May 18, 2006

Cleveland, Ohio - UT Arlington weathered inclement conditions to post a 14-over-par 298 on the opening day of the NCAA Division I Men's Central Regional here Thursday.

Gusty winds, steady rain and temperatures in the 40s kept the morning scores high as the Mavericks led the tournament early in the day.

"Obviously the weather made it tough out there today," said UTA head men's golf coach Jay Rees. "If the weather continues like it was this morning, par will be an excellent score to post. I thought we played pretty well until those few holes on the back side. We will have to come back tomorrow and play better than we did today."

UTA was led in scoring by sophomore Zack Reeves with a two-over-par 73 on the 7,173-yard, par-71 Sand Ridge Golf Course. Reeves double-bogeyed the 466-yard, par-4 13th hole to knock him out of first place.

Junior Ryan Zamorano bogeyed holes 13 through 15 to finish the opening round three-over 73.

Senior Tyrone Mordt fired a four-over-par 75. He recovered from a three-over-par front nine to shoot a one-over-par on the back.

Sophomore Michael Douthit went even par on the final five holes to finish at five-over-par 76 and senior Jeff Murray struggled on the back nine with a six-over-par 42 and finished with an eight-over-par 79.

As a team, UTA went 11-over-par on the four-hole stretch from hols 11 to 15.

UTA will tee off between 12:12 and 12:50 p.m. Friday.

- utamavs.com -