MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Working on your golf game can be a difficult task in Morgantown during the month of January. But WVU head coach Sean Covich believes that a strong season-opening tournament in Tucson, Arizona raised the bar of expectations for his team.
A successful spring season was eventually rewarded with an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia was selected to the 81-team field on Wednesday and they will compete in the Rancho Santa Fe Regional near San Diego.
In their spring season debut, The N.I.T. during the final week in January, the Mountaineers finished seventh in the 18-team field. The Mountaineers shot 27-under-par, which was the second-best score in relation to par in program history.
“That’s pretty hard to do when you are coming out of Morgantown in January, to go do that in Arizona. We were like, ‘Wow, we might have something special here’. That just lifted all the momentum for us going into the rest of the spring,” said Covich.
The Mountaineers closed their regular season by winning their host tournament, the Mountaineer Invitational at Pete Dye Golf Club in dominating fashion. At 18-under-par, WVU was the only team to finish in red figures.
“Starting out the spring strong was really good. And the home tournament, winning by 28 shots, that really never happens anywhere. That gave us so much momentum going into Big 12’s. Obviously if we didn’t play well at Big 12’s, we weren’t going to be here,” said WVU junior golfer Max Green.
Prior to this year’s Big 12 Conference Tournament, the Mountaineers’ best finish was ninth place in the event. A middle-of-the pack finish was likely required for WVU to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. West Virginia finished fifth out of 14 teams, and ahead of several NCAA qualifying teams.
“We were kind of thinking around seventh or eighth [place]. Obviously, we exceeded those expectations,” Green said. “That was really cool. The whole team kind of played well and we were steady the whole round.”
Green has been West Virginia’s most consistent golfer throughout the season. He won the season-opening tournament in the fall, posted a 4-1 record at the Big 12 Match Play Tournament and secured four top-five finishes in the spring.
“My putter got hot,” Green said. “That’s kind of why I went on that little heater for a while with the putter. I couldn’t miss inside ten feet. And with the driver, I don’t miss many fairways.”
“I joke with him that he is the best worst golfer I have ever seen, meaning that his bad shots are pretty good,” Covich said of Green. “When he is unhappy with a shot or misses it, it is still in the fairway or it is thirty feet on the green and he two-putts for a par. Whereas some people with their bad shots, you can’t find it and you are walking back to the tee. He just kind of keeps it in play and there is a lot to be said for that.”
Shady Spring High School graduate Todd Duncan is the lone in-state golfer on the WVU roster. The junior tied for sixth place at the Mountaineer Invitational while competing as an individual. Elevated into the team lineup for the Big 12 Tournament, Duncan struggled in the opening round, shooting a 77. He closed the 72-hole event by shooting 68-72 to finish in a tie for 23rd place.
“I thought it was coming. I was really close the whole semester,” Duncan said. “I played pretty much the whole semester and it was really close the whole time. I finally started to make some putts. It finally started to come around at Pete Dye and it carried over into the Big 12 Championship where I put up a pretty good showing there to help the team.”
“Todd has always had the game,” Covich said. “His game is a lot like Max’s. He is very consistent off the tee. He hits a lot of quality drives. When you drive the ball well, it just sets up the rest of the round for you. He came up big for us at Big 12’s. I couldn’t be happier. I know it means a lot for him being from West Virginia.”
The 54-hole regional tournament will be played May 13-15. Covich has time to decide which, if any, lineup changes may be made from the group that competed at the Big 12 Tournament.
“A lot of people have stepped up at different times, which makes it kind of hard to say, ‘Yes, these are your best five’. They have all played great,” Covich said. “Sure, Max has separated himself. But all the guys have had their moments. We wouldn’t be here without all of them all the way back to September and October. We’ll talk about it and maybe change up the lineup or keep it. Maybe we’ll qualify. I just don’t know yet.”