Sear Fifth, WVU Seventh at Tavistock

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Oct. 23, 2018) – Senior Max Sear posted his second consecutive top-five finish, leading the way for the West Virginia University golf team at the 2018 Tavistock Collegiate Invitational, hosted by the Mountaineers and UCF at Isleworth Golf and Country Club in Windermere, Florida, on Tuesday.

Sear, who tied for fifth place, was joined in the top 10 my sophomore Matthew Sharpstene, who tied for eighth. The Mountaineers shot 288-288-288=864 for even par as a team, taking seventh place overall. WVU finished a stroke back from No. 12 Texas, who finished one under to take third place (863), and beat out a pair of top-25 teams in No. 8 Illinois (T-10th, +13) and No. 21 South Carolina (12th, +15).

West Virginia’s 2018 showing was a vast improvement from 2017, when the Mountaineers finished 29-over-par and in 16th place.

“I’m so proud of the guys. This was a huge week for us,” coach Sean Covich said. “Last year we finished almost +30 and in 16th place, so even par and seventh is impressive against this field on this golf course. You can’t fake your way around this track, so to play so steady all three rounds says a lot. I’m proud of all five of these guys.”

Sear found himself one over at the turn after carding a birdie and a pair of bogies. He birdied holes No. 13 and 16 before registering an eagle on No. 17 to cap the round one under with a 71. His three-round total of 66-73-71=210 put him at six-under-par and tied for fifth place. With 19 nationally ranked players in the field, Sear tied with No. 2 Collin Morikawa of Cal and finished ahead of 16 more, including No. 3 Chun An Yu of Arizona State.

Sharpstene picked up his second consecutive top-10 finish, tying for eighth place. After shooting one over on the front nine, he birdied three holes on the back nine to shoot two-under-par. With a 54-hole total of 72-69-70=211, he finished five under.

Sophomore Logan Perkins also had a solid third round, using a trio of birdies to fire a 70 for two under. He rebounded from his first-round struggles to shoot 82-73-70=225, finishing nine over and tied for 54th place.

Junior Etienne Papineau shot 71-73-86=230 to end the tournament at 14 over and in 69th place. Classmate Philipp Matlari finished at 79-79-77=235, tying for 72nd place at 19 over.

Additionally, sophomore Mark Goetz picked up a top-10 finish at the Muskateers Classic at Maketewah Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio. Goetz shot 74-72-71=217 to tie for ninth at four-over-par. Freshman Kurtis Grant tied for 55th with a 54-hole score of 80-71-77=228 for 15 over, while senior Tristan Nicholls was 20-over-par and tied for 66th at 74-77-82=233.

West Virginia will close out the fall at the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Nov. 2-4.

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