Michigan coach Andrew Sapp, right, hugs Bill Rankin after Rankin conceded his match to Texas A & M's Matt Van Zandt ending the Wolverine's run through the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, Friday, May 29th at Inverness C.C. in Toledo.
For whatever reason, the combination of me, a camera, and Inverness Country Club in Toledo, Ohio, equals precipitation and amazing finishes.
For whatever reason, the combination of me, a camera, and Inverness Country Club in Toledo, Ohio, equals precipitation and amazing finishes.
The first time I visited the storied club was a soggy PGA Championship Sunday in August of 1986. Australian golfer Greg Norman was relatively unknown on these shores at the time, but that Sunday he found himself on the eve of history as he waited in a hospitality tent with a young golfer from Oklahoma by the name of Bob Tway. I was there too, waiting with both Tway and Norman, their caddies, a few officials, and a volunteer or two.
As heavy rains pelted down, we would wait, and wait, and wait some more. After waiting nearly an hour, courtesy carts were dispatched to take the golfers and their caddies back to the clubhouse. I guess the fact Mallard ducks were swimming in the bunkers made it an easy call to move the final round to Monday.
Of course the rest is history. Tway would start a string of heartbreaking losses for Norman by holing out of a greenside bunker on the 18th hole to defeat the Shark. To this day the bunker is known as Tway's Twap.
On Tuesday, nearly 23-years after my last trip to Inverness, it seemed like deja vu all over again as I stood in a downpour wrestling with my two cameras and an umbrella while trying to photograph Michigan's Alexander Sitompul teeing off on the 8th hole.
The fact I was there was somewhat miraculous. Michigan was the last team to qualify for the NCAA Division I Golf Championships at Inverness, and it took an amazing final round in their regional the week before in Austin, Texas, just to squeak in. Expectations were low, but there I was, covering the Wolverines in the first of three rounds of stroke play before the 30-team field was cut down to eight for the match play finals.
Just being there seemed accomplishment enough, making it to the finals would be a pipe dream, right? After all, powerhouse teams like Georgia, Oklahoma State, and USC were in the field. Not to mention Florida, Duke and Wake Forest. I mean really, what were the chances Michigan could advance any further than 54 holes of stroke play?
Well, if the odds were slim, someone forgot to tell that to the Wolverine golfers who played three solid days of golf and found themselves alone in 6th place after the third day of competition. Led by sophomore's Alexander Sitompul, who finished in 6th place individually, and Lion Kim, who posted a top 20 finish, the Wolverines headed into the match play quarterfinals Friday morning against a USC team that came roaring back from oblivion on Thursday by posting a 5-under-par team score. Kim was the hero of the day sinking an 8-footer to save par on 18, starting a celebration among his teammates and coaches on the hillside next to the green. When I asked Kim if he was nervous standing over his critical putt, he just smiled and said, "Well, if I told you I wasn't nervous, I'd be lying."
Okay, so the Cinderella story ends here, right? This is where they get dusted, right?
Wrong.
Once again, lead by Sitompul and Kim, Michigan beat the Trojans 3 matches to 2, and found themselves in the golfing equivalent of the final four. Kim put the exclamation point on the victory when he stuck a 18-degree hybrid a foot from the pin on his 212-yard approach shot at the 17th hole, closing out his match with USC's Matt Giles.
Next up was Texas A & M. Amazingly, the Wolverines were only one win away from a berth in the finals, a completely unheard of proposition three days earlier.
But what started as a beautiful day, suddenly changed when a low front began sweeping through northern Ohio, clouding up the skies and dropping the temperatures nearly 15 degrees. Just for good measure, the front also started pumping 25 mph wind gusts across the course.
To this point it had rained at some point during every day of the competition, making me a perfect 4 for 4 on rainy days at Inverness. I thought my streak was over Friday morning when there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but sure enough, by Friday afternoon I was standing behind the 4th green (the furthest point from the clubhouse) when the skies darkened and rain began to fall.
Still, the action was riveting. The Sitompul/Kim show came grinding to a halt that afternoon. Especially for the long-hitting Sitompul (when I say long-hitting, I mean long, he hit his drive pin high at the 353-yard 18th on Tuesday) who ran into a buzz saw in Texas A & M's Andrea Pavan. Pavan birdied the first three holes and five of the first nine in his match against Sitompul. Before he knew what hit him, Sitompul was staring at a 8 & 7 thumping.
Kim hung in there a little longer, although not much. Visibly tired by his week of coming through in the clutch for Michigan, Kim was beaten 4 and 3 by A & M's Bronson Burgoon leaving any lingering heroics up to teammates Nick Pumford, Bill Rankin and Matt Thompson.
Pumford didn't disappoint, earning Michigan's first point of the day with a 2 & 1 victory over Conrad Schindler. Thompson too, was solid, battling it out against A & M's monster of a golfer, John Hurley. Hurley made mincemeat out of Inverness's 8th hole earlier in the week, blasting a 381-yard drive and a 7-iron approach into the long par-5 setting up a relatively easy eagle, if that's even possible.
With Hurley and Thompson going back and forth, it came down to Rankin's match against A & M's Matt Van Zandt. Trailing 2 down with three holes to play, it didn't look good for Rankin, or Michigan. But Rankin knocked his approach to 15-feet on No. 16, while Van Zandt left his approach short.
After chipping to 3-feet, it appeared Rankin would need to jar his birdie putt to win the hole - he missed. But with the nerves of the match perhaps getting the best of him, Van Zandt lipped out his short par putt and now his lead over Rankin was down to 1-up with two to play.
Both players hit wayward tee shots through the strong cross winds buffeting the 17th hole, Van Zandt's landing up against the lip of a fairway bunker on the right and Rankin's in the left rough. Van Zandt blasted out into the fairway, but Rankin could only advance his shot out of the rough about 100-yards, once again in the left rough.
Van Zandt then knocked his third shot to 18-feet putting the heat on Rankin, who somehow counterpunched by slashing out of the rough to 8-feet. When Van Zandt missed his par putt, Rankin found himself in position to draw all square in the match. The roar that echoed through the trees of Inverness told the story - Rankin dropped the putt.
With Thompson and Hurley still all square behind them with three holes to play, all eyes were on the Rankin/Van Zandt match as they headed to the 18th tee all square themselves. With the pressure mounting, both players blew their drives well right into the rough. From there, Rankin took several minutes to pull the trigger, backing off on at least three occasions before finally hitting his approach, which landed pin high at the back of the green, but with no spin coming out of the rough, there was nothing Rankin could do but plead as his ball trickled off the steeply sloped putting surface and into a bunker behind the green.
Van Zandt then countered with a similar shot from the rough, but 20-yards closer. From there Van Zandt was able to launch his approach high enough to get it to check up and stop pin high 18-feet from the hole.
With the advantage firmly in Van Zandt's favor, Rankin could only hope to emulate Bob Tway 22-years before him. Unfortunately for the Wolverine senior captain, he blasted out of the trap only to watch in horror as his ball ran past the pin, then continued to run until it disappeared off the far side of the green. This time, from the deep rough, Rankin nearly did pull off a Tway, lipping out his par-saving chip before it too, ran several feet past the hole. Now staring at at least a bogey, Rankin, somewhat surprisingly, conceded his match without even making Van Zandt attempt a putt, thus ending the Wolverines improbable run from barely squeaking in, to actually making the final four of the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Golf Championships.
With tears welling up in his already fatigued-reddened eyes, Rankin was hugged by his equally emotional teammates and coaches as Texas A & M players celebrated a few yards away. The Aggies went on to win the title on Saturday, defeating Arkansas 3 matches to 2, but something tells me their semifinal match with Michigan will be the one that sticks out most when they look back or their week in Toledo.
Ironically, Bob Tway was there all week as well, cheering on his son Kevin who plays for Oklahoma State. I wonder what was going through his head as he roamed the grounds of his incredible win over Norman nearly 23-years earlier. I also wonder how this group of Michigan golfers will feel the next time they visit or play at Inverness. They're young men right now; some of them may be headed to careers in professional golf, some may not, but I feel certain, that at some point in their future, each and every one of them: Kim, Sitompul, Pumford, Thompson and Rankin, will return to the course and remember this week as one of the best in their lives.
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