HUMBLE, Texas – Daniel Cronje and Kyle Cox both posted even-par rounds of 72 to lead the UT Arlington men's golf team in the 2nd round of the All-American Intercollegiate at the Golf Club of Houston on Monday.
 
As a team, the Mavericks shaved two strokes off their opening-round total with a 296 (+8) in the 2nd round and sit in solo 11th on the stacked leaderboard as every team in the event is ranked inside the top 150 of the nation. Five of those reside in the top 100 and three are in the top 35, paced by #8 Wake Forest.
 
Cronje is tied for 30th overall at +2, while Cox moved up the leaderboard 10 spots from his overnight position into a tie for 38th at +3. Paul Gonzalez signed for a 2nd-round 2-over 74 and is tied for 46th (+5).
 
After leading UTA in the 1st round, Caleb Hicks posted a 6-over 78 and is tied for 61st at +8. Zach Cole rounded out the Maverick scoring for the day with an 82 and is in solo 80th at +20.
 
UTA (594 two-round total) sits just eight shots back of #32 Houston in 9th place (586) and 12 back of #30 South Carolina (582) in 7th place. Led by Sam Houston State (-12) and #8 Wake Forest (-8), just four schools in the 13-team field are under par after the second day on the par-72, 7067-yard layout which has played host to the PGA Tour's Houston Open since 2003.
 
Sophomore Cox got off to a strong start as he was 3-under through his first four holes after starting – like all his teammates – on the 10th. However, he was sitting at +1 heading to his final hole of the day – the par-3, 199-yard 9th – but converted a birdie there to get his scorecard back to level.
 
Freshman Cronje, meanwhile, also got off to a good start and was 2-under through four holes. After making the turn at -1, he made a pair of bogeys over the first seven holes on the front before rolling in a birdie on the par-5, 560-yard 8th to get in the clubhouse at even for the day.
 
Junior Gonzalez was even before running into a stretch of three-straight bogeys on 15-17. He made a birdie on the par-4, 412-yard 2nd to get back to +2, but unfortunately gave that right back on the 3rd before registering a birdie on the 8th to post the 74 – just his fourth round this year multiple shots over par (71.42 scoring average entering this week).
 
Sophomore Hicks also was under par (-1) after four holes and remained at -1 heading to 17, but closed his first nine with a bogey and double bogey. Unfortunately that carried over to the front where he made nothing worse than a bogey but couldn't sustain the strong start on his way to the 78.
 
Junior Cole couldn't get anything to drop on Monday as he made nothing worse than a bogey, but unfortunately had 10 of those en route to the 82.
 
In uncharacteristic form, Monday marked the second-straight round in which no UTA player shot under par – just the second time this year bridging the fall and spring seasons that happened. The other occurrence came in the final two rounds of the fall as the Mavs have now gone four-straight rounds without having a player in red numbers.
 
The Mavs will look to get back on track and make a move up the leaderboard when the final round commences on Tuesday at 8 a.m., UTA is again slated to go off the 10th tee in nine-minute increments beginning with Cole. The Mavs will look to take advantage of that opening stretch of three of the four easiest holes on the course are the 12th (-0.11 average score to par this week), 13th (-0.09) and 15th (-0.12). The only easier hole is the 8th (-0.28).
 
Live scoring will be available via Golfstat by clicking here; updates will be posted on the official Twitter account of the program: @UTAMavsMGolf.
 
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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.