The Michigan Daily-Friday, May 14, 1982-Page 17
Roberts has the tools
ii otenaaml to turn golf team around
By BUDDY MOOREHOUSE
For the Michigan men's golf team,
1982 has not exactly been one of your
basic banner years. More often than not
this season, the Wolverines have ended
up near the bottom of the pack in every
tournament they have played in.
Entering the Big Ten Championships
which start today in West Lafayette, the
best finish for Michigan in a tourney
this spring has been a third place in last
weekend's Badger Invitational.
But take heart, Blue golf fans, for
help is on the horizon. It seems that
there is a freshman on this year's
squad, name of Dan Roberts, and he's
been one of the brightest spots for
Michigan this season. Along with senior
standout Ed Humenik, Roberts has led
the way for the Wolverine linksters all
season. And, according to all in-
dications, he is only going to get better.
"He's going to be a hell of a player,"
acting head coach Jim Carras bluntly
predicted. "I can only see him getting
better. He's been one or two for us all
year long, and that's quite an accom-
plishment for a freshman. He's a com-
petitive, confident kid, and that's what
he has to be if he wants to win."
And if, indeed, Roberts does continue
to improve, it could mean a bright
future for Michigan golf. The rookie
from nearby Ypsilanti currently sports
a 77.4-strokes average, second best of
the team behind Humenik, for the 19
rounds he has played this season.
That figure is deceptively high,
because it includes several rounds
played earlier in the spring when the
weather was better suited for alpine
skiing. Recently, he has shot two roun-
ds of 73 in the Michigan Invitational and
Northern Intercollegiate tournaments.
If that impresses you, consider that he
shot a round of 65 as a high school junior
two years ago.
Despite all of the success Roberts has
enjoyed in his initial season at
Michigan, he is only semi-pleased with
his performance. "I guess I'm
satisfied," he said, "but I feel I should
be shooting lower scores."
According to Carras, that might just
happen in the Big Ten meet. "He would
not be the favorite by a longshot," said
Carras, who -is taking over for Tom
Simon, the regular head coach who is
out on a sick leave. "But," he added, his
voice lowered to a whisper, "he has the
potential to break loose and have four
great rounds and walk away with that
thing. He's got the physical tools."
Roberts certainly had the tools as a
senior in high school. He was the
medalist at the state meet his senior
year, leading his Ypsilanti High School
teammates to a second place finish in
the Class A tournament. After that, he
decided to continue his career at
Michigan because, "I knew almost
everyone on the team before I got here.
And it was really close to :home and I
knew that I could come here right away
and play."
For all of the physical attributes that
Roberts has to be a great golfer, Carras
feels that one of his young star's
greatest assets is his confidence. Not
the brash, nose-in-the-air, "I can do
anything" type of confidence, mind
you. Rather, the type of confidence that
a good golfer needs.
"I like his attitude," said Carras.
"He's confident, but not arrogant.
Sometimes it may sound arrogant, but
if he has to make a four-foot putt, and
he says to himself that he'll do it, then
by God, he'll do it."
So he has all the physical abilities, the
competitiveness and the confidence
that a golfer needs. Are there are
negative aspects about young Mr
Roberts?
"Well," the young linkster admitted,
"I used to have a really bad temper.
Then one time last summer I had a triple
bogey." Now under normal conditions,
a club or two might have given its life in
such a situation. But, said Roberts, "I
just decided that I wasn't going to let it
bother me, and I finished up with a
great round." That marked the end of
his bad temper days.
A great round - make that four great
rounds - is exactly what Roberts will
need at this weekend's league meet.
But he isn't letting the pressure of it all
get to him. "Of course you want to win
it," he said, "but I just want to go out
and do as good as I can. I'll just try not
to get careless and shoot really high or
anything."
If Dan Roberts continues to
progress, the only thing that will be
high are the expectations for the
Michigan golf team the next three
years.
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DAN ROBERTS SHOWS the swing that makes him one of Michigan's top golfers.
Sugar Ray
reeovering
BALTIMORE (AP)- World welter-
weight champion Sugar Ray Leonard is
recovering without any complications
from surgery for a detached retina in
his left eye, his adviser said yesterday.
"Ray Leonard has had an uncom-
plicated course following the retinal
reattachment operation on his left eye.
... He is comfortable and in excellent
spirits. His left eye is healing properly
and the doctory continue to be op-
timistic that he will achieve a complete
recovery," Mike Trainer said in a
statement after he met with Leonard's
doctors.
.7
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