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NM STATE'S MERRY NAMED WAC GOLFER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Isaac Merry has been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Golfer of the Week for the week of April 11 through April 18.
Merry, a senior from Las Cruces, N.M. (Onate HS), paced the Aggies in their final regular season tournament of the season, finishing tied for 15th in a talented field with a 2-under-par 211. He opened play with a 2-under-par 67 to take an early position on the leaderboard. After shooting a 4-over-par 75 in the second round, he saved his best for last, firing a 4-under-par 67 in the final round to move up 22 spots into the top-15. Merry finished better than six players ranked in the Golfstat Top 75, including third-ranked Viktor Hovland from Oklahoma State and eighth-ranked Brad Dalke from Oklahoma.
Other men's nominees: Grand Canyon's Vinnie Murphy earned another top-5 finish, shooting a 5-over-par 221 at the El Macero Classic to tie for fifth in the Lopes' regular season finale … Kansas City's Paul Foulquie led the Roos in their final regular season tournament, shooting a 5-over-par to tie for 14th at the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational.
PLAYING FOR A TROPHY
Grand Canyon was selected as the favorite to win the 2018 Western Athletic Conference men's golf title in a vote of the league's head coaches, who could not vote for their own team. The Lopes, in their first season of NCAA postseason eligibility, received all six possible first-place votes for a perfect score of 36. Eight-time champion NM State was picked second with 27 points. Kansas City picked up the final first place vote to finish third in the poll with 25 points. UT Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley finished tied for fourth with 20 points each. Defending champion Seattle U is selected sixth, followed by Chicago State in seventh.
SCORECARD
Kansas City holds the top team stroke average in the WAC at 289.9. Grand Canyon is second (290.8), followed by Utah Valley (292.3). Individually, GCU's Vinnie Murphy is the top individual at 71.0 strokes per round. UVU's Blair Bursey is second (71.9) and UMKC's Francois Lagraulet is third (72.3). UTRGV's Alvaro Hernandez is fourth (72.5) and UMKC's McCain Schellhardt rounds out the top five (72.8).
WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
UT Rio Grande Valley won its second tournament of the season at the Big Texan Invitational, posting a 17-over-par 881 to win by 31 strokes over second-place UIW. Senior Ali Khazenbeik became the second individual champion of the season for UTRGV, with a 1-over-par 217. The team win and individual win were the sixth each by WAC schools this season. Grand Canyon has three team titles, UTRGV has two and Utah Valley has one. Individually, GCU's Vinnie Murphy has earned medalist honors twice and UMKC's Francois Lagraulet, UVU's Aaron Yeates, UTRGV's Alvaro Hernandez and UTRGV's Khazanebeik have all won once.
CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE
The 2018 WAC Men's Golf Championship heads to the Sunflower State at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan. Despite being set about as far away from the sea as you could possibly be, the Perry Maxwell masterpiece has many characteristics of a classic seaside links course. The first nine holes opened for play in 1937 and the course was extended to 18 holes in 1956. The host course for the 2002 U.S. Women's Open, the 2006 U.S. Senior Open and the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, the course has often been ranked one of the top courses in not just the United States but throughout the world. At 6,759 yards, the par-70 course should test all WAC golfers who tee it up.