MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It wasn’t exactly the 40th birthday West Virginia golf coach Sean Covich hoped for, but it definitely wasn’t one he’d soon forget.
Covich and the golf team were set to head to the Carolinas for spring break before getting word from WVU athletic director Shane Lyons that they may want to hold off on making the trip south.
On March 13, the NCAA announced that all spring sports championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, which meant the golf season was all but squashed. Eventually, the Big 12 decided to scrap the entire season for all spring sports.
“Everybody was kind of upset, but it’s something that we have never seen before and we’re all kind of living through it now,” Covich said Tuesday during a Zoom call with the media.
The Mountaineers made it through the entire fall season with five matches, including a home win at Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport. They also played three events in the spring prior to the cancellation of the season.
On March 30, the NCAA approved an extra year of eligibility for all spring student-athletes, which includes WVU golf seniors Etienne Papineau and Philipp Matlari. Neither are from the United States — Matlari hails from Leimen, Germany, while Papineau is from St-Jean-Sur-Richlieu, Quebec, Canada — and with their academic careers coming to an end, Covich isn’t sure what the future holds.
In theory, giving athletes an extra year is a great idea, but it’s not as simple as it appears on the surface for certain individuals, especially with individual institutions using scholarships in different ways.
“I’ll say this, I would love for those two guys to come back,” Covich said. “Philipp Matlari is playing the best golf of his life. He just finished in third place at the Seminole Intercollegiate down in Florida, and he’s a 4.0 student. Etienne Papineau has played for us almost every single tournament his whole career. Those are two great guys as far as student-athletes go as leaders, golfers and human-beings.
“Whether it works out, I don’t know. They’ve sort of made life plans based on graduating in May — trying to turn professional. Philipp lived in Germany and Etienne lives in Montreal. It’s just not as easy as it sounds as far as, ‘Yeah, they get another year, just come on down.’ ”
Golf facility may be on hold
As part of WVU’s Master Plan on facility upgrades, the new golf practice facility near Fairmont may be put on the back-burner.
“I’m realistic and know that a practice facility for a golf team right now is probably not the top priority, which I totally agree with,” Covich said. “If you look at the big picture, you want the world to return to normalcy. Let’s just get the world back to normal, healthy, being able to travel and compete. Right now, we just want to see the Old Gold and Blue be able to compete in anything.
“Down the road, we’ll be able to get back to fundraising, but we’re just grateful that people have donated to our program. If we have our practice facility in a year, great. If it takes 10 years, great. We’re going to do the best we can with what we have.”
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