LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Freshman
Kyle Cox led the UT Arlington men's golf team on Monday in the opening day of the Little Rock Invitational at Chenal Country Club before the event was suspended due to darkness at 6:30 p.m. local time.
Most golfers have 1-3 holes left to finish in their 2nd rounds on Tuesday, which will get underway at 7:45 a.m. Following the completion of the 2nd round, there will be a brief break to re-cut the greens before the final round gets underway with a scheduled approximate start time of 9:30.
With only the 1st round official to this point, Cox led the Mavericks with a 2-over 74 and is currently +2 on his 2nd round with two holes – the par-4 6th and par-5 7th – remaining Tuesday morning.
The conclusion of the 2nd round, and all final-round action in the Mavericks' penultimate event of the fall season, can be tracked
via Golfstat by clicking here or by visiting the link accompanying this release.
After opening the 1st round with a 309 total, UTA – in 15th place – is currently +13 on its 2nd round with some score-able holes in front of it early Tuesday morning. No. 23 UNLV leads the 17-team field at +1 overall (289 1st round; even 2nd round), just one shot ahead of Illinois State.
At +4 for the tournament, Cox is three shots ahead of the next-closest UTA competitor as
Tanner Gore is on pace to bounce back impressively from an opening-round 80. The lone senior in the lineup is currently 1-under on his 2nd round with three holes to play – the same two as Cox, plus the par-3 8th.
Caleb Hicks signed for a 76 in the 1st round and is +7 on his 2nd round with one hole left, while
Zakary Jones recorded a 79 in the 1st round and an unofficial 86 in the 2nd round.
The Mavericks were dealt a difficult blow early in the day when
Paul Gonzalez – the team's No. 1 player in its lineup – had to withdraw from the 1st round after just three holes with a hand injury. The sophomore leads UTA with a 73.13 scoring average on the year, is ranked as the 5th-best golfer in the Sun Belt Conference by Golfstat and was coming off a career-best tie finish.
However, Gonzalez battled back and returned to the lineup in the second 18 of the day, and resiliently is just +2 on his round with only the par-4 6th left to finish Tuesday. Without Gonzalez's score to count in the 1st round, UTA was forced to use its four remaining scores, led by Cox's 74 en route to the aforementioned 309 total.
Cox had a relatively clean card in the opening round. After making three-straight bogeys on holes 11-13, he recorded all pars until his final hole – the par-5 7th – where he made a birdie. After opening his 2nd round with a bogey on the par-4 9th, Gore rolled in birdies on the 12th, 15th and 16th holes to get his scorecard to -2 prior to a bogey on the final hole he played before the horn blew pushed him back to -1.
