The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1412876
OCTOBER 2021 THE WOLVERINE 17 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS "I'm going to focus on golf and go to the University of Michigan to play golf for them." Those were the words of Mikaela Schulz, speaking to her mother, former U-M golfer Rachel Schulz, when Mikaela was about 10 years old. Sure enough, the West Bloomfield, Mich., native is now a Wolverine student and golfer, and she has no regrets about following through on her dream to attend U-M. "It ended up being a really good decision for me," she said. "I love Ann Arbor. I love going to school at the University of Michigan. I love everything about it." Schulz has strong ties to the game of golf. Not only did her mother play one year for the Wolverines, but her cousins — Morgan Pressel (LPGA) and Madison Pressel (Symetra Tour) — play professionally, allowing for some unique op- portunities early on in her career. "When I would go see my cousin play in LPGA Tour events, I would sometimes get to go inside the ropes and meet dif- ferent players," Schulz said. "I would get to go in the locker room and follow my cousin around everywhere. "That was a really cool experience, just to get to know some of the players on tour. I think that was really inspiring and really drove me to work harder at my sport." Schulz said she has improved "tremendously" throughout her time at U-M, having refined her mindset, practice habits, ball striking, course management and short game — almost every area of golf. She came in playing at a high level, but she's never been as stellar as she is now, having won the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) Women's Championship in July, after post- ing a runner-up finish at the Michigan Women's Amateur Championship earlier in the summer. "My win at the GAM, the stroke play tournament at Klinger Lake [Country Club], that was just more of a win for me personally, because I was trying a new mentality of just not comparing myself to anyone else in the field and just trying to play the best game that I could play," Schulz said. "I ended up doing that, and my scores were good enough. It's just a big win for me personally." Her success with the new mindset has translated over to the Wolverines' fall season, with Schulz having earned co- medalist honors at the Wolverine Invite Sept. 13-14, pacing the Wolverines — who won the event — with a career-low 210 (3 under par) 54-hole total. She earned a Big Ten Golfer of the Week nod following the performance. "I was in a zone, you could call it," Schulz said. "I was pretty super hyper-focused. I was draining a lot of putts, just not really thinking about, 'Oh, this putt has to go in,' but just picking a line, picking a speed, hitting a putt, and it was just dropping. "It was pretty incredible. I was trying to play my own game, and play the best that I could and really believe in myself. It was really cool to see that the best I was able to put out there was good enough." A Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience (BCN) major in the college of Literature, Science and the Arts, Schulz is a two-time Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All- America Scholar (2020, 2021) and 2021 Academic All-Big Ten honoree. She is considering medical school following undergrad, but remains undecided at this point. She wouldn't trade her experience at U-M thus far — both in the classroom and on the course — and believes it will set her up for the future. "I honestly think that I couldn't have picked a better place to spend my college years at," she said. "I think this is a great foundation for the rest of my life. It's really taught me both the importance of hard work, but also the importance of believing in myself and knowing that I can do these things at even a big university." — Clayton Sayfie Schulz has already earned a Big Ten Golfer of the Week nod this fall, and she is a two-time Women's Golf Coaches Association All- America Scholar. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY Student-Athlete Of The Month Women's Golf Junior Mikaela Schulz