12
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