SAN ANTONIO – Paul Gonzalez sits in a tie for 5th place after recording a 1st-round 72 on Monday to lead the UT Arlington men's golf team in its season-opening tournament at UTSA's Lone Star Invitational from the TPC San Antonio AT&T Oaks Course.
The Mavericks are in sole possession of 9th place following a 308 1st-round total. Play was delayed by approximately four hours between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. because of rain, and the 15 competing clubs completed just one round instead of the scheduled two for Monday. The 54-hole tournament will still conclude on Tuesday with the final round, but the event will be cut to just 36 holes.
Host UTSA leads the pack with a 289 as the Roadrunners sit two shots clear of 2nd-place Arkansas State (291), which is four strokes clear of 3rd-place Little Rock (295). Final-round action is set to commence at 8 a.m. with a shotgun start on Tuesday. Live scoring will be available via
Golfstat by clicking here. Additionally, updates will be posted on the official Twitter account of the program
@UTAMavsGolf.
Gonzalez started his day on the 10th hole and made a trio of birdies and bogeys before making the turn and rolling in another birdie and another bogey – on holes 8 and 9, respectively – to finish at even par. The performance was Gonzalez's ninth career par-or-better round as he is just four shots off the pace set by tournament leader Sean Meehan (68 / -4) out of the field of 84 golfers.
Tanner Gore signed for a 76 as the next-lowest Mav in the five-man lineup. The senior was relatively consistent all round as he made nothing higher than a 5 on any hole.
Making his collegiate debut,
Kyle Cox was two shots off of Gore's pace with a 78. Cox, a graduate of Creekview High School in Carrollton, made his first career hole as a college freshman a memorable one as he birdied the lengthy par-3, 241-yard 13th.
Fellow freshman
Caleb Hicks (82) and senior
Camilo Avila (84) closed out the Mavericks' scoring on the long and difficult scoring day. The average round was nearly five strokes over par on the 7,435-yard layout which plays host to the PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open.
Seven of the 15 teams in the field finished last year ranked in the top 100 of the official Golfstat Rankings, and four more – including UTA – were right behind, ranked between 100 and 120, setting up for what should be a highly-competitive final round featuring several in-state and Sun Belt foes.
This is the 10th edition of the Lone Star Invitational; in 2010, UTA won the second-annual event with an 855 (-9) total. This past March (the event will be held twice in 2018), eventual NCAA quarterfinalist Oklahoma won the tournament with an 849 (-15) total, but that was held at Briggs Ranch Golf Club.
Following action in San Antonio, the Mavericks continue their fall slate Sept. 28-29 at New Mexico's William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque.
