LITTLE ROCK – The UT Arlington men's golf team moved up three spots on the leaderboard in the final round of the Little Rock Invitational from the Founder's Course at Chenal Country Club on Tuesday to post an 8th-place finish in its fall finale.
 
The Mavericks posted a final-round 293 (+5), led by a 1-under 71 from Kyle Cox – his second-straight 71 to finish the 54 holes at +2 overall and in a tie for 15th. However, it was Paul Gonzalez once again pacing the Mavs as the graduate student tied for 13th in the field of 84 following a closing 73 on Tuesday as part of a +1 score for the week.
 
Little Rock (-18) defended its home course to win by 17 shots over Lamar (-1) as those two teams were the only clubs to record under-par scores. UTA (+13) moved up from its 11th-place overnight position on the leaderboard to finish just two strokes back of North Texas (+11) and only seven outside of a top-5 showing.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
8) UT Arlington: 301-283-293: 877 (+13)
 
Lineup
T-13) Paul Gonzalez: 77-67-73: 217 (+1)
T-15) Kyle Cox: 76-71-71: 218 (+2)
T-23) Daniel Steinarsson: 73-72-74: 219 (+3)
T-54) Caleb Hicks: 75-75-75: 225 (+9)
T-79) Daniel Cronje: 82-73-77: 232 (+16)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
Gonzalez

• Opened his day on the 10th hole, and went out in even-par 36 with a birdie and a bogey. He got his card to -1 with a birdie after making the turn, but consecutive bogeys on the 2nd and 3rd moved him back to +1, which is where the Waxahachie native remained the rest of the day as he finished with six-straight pars.

Cox

• Jumped 27 spots on the leaderboard from the end of the 2nd round thanks to a team-leading five birdies on Tuesday. An up-and-down final round which commenced on the 11th saw Cox sit at +1 through four holes. He played the next seven holes in -3 before three bogeys in the next four holes erased those trio of birdies. However, Cox closed with two birdies on his final three holes to sign for UTA's only under-par round of the day.

Steinarsson

• Steinarsson wasn't able to get much going on his outward 9, which started on the 10th hole, and featured two bogeys and a birdie en route to a 37. The Icelander posted three more bogeys on the frontside – his backside – before an impressive closing eagle on the 538-yard, par-5 9th to come home in an equaling 37.

Hicks

• Posted his third-straight 75, which all things considered actually turned out to be a pretty decent score. The round got off to an ominous start with a quadruple bogey on the par-5 12th and double bogey on the par-4 13th as the Arlington native sat at +6 after two holes. However, he bounced back immediately with three-straight birdies on holes 14-16 before playing the next 10 holes in +2. Hicks then birdied two of his last three holes to salvage a respectable score after the tough start.

Cronje

• Began his day with birdie on the 12th, but from there Cronje played holes 13-18 in +7. That stretch proved costly as he was bogey-free the rest of the way, posting 10 pars and a birdie on the 9th.

THIS AND THAT
As a team, UTA recorded 166 pars for the tournament to tie for the 2nd-most in the field … Cox led the Mavs and tied for 8th in the field in par-3 scoring for the week at 3.00 … Gonzalez paced UTA and ranked 5th in the field in par-4 scoring (3.93) … Steinarsson played the par 5s in 4.33 (-8) for the week, which was tied for the 3rd-best in the field … Steinarsson made two eagles, tied for the most in the field … Gonzalez ranked 4th in the field with 38 pars … the scoring average for the field for the week was 74.06.
 
NEXT UP
UTA will now take a few months away from competition before the spring season begins. The full spring slate is still being finalized and will be announced when it is completed on UTAMavs.com.
 
FOLLOW THE MAVS SOCIALLY
For up-to-date news, photos and videos of the UTA men's golf program, follow us on Twitter: @UTAMavsMGolf, Instagram: @UTAMensMGolf and Facebook: /UTAMavsMGolf.
 
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 – which just opened in March of 2021 – features 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.