ERIE, Colo. – A trio of 3-under 69s from Zakary Jones, Paul Gonzalez and Kyle Cox led the way for the UT Arlington men's golf team in the final round of the 10th Annual Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational on Tuesday from Colorado National Golf Club with a slew of personal and near-team records.
 
That trio paved the way for UTA shooting a season-best 8-under 280 to finish the three-round event at an extremely strong 18-under 846 – the 6th-best 54-hole total in program history. The 18-under performance ranks as the 2nd-best score to par in program history.
 
UTA finished just two shots out of 3rd place (Wyoming, -20), while Colorado defended its home course – utilizing its local knowledge on the greens and altitude carry – with a dominant -35 showing to close 10 strokes ahead of 2nd-place Grand Canyon (-25).
 
The 69 from Jones represented a career best as the sophomore's 3-under showing was his first career sub-par round. Meanwhile, Gonzalez capped another brilliant tournament with what is already his fourth round in the 60s through two events this year. All told, Gonzalez posted rounds of 70-67-69 for a 206 (-10) showing which tied for 5th in the field of 72 – just two shots behind a trio of medalists at -12.
 
Similar to the team performance, Gonzalez's 10-under finish is his personal career low and is tied for the 5th-best 54-hole score relative to par in program history. His 206 total is one shot off his low 54-hole total of 205 set at the Sun Belt Conference Championship last year, and that 206 total is tied for the 7th-best in program history.
 
Cox secured his own 54-hole personal scoring record as that final-round 69 was prefaced by rounds of 68 and 71 on Monday to finish with a 208 (-8) total to tie for 8th place in the field – four shots better than the sophomore's previous best 54-hole score of 212.
 
"Obviously Paul and Kyle played extremely well this week, but everybody is just so comfortable," stated head coach Casey Devoll. "Honestly, we're just having fun. That's the bottom line. Our guys are showing up each week thinking they can win, and 18-under usually does get the job done, it just didn't pan out this week. But we're not upset and we're already looking forward to get back after it next week."
 
Jones, meanwhile, utilized his career-low round to move up 11 spots on the leaderboard and tie for 41st at +2 (218) following rounds of 76 and 73 on the opening day. Jones started on the back 9 and went out in a blistering 5-under 31 with birdies on 10, 11, 13, 15 and 17 before giving two of those back with bogeys as part of a front-side 38.
 
Caleb Hicks entered Tuesday at -1, but signed for a 1-over 73 in the final round to wrap up his event with an even-par 216. Hicks still managed to tie for 31st, and he rolled in a team-high-tying five birdies on the day, but a pair of double bogeys over his final three holes of the round pushed him over par.
 
Rounding out the UTA lineup scoring for the day was freshman Daniel Cronje with a 75 as part of a 226 (+10) finish. Competing as an individual, Zach Cole signed for a final-round 77 and finished up at +9 following a pair of 74s on Monday.
 
Gonzalez tied for the tournament lead in par-4 scoring at -7 and tied for the 2nd-most birdies in the field with 18 over the three rounds. He extended an impressive start to his 2019-20 campaign as the junior has commenced this year with scores of 67, 69, 74, 70, 67 and 69 – five of six rounds being multiple shots under par for an average of 69.3.
 
Despite his low finish, Cole actually finished near the top of the field in pars made with 39 – one off the tournament lead. However, despite not making anything worse than a bogey over the three rounds, he just couldn't get much to fall with only three total birdies.
 
Cox for the second-straight day recorded an eagle – this time reaching the 679-yard par-5 15th (which was playing all the way back on Tuesday at 696 yards). That was the middle hole of an incredible stretch from 14-16 which he played 4-under. His two eagles for the event tied for the most in the field; he also posted the 2nd-best par-3 scoring average for the week (-4) and tied for the 3rd-best par-5 scoring average (-6).
 
Altitude plays a factor on the course located 12 miles east of Boulder, but Colorado National Golf Club still played to a lengthy 7,703 yards. Despite that, the scoring average hovered around even par for the field at 72.51 for the three rounds.
 
UTA, checking in at #45 in the Golfweek rankings, was the highest-ranked team in the field – ahead of #91 Cal State Fullerton, #99 Colorado and #108 Wyoming. The Mavs are coming off a tournament championship in its first event of the fall season last month at UTSA's Lone Star Invitational.
 
This was the first of a stretch of three tournaments in three weeks to conclude the fall portion of the docket for the Mavs. UTA will wrap up the slate in Arkansas for A-State's Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate Oct. 14-15 and Little Rock's Invitational Oct. 21-22.
 
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THE NEW HOME OF UTA GOLF: Texas Rangers Golf Club
The recently-opened state-of-the-art Texas Rangers Golf Club is the new home of the UT Arlington's men's and women's golf programs. The world's only Major League Baseball-branded golf course, TRGC is the result of a $24 million renovation and updated routing of the former Chester W. Ditto Golf Course at Brown Boulevard and Collins Street, just a few miles north of UTA's campus. The Home of UTA Golf was designed by UTA alumni John Colligan and Trey Kemp of Arlington-based Colligan Golf Design. It features an expansive 23-acre practice area, and a new 33,871-square-foot clubhouse – set to open in early 2020 – will feature a full-service restaurant and bar, covered patio overlooking the golf course, pro shop, locker rooms and numerous rental and event spaces. For more information about TRGC, click here.