The University of Michigan Men’s Golf Team kicked off their 2023-24 golf season in Escanaba with a win at the Island Resort Intercollegiate held on the Sage Run Golf Course in Michigan’s UP. The event was hosted by South Dakota State and featured ten college teams. In the second round, Ben Hoagland, a red-shirt freshman, fired a 64 and junior Hunter Thomson added his career-low, 65 to vault Michigan into the 36-hole lead.
In the final round, both Hoagland and Thomson kept up the hot pace. Hoagland fired a final round two-under par 70 to finish third in the individual segment of the tournament, while Thomson followed a superb 66 to finish solo third, three shots behind the individual winner Alex McCulla from Illinois State.
Combined with the low rounds by Thomson and Hoagland, the combined team total of 30-under par was good enough for a five-shot win over runner-up Illinois State.
Jack O’Donnell posted three rounds of 71-72-72, a personal low to tie for 27th. Junior Yuqi Liu finished at even par, 75-72-69, also a career-best, tying him for 29th. Will Anderson finished at five-over par to round out the scoring for the starters. Freshman Jason Gordon, playing as an individual in his first college event, tied for 65th.
The Wolverines also competed in the 54-hole Chicago Highlands Collegiate Invitational, September 18-19, featuring 14 of the top college golf programs in the country. The College of Charleston, Duke, Furman, Houston, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia, Wake Forest and Yale made up the field for this prestigious college tournament hosted by Wake Forest.
