The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 4, 2004 -15

*II MEN'S GOLF
.Big advantage: golfers
host Big Ten tourney

SOFTBALL
Continued from Page 14
ankle in Iowa City several weeks ago.
Merchant, who has already broken the school's single-sea-
son homemu record and is headed for the career mark, oblit-
erated any lingering doubts by sending the first pitch she saw
over the fence in left-center. It was Merchant's 15th homerun
of the year.
Hutchins was happy to have Merchant back.
"I don't think (Merchant) is 100 percent," Hutchins
said. "She is a great player and does a lot for our team."
The in-state rivalry drew a crowd of 1213 fans on Friday
night, the fifth largest in program history and the second ,c
largest during regular season play.
The Wolverines will now focus on a pair of non-confer-
ence match-ups against Western Michigan and Florida State
beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

By Seth Gordon
Daily Sports Editor
Despite coming off a disappointing
eleventh place finish at Michigan State
this past weekend, the Michigan men's
golf team has high expectations as they
get ready to host the Big Ten Confer-
ence Championship this weekend.
The Wolverines will enter the tour-
nament as the ninth-seed but are confi-
dent that their home-course advantage
will propel them to a top finish.
"The home-course advantage in golf
is unique," Michigan coach Andrew
Sapp said. "In basketball or football
the home-course advantage is from the
fans. But in golf, each course is unique
and playing at home means knowing
that course."
Michigan struggled to maintain con-
sistent scores in the cold and rainy
conditions of East Lansing, despite
getting low scores from players in a
few rounds. Freshman Kevin Dore
sandwiched a solid even-par 72 in
between rounds of 78 and 79. Sopho-
more Christian Vozza finished the
weekend with three under-par 69 to
move up 14 spots and secured 12th
place. Vozza believe coming home
will provide Michigan with an edge
over the rest of the competition.
"We are going to be able to play the
course two to three times this week
before anyone else gets to see it,"
Vozza said. "We get to see where the
pins are going to be and where to hit
it on the greens. It's going to be a
huge advantage."
Players will have all week to
improve their games and learn from
the past weekend's experiences.
"I feel pretty good," Dore said. This
weekend I didn't play as good as I
wanted to. I played really good in the
second round, actually, in probably the
toughest conditions we had. But I
think with this whole week, being able
to prepare properly, I am pretty confi-
dent going in that I will be able to play
well and hopefully we'll have a good
team finish too."
Dore alluded to the second ace up
Michigan's sleeve. Finals are
already over and players can focus
solely on practice.
"Being done with school we can
focus completely on preparing for Big
Tens," Vozza said.
The Wolverines are the only squad
in the Big Ten that has already finished
their coursework.
. "Having exams done and just being
able to relax and focus on golf, our
schedule this week is more flexible,"
Dore said. "We can come out and
practice when we want. Being done
with school is a huge advantage over
other schools."
These advantages have given
Michigan confidence, which has lift-
ed the goals and expectations of the
team. Sapp is looking for the Wolver-
ines to finish in the top half of the
field. He would be happy with a top-
finish. Vozza and the players have
higher goals.

"As a team our ultimate goal is first
place," Vozza said.,"I think if we make
top three, though, we'll be very, very
happy. A top-five finish is not going
to do it for us"
In order for the Wolverines to
achieve their goals, they must
increase their consistency and elimi-
nate the high scores that plagued them
in East Lansing.
"Keeping the high numbers out is
huge," Vozza said. "If you could get a
couple that are four our five-under that
would be huge. But if we can be con-
sistently around par, four or five guys
around par, that'd be great."
In a sport that is based on individual
performance, team goals still take
precedence for Michigan players.
"I'm not really worried about the
individual," Dore said. "I just want
this team to go home with some Big
Ten rings."
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Michigan will host the Big Ten Tournament May 13-15.


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