ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington women's golf team's first-ever tournament at Texas Rangers Golf Club resulted in a first-ever occurrence for the fourth-year program on Tuesday as the Mavericks posted a 3rd-place finish at the UTA Invitational presented by Veritex Bank.
 
The Mavs turned in a final-round 298 total in perfect conditions to wrap up an 892 (+28) 54-hole score – representing the first time in program history they have posted all three rounds of a tournament under 300 (1st round: 295; 2nd round: 299). The 892 total is the 3rd-lowest in program history.
 
Individually, Kate Tran and Romina Gonzalez – making her debut in the orange and blue – tied for 6th overall to pace the Mavs at +4 after final-round performances of 74 and 73, respectively.
 
Competing as individuals, Janane Tan equaled that showing at +4 herself following a final-round 73 to tie for 6th, and Connor Howard posted a career-low 72 to conclude a +7 week and a solo 10th position, giving UTA four members in the top 10 of the leaderboard.
 
UTA finished 2nd in the field in total birdies for the three rounds with 38 and also finished 2nd in par-5 scoring at 5.02 (+1).
 
ULM won the six-team event with an 870 (+6), finishing 12 shots clear of runner-up Houston Baptist (882, +18), which actually had the top-2 individual finishers.
 
This was UTA's lone fall tournament of the COVID-affected 2020-21 season. The Mavs are scheduled to complete a more full, traditional spring season.
 
Below is a breakdown of UTA's five-player lineup (top-4 scores count), in addition to its three competing individuals.
 
T-6 – Kate Tran: +4 (75-71-74: 220)
Tran secured her fourth top-10 finish in her last five events going back to last year thanks to three consistent rounds. Her final round – like the rest of the Mavs in the team lineup – began on the par-4 17th, and through the first nine holes recorded eight pars and a double bogey before an adventurous final nine holes featured three birdies, three pars and three bogeys. For the week, Tran led the field in total pars with 39.
 
T-6 – Romina Gonzalez: +4 (74-73-73: 220)
The St. Edward's transfer had nothing worse than a bogey in her final round as she rolled in a team-leading five birdies on the day but made six bogeys. Her place on the leaderboard marks the junior's first-career top-10 finish, and also shatters her previous career-best 54-hole score of 228 (+12). She tied for 2nd in the field in par-3 scoring for the week at -1.
 
T-15 – Madigan Murray: +12 (74-79-75: 228)
Murray put together a stellar 16 holes in the final round, with the lone big hiccups coming on her first and last holes of the day. She started the round with a double bogey and ended it with an unfortunate quadruple bogey, but in-between rolled in four birdies and only one bogey. However, the senior still put together her seventh-straight top-20 finish dating back to the first event of the 2019-20 campaign.
 
26 – Sydney Garber: +19 (72-78-85: 235)
Senior Garber had a tough day with five double bogeys or worse en route to a very atypical 85 – tied for her worst round since her freshman season.
 
27 – Kinsey Ray: +22 (85-77-76: 238)
Ray improved from her previous round for the second-straight time. While she didn't record any birdies in her final round, she registered 14 pars and nothing worse than a bogey.
 
T-6 – Janane Tan (Ind): +4 (72-75-73: 220)
A hole-out for eagle in the par-4 14th highlighted Tan's final round as she used that shot to trigger playing the closing five holes in 3-under thanks to a birdie on 17 to get her scorecard down to +1 for the day after residing at +4 standing on the 14th tee.
 
Tan's T-6 is by far the junior's best-career finish, shattering her previous of 40th. Additionally, she also destroyed her previous-best 54-hole total of 234 (+18).
 
10 – Connor Howard (Ind): +7 (77-74-72: 223)
Junior Howard secured the best round of her career with the even-par final-round performance. Starting on the 1st hole, Howard recorded three birdies and three bogeys over the first six holes, and also offset a pair of birdies with a pair of bogeys on the back 9 to turn in the 72.
 
Similar to Tan, Howard's 10th-place finish is 16 spots better than her previous best (T-26), and she also secured her best 54-hole total (previous: 228). She tied for 2nd in the field in par-3 scoring for the week at -1.
 
T-29 – Abigail Adams (Ind): +27 (83-82-78: 243)
Adams concluded a disappointing week with a 78 on Tuesday. The improvement from the first two rounds featured nothing worse than a bogey, and she birdied two of the par-3s on the 6,191-yard layout.
 
FOLLOW THE MAVS SOCIALLY
For up-to-date news, photos and videos of the UTA women's golf program, follow us on Twitter: @UTAMavsWGolf, Instagram: @UTAMavsWGolf and Facebook: /UTAMavsWGolf.
 
ABOUT TEXAS RANGERS GOLF CLUB
Opened in February of 2019, the state-of-the-art Texas Rangers Golf Club is the new home of UTA'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.
 
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 later this fall – 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.