Chants to Compete This Weekend at Inaugural Maridoe Intercollegiate

Saturday, October 6

Carrollton, Texas

All Day

Coastal Carolina University

Maridoe Intercollegiate

Chants to Compete This Weekend at Inaugural Maridoe Intercollegiate

10/5/2018 9:59:00 AM | Men's Golf

Live Scoring

Coastal Carolina men's golf continues its fall slate this weekend in Texas

Conway, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina men's golf team will continue its fall season this weekend at the inaugural Maridoe Intercollegiate hosted by North Texas at the Maridoe Golf Club on Oct. 6-8 in Carrollton, Texas.

"We are looking forward to competing at Maridoe. It's a big tough golf course and this is the first year of the event," head coach Jim Garren stated. "We are going with an older lineup this week as we are going to throw out some battled tested guys. This tournament has another good field with some very good teams that we haven't seen yet in Texas A&M, Tennessee, North Florida and SMU among them. We've really tested our guys on some tough courses this year and I look forward to that paying off this week in what will likely be another challenging test."

The Maridoe Gold Club will play a par-70, 7,043 yards for the inaugural collegiate even this weekend. The three-day event will begin on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. CT. The third and final round of play is set for Monday.

The tournament field this weekend consists of 14 teams including three teams ranked in the latest Golfweek D1 top 25 coaches poll in No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 21 SMU, as well as North Florida is receiving votes. Arkansas State, Boise State, Houston, Indiana, New Mexico, Rice, UT Arlington, UTSA and host North Texas round out the field.

The veteran lineup for the Chanticleers this weekend includes three seniors and two juniors – No. 1 Luis Ruiz, No. 2 Wes Artac, No. 3 Zack Taylor, No. 4 Morgan Deneen and No. 5 States Fort.

Coming off a top-15 finish and perhaps the best three rounds of his 2018 fall season to date, Ruiz will once again lead the Chanticleers at the No. 1 position this weekend. Playing in his 34th tournament as a Chanticleer this week, Ruiz is second on the team with a 73.22 scoring average over his nine rounds of play this fall. After an opening round 74, +2, last week at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in New Mexico, Ruiz carded scores of 70, 2-under par, and 72, even par, to close out the event with a 54-hole score of 216, even par, to lead the Chants.

Artac returns to his home state of Texas for the first time since joining the Chanticleers in the summer of 2018. Playing at the No. 2 spot this weekend, Artac has been nothing but consistent over his fall season, recording a 54-hole score of 223 in all three of the tournaments he has played in. The former Texas Tech Red Raider will look to break his 54-hole scoring streak and add to his two rounds of par or better this weekend in Carrollton.

Having been the top performer for the Chants in two of his first three tournaments for CCU this season, Taylor will tee off at No. 3 in the lineup on Saturday. With a team-best scoring average of 72.67 on the fall season, the first-year Chant has turned in a team-high four rounds of par or better this year, including a low round 68 at the 2018 Northern Intercollegiate back on Sept. 15-16.

Deenan returns to the lineup this weekend after missing last week's Tucker Intercollegiate. The 2018 Sun Belt Conference Champion and Newcomer of the Year has gotten off to a slow start this season, recording a stroke average of 76.17 over six rounds of play this fall. However, Deenan, who has a low round 73, +2, this year, came on strong at the end of last season and will look to do that again starting this weekend at the Maridoe.

Rounding out the lineup at the No. 5 spot is Fort who is playing in his fourth-straight event his fall and his 12th-straight tournament dating back to last year. With a low round 73, Fort has posted a 76.00 scoring average this fall, including a low 54-hole score of 223 at the 2018 Gopher Invitational.

Live scoring of the Maridoe Intercollegiate can be found at Golfstat (HERE).

For complete coverage of CCU men's golf, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMGolf (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.