West Virginia Golf Falters Over the Weekend in Big 12 Match Play

The West Virginia gold team finished winless in Big 12 match play over the weekend, dropping all four of its matchups between Friday and Saturday.

On day one Friday, eitghth-seeded WVU was matched up with No. 1 seed Oklahoma. The Sooners won the match 5-1, with the Mountaineers’ only win coming from redshirt-junior Mark Goetz.

The second match Friday pitted WVU with No. 4 TCU. The Horned Frogs ultimately won, but the Mountaineers fared better with wins from Goetz and fellow junior Logan Perkins and a tie from freshman Jackson Davenport.

“I thought Mark played outstanding all day, going undefeated versus Oklahoma and TCU,” head coach Sean Covich said. “Logan had a hard-fought match against one of the top 25 amateurs in the world, and then he played well again in the afternoon to pick up a win.”

Saturday’s matchups were much of the same for the young WVU squad. The first match of the day was against No. 9 Iowa State. The Cyclones defeated WVU 4-2, with wins coming from Goetz and redshirt-sophomore Kurtis Grant.

In the second game, WVU lost to No. 5 Baylor 4-2 as well. This time Grant and freshman Olivier Menard picked up the wins.

“Although we are disappointed in the overall results this week, I think we gained a lot of experience that will help these true freshmen long term,” Covich said. “Mark played outstanding for us all week. Kurtis really bounced back today.”

Goetz finished the weekend with a 3-1 individual record and Grant finished 2-2.

The next action for the Mountaineers will come On Oct. 19 and 20 in Bridgeport, WV at The Health Plan Mountaineer Invitational at the Pete Dye Golf Club.