KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Competing against the largest field in collegiate golf, the UT Arlington women's golf team is tied for 19th place after the first day at the Kiawah Island Spring Classic as Kate Tran led the Mavericks with an opening-round 71 from Oak Point Golf Club.
 
Tran fired a 1-under 71 and is in a tie for 9th place overall in the field of 264 golfers, helping pace UTA to a strong 18-hole showing as the Mavs fired an opening-round 301 (+13) as they sit just five shots back of a tie for 9th place and only nine strokes behind 5th place as only one team in the 53-school field shot under par on the first day, and that was host Charleston at -7 (281).
 
IUPUI is in 2nd place at even-par 288, while Boston University and FGCU are both tied for 3rd at +1 (289). UTA will take on the par-72, 5,984-yard Osprey Point course on Monday for the 2nd round, with the top 26 teams following play on Monday teeing it up in the final round at Osprey Point; teams ranked 27th-53rd will be at Oak Point.
 
For Tran, the 1-under round is tied for the junior's best of her season as she spearheaded the Mavs to their best round of the spring in now four opportunities.
 
In addition to Tran, Madigan Murray posed a 1st-round 76 – a total which was matched by Janane Tan with the 2nd-best round of her career. Sydney Garber was two strokes behind that pace with a 78, while Connor Howard rounded out the UTA scoring for the day with an 81.
 
Tran started on the par-3, 141-yard 9th, and went out in 35 (-1; her back nine), and she remained at 1-under heading to the par-4 3rd before she made a bogey but bounced back with one of only two eagles all day in the field on the par-5, 422-yard 4th. She unfortunately made another bogey on the par-4 5th, but parred her way in to tie for her best round of the year.
 
Murray was under par with four holes to play, but made two big numbers coming in to go from -1 to +4 and is tied for 87th. She's tied with Tan, who overcame two double bogeys.
 
UTA will look to continue its improvement in this tournament once again Monday and Tuesday as the Mavs posted a 33rd-place finish in 2018, but jumped all the way to a tie for 17th in 2019.
 
UTA took advantage of the par-5 holes on Sunday as the Mavs posted the 3rd-best par-5 scoring average in the field at -6. Tran led UTA with a -3 performance on those par-5 holes – tied for the 2nd-best in the field, while Murray posted a -1 showing on par-3 holes – tied for the 7th-best performance in the field.
 
2nd-round action is set to get underway on Monday with the Mavs at the par-72, 5,964-yard Osprey Point Course. Osprey Point played much harder on Sunday with an average score of 76.38, while the Oak Point layout at Kiawah Island Golf Resort played at 80.97 for the day.
 
The Mavs are scheduled to tee off holes 14-16 on the Osprey Point layout at 8 a.m. Central (9 a.m. local).
 
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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.