Monday, June 6, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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MEN S GOLF
'M' places 10th, Kim
takes third at NCAAs
Foote, Irons say OSU not alone
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Writer
A day into the NCAA Champion-
ships, the Michigan golf team didn't
seemtohaveit. TheWolverinesshot
a combined 307 through 18 holes
and stood in 25th place out of the
30-team field.
But then, led by senior Lion Kim,
Michigan came charging back the
next two days to grab the No.10 spot
in the country. The 10th-place finish
is the Wolverines' second-best per-
formance since 1952. The 2009 team
finished sixth overall.
And Michigan was oh-so-close
to putting itself into the next round
of the NCAA Championships. The
Wolverines' 892 three-day total
was just three strokes off of Duke,
which was the final qualifier for the
eight-team match play tournament
that followed Tuesday-Thursday's
stroke play.
"Obviously we are disappointed
we did not advance," Michigan
coach Andrew Sapp said through
the athletic department. "We really
fought the final two rounds to put
ourselves in a position to sit on the
final hole to see if we made it. It is
painful to miss by a few shots rather
than 20, but after being tied for 25th
after the first day and to see us even
have a chance to make match play, I
could not be any more proud of this
team. They have a lot of heart."
Kim's 215 over the three days
spurred Michigan's surge up the
leaderboard in Stillwater, Okla. That
score earned Kim third place in the
individual competition.
His 73 on Thursday marked the
final round of his historic Michi-
gan career - perhaps the best in
Wolverine history. Kim earned his
second All-American honor to put
himself in the company of just four
other Michigan golfers. And his
trip to Augusta National earlier this
spring marked the first time a Wol-
verine competed in the Masters.
"Lion has had an unbelievable
career," Sapp said. "He was a tre-
mendous player. He was a tremen-
dous leader. He was a tremendous
representative of this University. He
gave all he had for four years and it
was my honor to have been a part of
his golfing career.
"We will certainly miss him, but I
know he has helped shape this pro-
gram into what it is today. He will be
remembered for a long time."
But it wasn't just Kim doing the
work to lift Michigan15 spots in two
days. The other four Wolverines
were crucial in leading the charge
back up the leaderboard.
"After the first round, we could
have packed up our tents and gone
home," Sapp said. "We did not do
that. We fought tooth and nail for
the last two days and really gave
ourselves the best shot at advancing.
For them to do that and not give up
really shows the character of these
young men. (Junior) Matt (Thomp-
son) had a sensational final day with
eight birdies and sophomore Jack
(Schultz) made so many up and
downs for par today to really help
this team.
"Even (freshman) Joey (Garber)
and (sophomore) Rahul (Bakshi)
really played with resiliency and
fought back after slow starts today.
I am just so proud of them."
Thompson's 70 on Thursday put
him in 20th place overall with 220
and Garber finished 56th highlight-
ed by his 72 on Wednesday.
Their emergence gives the team
two key pieces for continuing their
success into next year. Only senior
Alexander Sitompul joins Kim in
graduating this year.
"With four of the five start-
ers returning, they really gained
some valuable experiences," Sapp
said. "Hopefully, it builds a hunger
inside of them to want to get back
(to the NCAA Finals) next year and
go even farther. I am just so proud
of how hard this team worked and
the effort they put in each and every
day. We are looking forward to the
future because it is bright."
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By TIM ROHAN pleted his ninth season in the NFL,
Daily Sports Editor -Foote has spent all but one season of
his career with the Steelers.
For two former Michigan foot- In2001, Foote's Wolverines were
ball players, the situation at Ohio upset by Ohio State in Tressel's first
State that pushed Jim Tressel to season as head coach. Foote said the
resign on May 30, wasn't all that 10-year stretch of losing to Tressel
surprising. and Ohio State, when the Buckeyes
According to Larry Foote and won nine out of 10 games against
Jarrett Irons - two all-time Michi- the Wolverines, hurt his wallet
gan football greats - it may be the when it came to friendly wagers
best (or worst) kept secret in all of against teammates, like former
college football: big-time players Buckeye Santonio Holmes.
do receive some sort of payment or In that time, Foote has had
compensation. plenty of contact with players from
Albeit, the players at Ohio State other prominent college football
allegedly didn't receive payment to schools and got a glimpse behind
play, rather, they broke NCAA rules the scenes at other programs.
by exchanging memorabilia for "Everyone I talk to, most of the
improper benefits. time they went to big schools and
"It's a lot bigger than Tressel," they got paid," Foote said. "I don't
said Foote, who was the Big Ten's have no names and stuff like that
Defensive Player oftheYear in2001. But it's just, Michigan, they pride
"I've been telling people that. It's a ourselves - Lloyd Carr didn't play
lot bigger. College atmospheres, big that."
universities and athletic programs, Ohio State's starting quarter-
they're dirty - a lot of them are back, Terrelle Pryor, as well as four
dirty. And coaches, they've got to other key Buckeyes were suspend-
take the fall." ed for the first five games of the
Both Foote and Irons said that 2011season for receiving improper
in each of their own unique experi- benefits involving allegedly trad-
ences they have cometo understand ing team memorabilia for tattoos.
it is common. Yet both denied any Another player had received a
wrongdoing happening at Michi- smaller suspension, too. And in a
gan. Sports Illustrated story released
"When I was at Michigan," Foote early last week, a total of 28 play-
continued, "that's one thing I pride ers were implicated as to being
myself about Michigan, because involved in the same illicit behav-
the stories I hear about other teams tor dating back to2002.
with the money and the alumni At that time, Jarrett Irons was
and the stuff like that, the stuff I'm just about done with his three or
hearing- I mean it is brand new." so years he spent working for IMG.
Foote played linebacker for Irons played linebacker at Michi-
Michigan from 1998-2001 before gan from 1993-1996, and was an
being selected in the fourth round All-American his senior year.
by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the At IMG, he was shown the same
2002 NFL Draft. Having just com- new world Foote found.
"Any of the stuff that went on
at Ohio State, I wasn't shocked by
it," Irons said. "I mean, you hear
stuff happening like that at other
schools all the time."
Irons said it was "common" to
hear stories about players being,
paid when he was recruiting play-
ers to sign with IMG.
And Tressel's ignorance towards
Pryor's new cars, which, accord-
ing to ESPN, has become the new
focus of the NCAA's probe on Ohio
State, is hard to believe.
"I think it's hard to imagine that
he didn't know a lot of that stuff
was going on, especially the car
situation," Irons said.
"Anybody who got a new car
(at Michigan), from a compliance
standpoint we always had to sub---
mit where we got the car, or this or
that."
The details emerging from
Ohio State and even the situation
surrounding quarterback Cam
Newton at Auburn - in which
Newton's father allegedly brokered
deals with colleges to exchange his
son's commitment for monetary
rewards - are the norm for Irons.
"Especially with some other
schools, maybe in other conferenc-
es, you talk to other guys - I mean,
everybody was - you hear about
guys getting paid," Irons said.
The NCAA infamously gave
Southern Methodist the "death
penalty" in the late 1980s for pay-
ing players under the table. The
Mustangs were prohibited from
playing football in 1987 and decid-
ed, on its own, that it was unable to
field ateam in 1988.
"It's common," Irons said. "I've
heard of people getting paid. It's
not out of the ordinary."
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