By Tom Wywrot
Beginning his third season at the helm of the Michigan men’s golf program, Zach Barlow will be looking for his Wolverines to have a breakout season with a mixture of experienced veterans and a talented young core of underclassmen.
First, the Wolverines welcome back Charlie Pilon, who returns for a fifth season after taking advantage of the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Illinois graduate transfer Brendan O’Reilly, who also is using the extra year to play for his former assistant coach with the Illini. Adding in senior Patrick Sullivan, who won the 2021 Michigan Amateur this summer, the Maize and Blue has a trio of veterans to lead U-M back to the NCAA postseason.
Mixing with that senior experience, sophomore Will Anderson returns after leading U-M in scoring as a rookie, highlighting his season with a career-low 71 (-1), twice and tallying a 216 (E) total at the Border Olympics, en route to his first career top-10 finish (t-9th). Classmates Jack O’Donnell and Jude Kim add to U-M’s depth as they will look to make impacts in their second seasons.
Barlow went north to Canada for his 2021 signing class. Calgary’s Hunter Thomson (No. 1-ranked junior in Canada) comes to Ann Arbor after playing a USGA Summer Double — the U.S. Junior Amateur (match play) and U.S. Amateur (stroke play). Joining Thomson and originally from Beijing, China, Yuqi Liu also calls Canada home (Thornhill, Ontario) and will look to make an impact with fellow freshman Bavake Sihota (Caledon, Ontario).
The Wolverine open the fall season heading to the Upper Peninsula for the Island Resort Intercollegiate at Sage Run. They close the four-event fall season heading to the Bahamas Invitational at the Atlantis Resort. With six spring events, U-M once again will host the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate on the Outlaw Course and will head to French Lick, Ind., for the Big Ten Championships at the French Lick Resort.
