A National Championship Appearance For Mountaineer Golf
May 17, 2024 02:41 PM | Golf, Blog
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By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The calls and text messages to Sean Covich's cell phone began pouring in as soon as it became evident that West Virginia University was going to qualify for next week's NCAA Men's Golf Championships in Carlsbad, California.
For Covich, who didn't have golf balls, players, or a golf course when he was hired to reintroduce the sport at WVU 10 years ago, this has become a seminal moment in his professional career.
"My phone almost shut down," he said yesterday, almost becoming overwhelmed with emotion following his team's third-place finish at the Rancho Santa Fe Regional. "It was barely functioning because of all the text messages and phone calls. The ones that meant the most were from other coaches – coaches I respect who have won national championships because they understand how hard it is to get through a regional. They've seen the progression of this program, remembering the early years, so those mean a whole heck of a lot to me."
Yes, it has been an incredible journey going from not having a team, finishing last in the Big 12 tournament nearly every year and not being invited to good events, to playing the final golf tournament of the season next week.
That's a Horatio Alger story in the purest sense.
And no player on the team better epitomizes this Horatio Alger, coming-up-from-the-bootstraps existence than junior Todd Duncan from Daniels, West Virginia, located just outside of Beckley.
Duncan's opportunity to play college golf basically came down to WVU and one other in-state school.
"I try not to get emotional with him because he has improved so much." Covich pointed out. "He's what you want as a coach. He's a kid from West Virginia who hasn't really played outside of the state a whole lot and had he not gone here, he might have been able to go to one other school and those were probably his only two options.
"For him to do what he's done in some huge events in the Big 12 tournament to help us secure a bid and then what he did last week … he understands what it means to be a Mountaineer. He grew up cheering for the Old Gold and Blue and grew up going to football and basketball games."
Covich recalled the first college event Duncan played as a freshman, the Mountaineer Invitational two years ago, when he barely broke 90 for one of the rounds.
"I don't play a lot of golf anymore, but I could probably shoot better than that," the coach chuckled. "For him to hang in there and improve, I couldn't be prouder and happier for Todd."
Duncan shot the second-best round among the players Covich took to The Farms last week for the regionals.
Emerging junior Max Green, who jumped into the top 100 in the collegiate rankings this week at No. 94, led the team with a 1-under-par 209 for his three rounds. Green has quietly put together one of the finest seasons in school history, placing him in the same category with the likes of Mark Goetz, Matthew Sharpstene, Philipp Matlari, Etienne Papineau and Logan Perkins.
Green will certainly be one of the names to keep an eye on heading into next season. Shady Spring High graduate Todd Duncan is the lone West Virginan on the roster for this year's NCAA national championship-qualifying Mountaineer golf team (WVU Athletics Communications photo).
Duncan, too, has another year, and his impressive 3-over-par 213 placed him 15th on individual leaderboard at regionals, while sophomore Kaleb Wilson finished seven spots lower at four-over-par 214.
Senior Jackson Davenport's solid 7-over-par 217 and junior Pierce Grieve's 222 were good for two more top-50 placings, giving the Mountaineers a complete team performance. One or two big numbers from the bottom of the lineup would have knocked West Virginia out of contention for nationals.
"I think there is something special about this group," Covich admitted. "At one time this season, we were spinning our wheels (and) that had nothing to do with golf. It was just, 'Let's just show up on time. Let's be good teammates and take care of the golf courses.' But something clicked this spring, really, and it's been a special run.
"The five that made it to regionals, they're all different with their strengths and weaknesses in their games, but really, all 12 of our guys played a role this year and someone randomly kept stepping up," he added.
Covich has done the unusual thing of having his team qualify for many of the tournaments this year, including last week's regionals. The lineup he's come up with throughout the season has been a result of them qualifying, and he believes that has helped keep the guys sharp toward the end of the season.
West Virginia's fifth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships a couple of weeks ago got the Mountaineers into the regionals as a 10-seed, and the players' confidence since then has only grown.
"Qualifying doesn't lie," Covich explained. "If you are playing well, you are going to rise to the top, and we might have been one of the few teams that qualified between selection day and getting on the airplane for regionals. I think that puts our guys in uncomfortable situations where they have to handle pressure. If they want to go to California, or wherever we're going to a regional, they have to earn that spot."
Covich also got an assist from Pete Dye Golf Club superintendent Jason Hollen, who set up the course last week to replicate some of the conditions the Mountaineers were going to encounter at The Farms.
In some instances, the fairways there were just 25 yards wide, which required precise tee shots to keep the ball in play.
"It became very evident early that driving the golf ball was going to be the key to success, and not so much just bombing it out there," Covich explained. "Those fairways were probably some of the tightest fairways we had ever seen, with trouble left and right. There was nowhere to bail out.
"A lot of courses will give you room to have some error off the tee on one side or the other and there was none of that at this golf course," Covich continued. "There is a reason Phil Mickelson, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa all play that golf club because it demands the best for driving."
Covich said Hollen asked him what could be done to help the players get ready for regionals.
"We did some things we hadn't done with tee box placements and made it very difficult for driving the golf ball," Covich said. "All of that helped us select the five who were going, but qualifying really selected it for us because they had to get the job done in a situation that we would see at regionals."
In relation to par, West Virginia managed to successfully navigate the toughest of the six regional golf sites. In the process, the Mountaineers defeated third-ranked Arizona State and 14th-ranked Washington in advancing to nationals.
Other top 25 teams left out of this year's championship include No. 8 Ole Miss, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 22 Georgia and No. 25 Oregon.
WVU moved up seven spots to No. 51 in this week's rankings and will be the 29th-seeded team in this year's national tournament, one spot ahead of No. 53 Utah. No. 48 Clemson, No. 41 SMU and No. 37 LSU are just ahead of the Mountaineers.
Beating some of those teams next week will only put icing on the cake for what could become a program-changing season for WVU golf.
Potential Mountaineers who wouldn't take Covich's call in the past will now.
"That kind of makes sense, but the reason we are here is because we developed kids that showed up as freshmen and now, they are a lot better than how they showed up, and I don't think that is ever going to change," Covich noted.
"Yes, now maybe when they show up, instead of averaging 75s they are averaging 73s, and that gives us an opportunity to develop them even more, but I just feel like our success is really about kids that they're not here because of all the bells and whistles or things that are easy," he said. "They are here because things are hard, and that makes them better.
"As long as we keep that identity, yes, I think we will be fine. Hopefully, (this) does open up the story of West Virginia golf, though," Covich concluded.
