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Thursday, July 7, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

By ORION SANG

Summer Managing Sports Editor

Michigan 
head 
swimming 

coach Mike Bottom was named 
an assistant coach of the U.S. 
men’s team for this summer’s 
Olympic Games.

“I’ve been dreaming about this 

since I was 10 years old,” Bottom 
said in a statement Sunday. “This 
is my Olympic dream. I’m ready 
to do whatever it takes to help the 
U.S. be successful in Rio. I can’t 
wait to get started.”

Despite this being his first 

time coaching the U.S. team at 
the Olympics, Bottom has had a 
lot of experience at the Games 
— he has coached at the past 
five, and had also previously 
said that he would be coaching 
Michigan sophomore Mokhtar 
Al-Yamani 
and 
Al-Yamani’s 

country, Yemen, at this year’s 
competition in Rio.

“In the past I’ve been with 

other small countries,” Bottom 
said at a press conference May 31. 
“The nice thing about coaching 
with a small country is that I 
can coach everybody. I’ve signed 
something that says I won’t coach 
against the U.S. team, so that 
gives me the freedom to do what 
I do.”

Bottom, who coaches both the 

men’s and women’s swimming 

and diving teams at Michigan, 
spent the early part of the 
summer in Ann Arbor helping 
current 
team 
members 
and 

alumni — as well as other athletes 
representing 
countries 
from 

across the world — train for the 
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, which 
have taken place over the past 
week.

Bottom has been in Omaha 

for the trials as several current 
and 
former 
Wolverines 
have 

competed for coveted spots on 
the national team.

Notable performances came 

from alum Connor Jaeger, who 
also swam at the 2012 Olympic 
Games, qualified for the 1,500-
meter freestyle and 400-meter 
freestyle by winning both events, 
while alum Tyler Clary, who won 
a gold medal in 2012, narrowly 
missed out on qualifying for this 
year’s games after finishing third 
in the 200-meter backstroke.

Bottom will now get a chance 

to be part of the U.S. team for the 
second time in his life — he had 
previously qualified for the 100-
meter fly in 1980, but the U.S. 
boycotted that year’s games as 
they were held in Moscow during 
the Cold War.

Now, close to 40 years later, he 

will look to help his country to 
success — this time, though, he 
will be out of the water.

RITA MORRIS/Daily

Mike Bottom coached in the previous five Olympic Games for other countries.

Mueller talks about his experience 
playing in U.S. Open as amateur

Despite missing the 
cut, Mueller was able 
to keep up with the 
world’s best golfers

By MATTHEW KENNEDY 

Daily Sports Writer

It was during his freshman 

year of college that Michigan 
junior Kyle Mueller realized he 
had a legitimate chance of one 
day qualifying for the U.S. Open.

He had tried to qualify a few 

years 
prior, 

before coming 
to Ann Arbor, 
but missed out 
by five strokes.

“I 
was 
an 

okay golfer in 
high 
school 

— not a great 
golfer,” 
Mueller 
said. 

“But when I got 
to 
Michigan 

my game started to develop, I 
became a better player and I got 
some confidence.”

So when a year and a half 

later Mueller competed at the 
U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier 
in Springfield, Ohio, it was no 
surprise that he was able to 
come in second place — securing 
his spot among the best in the 
world at Oakmont Country Club 
outside of Pittsburg, June 16-19.

Heading into the week, the 

tournament didn’t feel all that 
different from the collegiate 
or 
amateur 
tournaments 

Mueller 
was 

accustomed 
to. 
He 
still 

had 
to 
sign 

his scorecard, 
he still had to 
think through 
what 14 clubs 
to put in his 
bag and most 
of all, he still 
had to shoot 
a low score. 
But for an amateur used to 
playing against other student-
athletes, there was one notable 
difference: the competition.

“When 
you’re 
driving 
in 

the 
front 
gates 
or 
driving 

at the driving range, you’re 
surrounded by the best players 
in the world,” Mueller said. 
“It was pretty cool to just be 
surrounded by all these guys, 
and growing up you idolize 
these guys and want to be like 
them.”

Mueller 
was 
surrounded 

by many of the world’s most-
idolized 
players 
early 
in 

the 
week, 
playing 
practice 

rounds 
alongside 
defending 

U.S. Open champion Jordan 
Spieth, defending British Open 
Championship Zach Johnson 

and 
two-

time 
Masters 

champion 
Bubba Watson.

He 
also 

played 
alongside 
James 
Hahn, 

whom Mueller 
had 
met 
six 

years 
earlier 

when 
Hahn 

was 
playing 

a 
tournament 
in 
Mueller’s 

hometown 
of 

Athens, 
Ga. 

Hahn stayed at 
Mueller’s house 
during 
the 

tournament, 
and has since 
been 
one 
of 

his 
favorite 

players.

“I 
was 

definitely in contact with some 
of the best players in the world,” 
Mueller said. “I really got to pick 
their brains about what they 

were 
thinking 

about 
the 

course, 
course 

management 
and really just 
how they play 
golf.”

When 

Thursday 
hit, 

Mueller 
played 

alongside 
professionals 
Richie 

Schembechler, 
a 
distant 

relative 
of 
Michigan 
great 

Bo Schembechler, and Derek 
Chang. On Thursday he shot 
a seven-over-par, 77, and on 
Friday he shot a three-over-par, 

73, for a total of a ten-over-par, 
150 — a decent score for a first-
time amateur, but alas below the 
six-over-par needed to make the 
cut and play on the weekend.

“I would say I played a lot 

better than my score reflected,” 
Mueller said. “I was a little 
disappointed I missed the cut; I 
felt that I had some silly mistakes 
throughout both rounds that 
could have easily been avoided, 
just stuff I don’t normally do 
when playing competitive golf. 
I wasn’t really nervous. I felt 
comfortable in both rounds.”

But although his weekend 

ended early, the two days he 
spent in the tournament, in 
addition to the practice days 
earlier in the week, gave him a 
more important revelation than 
the one experienced during 
his 
freshman 
year: 
he 
felt 

comfortable amongst the best in 
the world.

Where Mueller at first saw 

professionals as otherworldly 
athletes, he later saw entirely 
different 
things 
— 
human 

compatriots 
with the same 
motives 
and 

goals as he had.

“I 
would 

pass 
Jordan 

Spieth in the 
locker 
room, 

and 
the 
first 

couple 
days 

I was there I 

was like, ‘Wow! That’s Jordan 
Spieth,’ ”Mueller said. “But by 
the end of it, he was just another 
guy trying to do what I’m doing.”

For the rest of the summer, 

Mueller is scheduled to play in 
various amateur tournaments 
across 
the 
United 
States, 

culminating in the U.S. Amateur 
at 
Oakland 
Hills 
Country 

Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mi. 
— only 40 miles from Ann 
Arbor. These tournaments will 
feature 
the 
players 
Mueller 

is more accustomed to: high 
schoolers and college students 
trying to establish a footing for 
themselves. But as his week at 
Oakmont taught him, no matter 
the tournament, the competitors 
have the same goal, and no 
matter the competitors, Mueller 
can feel right at home.

MEN’S GOLF

“Growing up you 
idolize these guys 

and want to be 

like them.”

“I got to pick 
their brains 

about what they 
were thinking.”

“I played a lot 
better than my 
score reflected.”

Bottom named an assistant 

coach for U.S. Olympic team

