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WVU Through Three Rounds at Big 12s
April 25, 2017 10:14 PM | Golf
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The West Virginia University golf team showed major improvements in the second round, but struggled in the third after the weather took another turn on Tuesday at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas.
The Mountaineers made a 35-stroke improvement from the first day with their second-round score of 294. They went on to shoot 319 in the third round, finishing the day with a 54-hole total of 329-294-313=936. They sit tenth overall.
Golfers completed two rounds on Tuesday, making up 18 holes originally scheduled for Monday. Though the day started much warmer and calmer than Monday, the wind gusts reached up to 25 miles per hour in the afternoon and a light rain arrived midway through the third round.
“Part of building a program is getting your guys to experience conditions like these on championship courses, such as Prairie Dunes,” coach Sean Covich said. “Going through hard times like this will only make you a better player down the road.”
No. 18 Texas and No. 2 Oklahoma State are tied atop the team leaderboard at 30 over par with scores of 870. No. 13 Oklahoma is 30 over par and in third place with a score of 881.
Alan Cooke leads the team through three rounds and is currently in 38th place. Cooke birdied a pair of holes to shoot 76 in the first round and shaved a stroke off his score in the third round, finishing five over with a 75. He’s totaled 80-76-75=231 through 54 holes and is 21 over par.
Chris Williams led the Mountaineers in the second round of play, carding three straight birdies on the back nine to finish even par with a score of 70. Starting on No. 10 in the third round, he birdied a trio of holes on the back nine but struggled on the front nine, finishing nine over par after shooting 79. He sits tied for 39th place with a three-round score of 83-70-79=232 for 22 over par.
Tristan Nicholls carded a pair of birdies on his way to a 75 in the second round, finishing five over par. Despite registering a pair of birdies, he shot 79 on the next 18 holes for nine over par. He sits in a tie for 45th place at 30 over par with a score of 86-75-79=240.
Etienne Papineau shot seven over with a 77 in the second round, then carded an 83 in the third at 13 over par. He’s totaled 80-77-83=240 and is tied with Nicholls in 45th at 30 over par.
Max Sear set a Big 12 record for stroke improvement in the second round, shooting a 73 to shave 19 strokes off his first round score of 90. The previous record was 17, which Nicholls tied at last season’s championship. Sear used a pair of birdies to finish three over in the second round, and carded a score of 80 to finish 10 over in the third. He ended the day with a score of 92-73-80=245 for 35 over par and sits 50th overall.
The Mountaineers are paired with TCU for the fourth and final round. Tee times start at 10:07 (ET) Wednesday morning, with Sear leading the team off of hole No. 10.
NCAA Regionals Recap
Saturday, May 23
NCAA Selection Show
Wednesday, May 13
Mountaineer Invitational Recap
Thursday, April 16
Mic'd Up at Pete Dye
Tuesday, April 14
