JONESBORO, Ark. – Behind a third-straight even-par round from Paul Gonzalez to start the year, the UT Arlington men's golf team wrapped up its first tournament of the season on Tuesday in sole possession of 4th place at Arkansas State's Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate from RidgePointe Country Club.
 
Gonzalez's final-round 72 and three-round 216 total was good for his 10th career top-10 finish with a tie for 9th overall, while Daniel Cronje was close behind in sole possession of 13th place at +1 for the week despite a closing-round 76.
 
As a team, UTA recorded a 295 (+7) total on Tuesday to conclude the 54 holes at 879 (+15) – just five shots back of 3rd-place Abilene Christian (874, +10). Host Arkansas State ran away from the 10-team field on its home course with a final-round 272 (-16) as part of a blistering 814 (-50) total – 34 shots clear of runner-up Texas State (848, -16).
 
Below is a breakdown of each of UTA's six members who teed it up on the 6,565-yard layout, with additional team and player stats at the end.
 
T-9 – Paul Gonzalez: E (72-72-72: 216)
Gonzalez's round began inauspiciously with a double bogey on the 2nd hole, but the senior promptly rebounded with birdies on 4 and 5 while adding another on the short par-4 8th to make the turn in 1-under 35.
 
After a string of four-straight pars to start the back 9, Gonzalez moved his scorecard to -2 for the day with a birdie on the par-4 14th; however, he unfortunately bogeyed 15 and 16 in advance of closing pars to conclude a third-straight level-par performance. It marked Gonzalez's fifth top-10 in his last eight tournaments, dating back to the beginning of last season.
 
With the trio of 72s to begin his final season in the blue and orange, Gonzalez lowers his career scoring average from 73.06 to 73.02 – further extending his current career program scoring record to .08 ahead of present holder Zack Fischer (73.10 from 2008-11).
 
T-13 – Daniel Cronje: +1 (67-74-76: 217)
While it wasn't the finish Cronje wanted, the tie for 13th represents the sophomore's best placement on the leaderboard in his young career, surpassing a T-15 showing at this same event last October.
 
Additionally, his 54-hole 217 total is two shots better than his previous best of 219 (+3), also set at last year's Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate.
 
Cronje's final round didn't feature anything worse than a bogey; however, after making nine birdies over 36 holes on Monday, he was able to convert just one on Tuesday.
 
T-39 – Jacob Massengale: +13 (77-79-73: 229)
Playing in just his 15th career round, Massengale's final-round 73 represents his career best, bettering a 74 set this past March in the 2nd round at Appalachian State's Bash at the Beach. Additionally, his 229 three-round total also establishes a career mark, surpassing a 231 done twice previously.
 
After opening his final round with a pair of pars, Massengale put together a stretch of three-straight birdies between 3 and 5 before settling for a front-9 even-par 36. He sandwiched a birdie between two bogeys on the backside to account for the inward 37.
 
T-39 – Zakary Jones: +13 (83-72-74: 229)
Following a disappointing 1st round on Monday, Jones closed the week with another solid performance with a final-round 74. A roller-coaster of a round, Jones made six pars on the day, rolled in a team-best six birdies but made six bogeys or worse.
 
T-51 – Zach Cole: +18 (75-82-77: 234)
Cole closed with a final-round 77 despite a front-9 36 which featured a pair of birdies and bogeys. However, three double bogeys on the back sent him down the leaderboard, despite a birdie on the par-4 14th.
 
T-57 – Caleb Hicks: +21 (82-75-80: 237)
Hicks concluded an extremely uncharacteristic performance with a final-round 80 – his second 80+ round of the tournament after recording only one last year during his sophomore campaign.
 
As a team, the Mavericks actually made the 3rd-most birdies in the field for the week with 51, but tied for the 2nd-fewest pars with 178.
 
Par-5s were particularly troublesome for the Mavs, who didn't capitalize as much as they would have hoped on those holes. UTA set a single-season program record for par-5 scoring last year at 4.77, but played the par-5s at RidgePointe at 4.99 (-1) for the week. Conversely, Arkansas State averaged 4.39 (-44) on those same holes.
 
Jones led the Mavs in birdies for the event with 12, while Cronje rolled in 10. Gonzalez finished tied for 3rd in the field of 63 players in total pars with 36.
 
This was the first of only two events in the fall for the Mavs, who are planning to have a more complete, traditional spring schedule. UTA will conclude the fall portion of the 2020-21 docket next week, Oct. 19-20, at the Little Rock Invitational.
 
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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.