GAINESVILLE, Fla. – With the forecast of inclement weather coming into the Gainesville, Fla. area this weekend, the Coastal Carolina men's golf team played 30 holes of golf on Friday at the highly-touted Florida Gators Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
 
The Chanticleers, who had three players shoot a first-round 70, even par, carded an opening-round team score of 283, +3, but are +2 as a team through 12 holes of play in round two to find themselves unofficially in 19th place overall midway through the tournament.
 
No. 3 nationally-ranked Georgia (-20) is the team leader after one day of play, sitting ahead of Liberty (-17), No. 8 Auburn (-14), No. 16 LSU (-14), No. 9 Alabama (-13), and host No. 15 Florida (-13).
 
Fifth-year senior Zack Taylor leads the Chants after day one, as he sits at 1-under par through 30 holes and in a tie for 42nd overall. He carded an opening-round 70, even par, which included shooting a 32, 3-under par on the front nine.
 
Fellow fifth-year Chant States Fort also shot an even-par 70 over his first 18 holes on Friday and is even through 12 holes in his second round. He ended his first round with an eagle on the par-5, hole No. 12, and finished his day with one eagle and six birdies to place in a tie for 54th overall.
 
Matching the team-low round 70 over the first round of play on Friday morning was Connor Newton who was the most consistent for head coach Jim Garren and his squad on the day, carding 16 pars to go along with one birdie and one bogey over his first 18 holes. However, a double-bogey has him at plus three 12 holes into his second round which has him in a log jam at 85th.
 
In the log jam with Newton is fellow Chant Tyler Gray. Gray shot a first-round 73, +3, which included three birdies, but finished his day off on a high note with four birdies 15 holes into his second round of play.
 
Rounding out the lineup for the Chants on Friday was sophomore Seth Taylor. Taylor, who saw his glasses break not once, but twice over his first day of play, refused to quit despite not being able to see the ball as well for most of the day. He shot a first-round 77, +7, and is five over in his second round of play.
 
The second round will continue at 8 a.m. ET tomorrow and then we will immediately continue into the third round if the weather allows. The coaches are attempting to finish the tournament on Saturday since the weather forecast for Sunday is pretty bleak.
 
Live scoring for the conclusion of the second and third rounds can be found 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 www.GoCCUsports.com.