The fall Big 12 Match Play Championship kicked off Monday, and the Mountaineers left two rounds without a win.
Six Mountaineers played in the two matches, with their spring NCAA Championship competitors Todd Duncan, Max Green, Pierce Grieve, and Kaleb Wilson playing both rounds and junior Carson Kammann replacing freshman Ryan Leach after the first.
West Virginia took on new conference member, No. 24 Utah, in the morning followed by an afternoon match against BYU, who placed 10th in the spring’s Big 12 Championship. Each Mountaineer played one opponent in a match play format in each round.
Against Utah, the Mountaineers tied the Utes, with each team sporting two winners and one match ending in a tie. Grieve and Duncan won for the Mountaineers, by one hole and three holes respectively. Green fell by five holes to Utah’s top golfer, sophomore Gabriel Palacios, and Leach fell by three holes to sophomore Sergio Jimenez.
Wilson’s match ended in the tie, despite junior Brandon Robison never trailing overall in the first 13 holes of the match. Beginning on the ninth hole, Robison won the first two holes and held the two-point lead until Wilson won holes 14 and 15 to make it a tie.
The golfers traded holes a couple of times before Wilson tied up the match with a birdie on hole two then took the lead two holes later with a par. Robison quickly tied up the match again, posting a birdie on a par-three, then tied Wilson on holes six through eight to end the individual match in a tie.
Grieve’s pairing was the last to finish in the match, and his close win secured the tie. Grieve led by one hole for three holes straight before hole eight, where he sunk a six-foot putt to tie Davis Johnson in the final hole and keep the lead.
Both West Virginia and Utah earned one point toward the pool standings with the tie, while BYU earned three after a win over Houston.
In the Mountaineers’ second team match in Hockley, Texas, they took on the Pool C leaders and fell 4-1. Wilson once again shined for WVU, posting the team’s only win over sophomore Angus Klintworth by three holes with one left to play.
Green played better in the second match, falling by three holes to senior Cole Ponich, but the All-Midwest Region Team selection has yet to end his slump this fall.
Green’s struggles have been well documented in the past month, with the senior placing just 27th in the team’s opening tournament in Minnesota and finishing at +14, good enough for 46th of 76 golfers, while Wilson, Leach, Duncan, and Grieve swept the top four at Nemacolin last week.
Duncan fell in the final hole to junior Simon Kwon, who golfed a birdie to break the tie that Duncan reached a hole prior. Grieve fell by five holes to fellow NCAA Championship competitor Tyson Shelley, and Kamman fell by four holes to sophomore Peter Kim.
BYU’s win puts the Cougars firmly in first place in Pool C, with six points and only one match to play against BYU. West Virginia’s loss moved the Mountaineers to third in the pool and with one point.
Utah defeated Houston to go to four points in the pool, good for second behind BYU. West Virginia will play Houston in the final match of pool play on Tuesday morning. Tee times have yet to be announced.
Photo from WVU Men’s Golf
