title,
Benedict also was rewarded by being named the
Big Ten Golfer of the Week yesterday.
With Benedict in high gear, Teichert is now hop-
ing to kick start everyone else. Due to the
inclement weather, the Wolverines were unable to
hold team qualifying this week, meaning they will
compete with an identical lineup to last week.
That lineup will include sophomore Laura Olin
and freshman Amy Schmucker, two golfers that
Teichert knows must post solid rounds if the
Wolverines are to overcome Illinois, Nebraska and
the rest of the teams competing with Michigan for
a regional spot.
"We've got to expect good things from Laura
and Amy," Teichert said. "Amy got off to a tough
start last week, but she showed the ability to come
back. We're sticking with the same lineup because
they're obviously the freshest."

DAVID KATZ/Daily
Junior Scott Carlton grew up golfing in the
cold Michigan weather.
"I joke with the other guys when its 50
degrees here, and they say it's a good day to
play golf," Burman said. "In Florida, if it's 50
degrees one day, there's 364 other days in the
year when it's warmer, and I could play golf."
Having to adjust to Michigan's conditions
has been difficult for him, but he says it is a
process he is working on. Although the cold
weather can be frustrating since it doesn't
allow the Wolverines to practice as much as
they would like, Burman manages to stay
cool.

1 1 -4

SMITH
Continued from Page 9A
5) "Man, you got to do better on
your picks!"
Michigan captain Bennie Joppru
ripped me for my infamous - and
horrendous - staff picks this year.
Hey, everyone has a few bad weeks -
I just had a few where I went 4-12.
Top five times I've jinxed
someone with hype
1) Women's hoops program - I
wrote a column last year about how
fans were missing out on the "best
kept secret" in 'M' sports. Guess
there were more secrets than I
thought - just not a lot of wins.
2) Gavin Groninger - Bragging
about Gavin lighting up Michael
Jordan at a summer camp coun-
selor's game a few summers ago
didn't help Groninger's shooting
stroke - he shot 17.5 percent this
year.
3) Tyrece Butler - Sorry Tyrece.
Guess the "Butler a slam dunk in
M' receiving core" headline after
the Western Michigan game was a
little too premature. Didn't know
Carr would play him so sparingly
the rest of the season.
4) Mark Kosick -As if wearing
Berenson's and former Hobey
Baker Award winner Brendan Mor-
rison' leke'idary No. 9 wvasnT' pres-
sure enough, my incessant hype of
the highly-touted forward helped
him become a "healthy scratch" by
senior year.
5) 'M'secondary - Maybe I
shouldn't have hyped the "Wolf-
pack" before the Iowa game. What
was the score of that one?
Top five road trips
1) NEEEEEEBRASKA - Need I
say more?
2) Tampa, Fla. (Outback Bowl)
- Stops at the best steakhouse
were sizzling and trips to the "hos-
pitality bar" were quite welcoming,
but they weren't as interesting as
our crazy cab driver - who sneaki-
ly drove us to a whorehouse. Now
that's a mess.
3) Kent, Ohio - This Podunk
town was where I covered the field
hockey team becoming the first
Michigan women to ever win a
national championship - and like-
ly the only one I'll see in my four
years at the University.
4) Madison - Nothing like
spending your Thanksgiving in the
Cheese State. And eating McDon-
ald's instead of turkey for that holi-
day meal was priceless.
5) St. Paul, Minn. - Gotta love
driving 12 hours straight, then curl-
ing up on a television stand to get a
few winks before covering my sec-
ond-straight Frozen Four.
Through all the messes, trips and
call-outs, I've realized I had the
best job a college kid could have.
And with no time outs left, I have no
regrets.
Joe Smith can be reached at
josephms@umich.edu.
SCOREKEEPERS
5 75 CALL>
T E
TANQUPRA CA
FRIDAY

FREE

for College

Students

up to

17000 AT&T Phone Card Minutes

I*
U

When you switch to or sign up for AT&T
Local Phone Service*,* you'll get up to 1,000
phone card minutes, unlimited local calls from
your house or apartment, PLUS your choice
of 3 calling features. Choose from: Call Waiting,
Three-Way Calling, Call Forwarding,
Speed Dialing 8 or Call Return!

Caller 10 and other features also available'

Call toll-free

AT&T
RIGHT NOWsM

and ask for extension 41693

i