PALM DESERT, Calif. – The UT Arlington men's golf team posted a solid opening round Friday at Wyoming's Desert Intercollegiate at the Classic Club Course.
 
The Mavericks secured a 301 1st-round total to sit in 10th place in the 21-team event, but UTA is just 11 shots out of 1st place with 36 holes to play. Freshman Kyle Cox led the way for UTA on Friday with a 1-over 73 to tie for 11th overall in the field of 120.
 
Top-50 ranked Texas Tech and Colorado lead the pack with a 290 total (+2) as no teams shot under par in the 1st round on the par-72, 7,305-yard layout. UTA is only four shots outside the top 5, and teams 5-16 are separated by just nine shots on the tightly-compact leaderboard.
 
Paul Gonzalez (T-24) finished his opening-round 74 with a bang as the sophomore rolled in a birdie on the par-3 17th before making an eagle on the par-5, 564-yard 18th. Gonzalez was the lone Maverick to avoid a double bogey or worse on his scorecard in the opening round.
 
Cox went out in 3-over 39 – and after bogeying the 10th he sat at +4 – before making birdies on three of the next five holes to come in with a 2-under 34.
 
Camilo Avila had the best front 9 of the lineup with a 36 as he offset a double bogey on the 7th by bookending the front with a pair of birdies on 1 and 9. However, a stretch of bogeys on the back halted that momentum and the senior signed for a 76.
 
Freshman Caleb Hicks (78) and senior Tanner Gore (80) rounded out the UTA scoring for day one. Hicks was relatively steady throughout his round with the exception of an unfortunate triple on the par-5 9th, while Gore went out in 37 but had some big numbers on the back which derailed his round.
 
As a whole, the Mavs played very steady golf as Cox, Avila and Hicks all each only made one big number – something which if eliminated could help separate them from the condensed leaderboard entering the weekend.
 
UTA posted the 2nd-best scoring average on the par-3 holes on Friday at even par, only behind Boise State's 3-under performance. Conversely, in a testament to the big numbers, the Mavs' finished with the 2nd-worst scoring average on the par-5 holes (+5)
 
Second-round action is scheduled to get underway with another double-tee start off holes 1 and 10 on Saturday morning. The Mavs will tee off in 10-minute increments off the 1st beginning with Gore at 9:40 (11:40 Central) and concluding with Cox at 10:20 (12:20 p.m.).
 
Live scoring will be available all tournament long via Golfstat by clicking here.