West Virginia has proved it fits in with the Big 12 Monday, without a particular stand-out individual.
Five golfers represent the Mountaineers in Trinity, Texas this week for the Big 12 Men’s Golf Championship. After a two-round day one, West Virginia stands in eighth of 14 teams, tied with Kansas and Kansas State at +12.
Just one team, the BYU Cougars, golfed under par as a team for day one, scoring a 575 (-1) across two rounds. Texas trails one stroke behind and Oklahoma State is +3 while all other teams sit within reach of each other at five strokes or more over par.
Senior Jackson Davenport, juniors Max Green, Todd Duncan and Pierce Grieve as well as sophomore Kaleb Wilson are the WVU lineup for the three-day competition. The lineup entered with momentum from last week’s home Mountaineer Invitational.
The five starters, led by Davenport’s 71-69-67=207 (-9) performance, combined for a -21 finish in Bridgeport and took five top-10 individual placements. Of WVU’s six top-10 placers, only tournament champion Carson Kammann was left out of the Big 12 Championship lineup. Kammann traveled to Texas as an alternate this week if he is needed.
West Virginia took a moment to get acquitted to the course on Monday’s first round. Grieve, who finished under par for the first time last week, led the Mountaineers to start, golfing a team-best of 72 to start the day even. He was one of 13 players to golf at or under par in round one.
Green and Wilson followed closely behind Grieve, each with 74-stroke rounds to start, and Duncan golfed a 77 to round out WVU’s team score of 297 (+8) and put the Mountaineers in ninth overall.
In round two, West Virginia’s senior golfer stepped up to improve that score. After golfing an 80 in round one, Jackson Davenport recorded WVU’s only under-par round of day one, scoring a team-best 71 in round two.
Grieve took Davenport’s place at the bottom of the lineup, golfing an 80, but the rest of the Mountaineers stayed consistent but with slight improvement. Green improved to an even 72, while Wilson and Duncan each golfed a 74.
That consistency, and more importantly, the all-around team effort, kept West Virginia in the race after day one. Green scored the Mountaineers’ lowest two-round total, 74-72=146 (+2), but tied for just 20th overall. Only UCF did not have a higher-placing golfer on day one.
WVU Golf will look to improve on its team success starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The Big 12 Men’s Golf Championship continues through Wednesday and may be the last tournament of the Mountaineers’ season.
Photo from WVU Men’s Golf
