DALLAS – Paul Gonzalez continued his torrid start to the 2021-22 season with a pair of 68s to open SMU's Trinity Forest Invitational on Monday as he is tied for 2nd overall, leading a trio of UT Arlington men's golfers who reside in the top 10 entering Tuesday's final round from Trinity Forest Golf Club.
 
Gonzalez (-6), Caleb Hicks (-3, T-4) and Daniel Steinarsson (-2, T-8) guided UTA to impressive rounds of 8-under 276 and 3-under 281 on the par-71, 7,330-yard layout which previously served as host of the PGA TOUR's AT&T Bryon Nelson.
 
The Mavericks are alone in 2nd place at -11, five shots back of overnight leader SMU (-16), but 10 strokes ahead of 3rd-place Sam Houston in the 14-team field.
 
UTA sat in 1st place by three shots after the opening round of the day thanks to the 276 – the 9th-best round in program history. Now after 36 holes, the Mavs have tied for the 2nd-best two-round total in program lore at 557 behind only a 551 at the 2007 Turtle Bay Resort Intercollegiate.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
2) UT Arlington: 276-281: 557 (-11)
 
Lineup
T-2) Paul Gonzalez: 68-68: 136 (-6)
T-4) Caleb Hicks: 67-72: 139 (-3)
T-8) Daniel Steinarsson: 70-70: 140 (-2)
T-29) Zak Jones: 73-71: 144 (+2)
T-51) Daniel Cronje: 71-78: 149 (+7)
 
Individual
T-19) Kyle Cox: 70-72: 142 (E)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
Gonzalez

• Opening his morning the par-5 7th, Gonzalez made five birdies in the 1st round against just two bogeys. In his 2nd round, Gonzalez was +2 through five holes, but a torrid closing 13 holes of -5 – spearheaded by an eagle on the par-5 14th – pushed the Waxahachie native to consecutive rounds of 68 – his fourth and fifth rounds in the 60s in just 11 opportunities this year.

Hicks

• Hicks birdied his first hole of the day – the short par-3 8th – to set the tone for his 1st round which featured four birdies and an eagle on the par-5 1st. Like Gonzalez, Hicks got off to a slow start to the 2nd round as he was +3 after five, but he also settled down with three birdies and a bogey the rest of the way to sign for a 72.

Steinarsson

• Steinarsson was in position to post his career-low round as the Icelander sat at -4 through 16 holes thanks to a flawless round of a quartet of birdies. However, he unfortunately finished double-bogey, bogey on the 6th and 7th holes to cap his opening round. Still, the round of 70 represented a season low. His 2nd round was much calmer with three birdies and two bogeys on his card for the sophomore's second-straight 1-under round.

Jones

• Making his season debut, Jones got off to a tough start and sat at +3 through five holes. But, he did settle down and eventually got his card back to even through 11 holes before an adventurous final five holes yielded a pair of birdies, two bogeys and a double. Jones led the Mavs with five birdies in the 2nd round, but resided at +2 with four holes to play. He got back to even with consecutive birdies on the 5th and 6th before closing pars on the 7th and 8th.

Cronje

• Starting on the back 9, Cronje went out in 37 before rolling in three-straight birdies to begin his back side (course's front) to move to -1 before posting a level-par round to start his day. Things didn't go as well in the 2nd round as the South African made several bogeys and one big number en route to the 78.

Cox

• Competing as an individual, Cox had nothing higher than a bogey on his card for the 1st round as he converted 13 pars, three birdies and two bogeys to sign for the under-par round of 70. In the 2nd round, he posted four birdies, three bogeys and had his card at -1 with two holes to play, but a double on the par-4 16th push him over par.

THIS AND THAT
UTA leads the field in par-3 scoring average through two rounds at 3.00 and also in par-5 scoring at a blistering 4.33 … the Mavs' 41 birdies on Monday were 2nd to only SMU's 52 … UTA carded two eagles … Steinarsson is tied for the field lead in par-3 scoring at 2.75, and Gonzalez is tied for 5th at 2.88 … Cox is the highest-ranked individual on the leaderboard … Hicks leads the field in par-5 scoring at a gaudy 3.83 … Gonzalez played the par 5s in 4.17 to rank tied for 2nd in the field … Jones led UTA and is tied for 2nd in the field in birdies with 11.
 
FINAL ROUND
UTA will be in the final groupings with SMU and Sam Houston beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The Mavs will go off in nine-minute increments starting on the 1st, concluding with Gonzalez at 10:06.
 
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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.