Monday, March 30, 2009

Low Rounds

As I was updating Marquette's season statistics today, I came across another interesting fact ... Although, all-around, this past weekend's FAU Spring Break Championship was not a particularly favorable showing for the Golden Eagles, Mike Van Sickle still managed to close with nine birdies and finish his final round with a 6-under par 65.

That matches the third lowest round all-time by a Marquette player. In fact, three of the four lowest scores ever recorded by an MU players were recorded by Van Sickle THIS YEAR.

His 63 to come back an win the Western Refining All-America classic back in November tied Mike Bielawski's school record. Earlier this season, Van Sickle carded a 64 en route to dominating the Xavier Invitational, where he won by eight strokes.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

FAU Spring Break Championship Preview

A preview of the FAU Spring Break Championship is now posted on GoMarquette.com. Marquette will be among 14 schools, including in-state rival Wisconsin, competing this weekend at Gleneagles Country Club in Deray Beach, Fla.

Click here for the full tournament preview

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

New Golfstat Cup Standings Released ...

The latest Golfstat Cup standings were released yesterday (March 24). Mike Van Sickle has moved up to No. 2, behind USC's Matthew Giles and narrowly ahead of Indiana's Jorge Campillo.

Here's how the top 5 looks right now:
1) Matthew Giles, USC (70.44)
2) Mike Van Sickle, Marquette (+0.423)
3) Jorge Campillo, Indiana (+0.484)
4) Justin Hueber, U. of Indy (+0.648)
5) Jamie Lovemark, USC) (+0.729)

See the up-to-date Golfstat Cup standings here: 
http://www.golfstat.com/2008-2009/men/mgscup/mgscup.htm

Monday, March 23, 2009

Cross-Promotion

I was just reading Lance Ringler's blog (Blog U.) on Golfweek.com. I sent Lance the link to this blog, and well, you guessed it -- he blogged about it.

Lance discusses how more schools' athletic communications departments are using technology and social networking sites -- such as facebook.com -- to promote its teams and student-athletes. As he put it, "It's all about staying connected." 

On his March 19, 2009 post, Lance also promises to open a Twitter account. Keeping up with the Jones' is one thing, but I don't think we'll see Mike Van Sickle "tweeting" from the golf course anytime soon.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

BIG EAST Weekly Release

The BIG EAST Conference posted its first men's golf update of the 2009 spring season this past Friday. It provides a quick recap on each school and their performances.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Mike Named BIG EAST Golfer of the Week For 2nd Straight Week

More awards for Mike ... For the second consecutive week, Mike was named the BIG EAST Conference Golfer of the Week. Van Sickle finished tied for third place at the Pinehurst Intercollegiate By Gatorade, which wrapped up on Tuesday.

Here is the link to complete press release: http://www.gomarquette.com/index-main.html

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Inside the Numbers ...

I received a text message from Marquette head coach Tim Grogan at 7:25 a.m. CT asking me to compile some quick career bullet-points for Mike, focusing primarily on his finish in tournaments and consistency in scoring low throughout his career.

I thought I would share what I came up with (through his first two rounds at Pinehurst).

Mike has played 126 career rounds and has:
- shot in the 60s a total of 37 times (10 times this season; 13 times last season).

- recorded par-or-better in 78 of 126 (61.9 percent) career rounds.


- owns 31 top-10 finishes in 44 collegiate events (22 top-5 finishes; 16 top-3 finishes; five runner-ups; 10 victories).


- a career finish pct is 84.7 (97.9 percent this season).

Monday, March 16, 2009

VIDEO: Van Sickle Featured In This Week's "Off Campus" with Asher Wildman of Golfweek


Click here to watch the video at www.golfweektv.com.

I received an email today from Lance Ringler at Golfweek who notified me that this week's "Off Campus" show was a feature with Marquette senior Mike Van Sickle.

Golfweek's Asher Wildman -- the host of this week's show -- interviewed Mike during the Ron Smith USF Invitational held March 6-8 at Lake Jovta in Dade City, Fla., where Mike tied for third place with a 6-under 210.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Pinehurst Intercollegiate By Gatorade begins Sunday

Mike will go head-to-head with Wichita State's Dustin Garza beginning today when the two all-Americans tee off at the 2009 Pinehurst Intercollegiate by Gatorade. Garza led this year's Golfstat Cup standings after the fall season. Garza has since slipped to the No. 6 spot, while Van Sickle currently ranks No. 3 behind Indiana's Jorge Campillo and top-rated Matthew Giles of USC.

Live Scoring
of the tournament is available at www.golfstat.com

Friday, March 13, 2009

Van Sickle Among National Leaders in Several Categories, According to Recent Golfstat Report

The most recent "Statistical Comparison Rankings" have been released by Golfstat. It was revealed that Mike boasts the lowest scoring average in the nation at 69.38 and leads all collegiate golfers in total number of birdies (106) and sub-par strokes per round (5.52).

Download (PDF) the full report on www.GoMarquette.com

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Van Sickle Named BIG EAST Player of the Week

Mike was named the BIG EAST Conference Golfer of the Week league officials announced on Thursday, March 12. It's the first award of the 2009 men's golf season to be given by the conference.

He finished tied for third at the Ron Smith USF Invitational held this past weekend at Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club in Dade City, Fla. He was the only Marquette player to score under par in each of the three rounds and was the top individual finisher among BIG EAST players in the event.

Read the entire Marquette press release here.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Marquette Tribune - USF Invite preview

Below is a link to Peter Worth's article that is a preview of the Ron Smith USF Invitational...

Van Sickle looking for three-peat - Sports

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Feb. 28 Golfweek


Mike was featured in a four-page spread in the Feb. 28, 2009 edition of Golfweek.

The back story on this that the photo shoot and interview was done in Florida over Marquette's winter break. This story appears in the "For Your Game" segment of the publication and is titled, "Late-Blooming Mike Van Sickle Polishes Technical Side."

In the article, Mike talks about putting, wedge play getting out of the sand and various short-game techniques. It also addresses the mental side of golf and how Mike has learned to corral his aggressiveness.

Read the full article here: http://golfweek.texterity.com/golfweekmag/20090228/?pg=34

Enjoy.