PALM DESERT, Calif. – Led by a season-best 68 from
Tanner Gore, the UT Arlington men's golf team jumped three spots on the leaderboard Saturday during the second round of Wyoming's Desert Intercollegiate at the Classic Club Course.
The Mavericks recorded a season-low 290 to move from their overnight 10th-place position to sole possession of 7th place and only three shots out of 4th entering Sunday's final round.
Gore finished just shy of tying his career-low round as the senior matched
Paul Gonzalez's 68 from the Maridoe Intercollegiate in October as the best performance by a UTA golfer this year.
Kyle Cox moved inside the top 10 as the freshman sits in a tie for 8th place overall in the field of 120 following a second-round 71 – his career best as a collegiate and first sub-par round.
UTA improved 11 strokes from its 301 opening round as the Mavs' 591 36-hole total positions them just three back of Colorado State and Kansas (588), which share the 4th-place slot. Texas Tech (572) has a two-shot lead on Boise State (574); TCU resides only one stroke back at 575.
Paul Gonzalez posted a 75,
Caleb Hicks secured a 76 and
Camilo Avila finished with a 77 to round out the UTA scoring for the second round as UTA was just +2 on the day as a team.
Gore's round started innocently enough with two bogeys in his first three holes, but he responded immediately by birdieing three of the next four to quickly move to 1-under making the turn. A birdie on the par-3 11th pushed his scorecard to -2, and a pair of birdies on 17 and 18 rounded out the 4-under 68, one shot shy of equaling his career best.
Cox finished with a torrid stretch. With his card at +4 heading to the par-5, 560-yard 14th, Cox birdied that hole and the par-4 15th before making a 2 on the par-3 17th. The exclamation point came on the par-5 18th as he rolled in an eagle to finish under par on the day and concluding a stretch in which he played the final five holes at 5-under par.
Final-round action is scheduled to get underway with another double-tee start off holes 1 and 10 on Sunday morning. The Mavs will tee off in 10-minute increments off the 1st beginning with Hicks at 7:50 (9:50 Central) and concluding with Cox at 8:30 (10:30 p.m.).
Live scoring will be available via
Golfstat by clicking here.
