HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The UT Arlington women's golf team wrapped up one of its better tournaments in the program's still-young history on Tuesday when the Mavericks finished in 3rd place with a 912 total at Sam Houston's Bearkat Invitational from Raven Nest Golf Club.
 
Individually, Madigan Murray turned in a season-low 71 in the final round to pace the Mavs as she finished tied for 5th overall along with classmate Kate Tran at +7 for the week. It's the first time in program history that two Mavs have finished on the top 5 of the leaderboard.
 
UTA's 912 three-round total is its 8th-best in now the fourth year of the program. Additionally, the solo 3rd-place showing marks the team's best-ever in a tournament which featured double-digit schools. Host Sam Houston defended its home turf with an 865 total to win, but UTA was only five shots behind 2nd-place Houston Baptist (907).
 
UTA STANDINGS/SCORES
T-5) Madigan Murray: 74-75-71: 220 (+7)
T-5) Kate Tran: 74-71-75: 220 (+7)
T-24) Janane Tan: 80-78-77: 235 (+22)
T-31) Sydney Garber: 79-78-83: 240 (+27)
T-34) Connor Howard: 82-75-84: 241 (+28)
* T-27) Abigail Adams: 82-75-80: 237 (+24)
* Competing As An Individual
 
INSIDE THE SCORES

• Murray began her round on the 4th and was sitting at -1 heading to her final hole of the day – the par-4 3rd – but unfortunately made a bogey to finish what was still a season-low round by two strokes. That 71 – which featured two birdies and two bogeys – is tied for the 10th-best round (with now 12 others) by a player in program history. Murray now owns eight rounds of 71 or lower, 2nd in program history to only nine by Tran.
   
• Tran's ninth such round came in Monday's 2nd round as she also shot a 71. Her final round on Tuesday got off to a tough start as she was 3-over after six holes, but got her card back to +1 before a trio of bogeys coming in. Still, the +7 performance for the week placed her and Murray just four back of medalist Anna Takahashi (+3) from Sam Houston.
   
• Tan made nothing worse than a bogey, but was only able to convert one birdie on the day. That birdie came on the par-4, 381-yard 2nd hole.
   
• Garber began her day with four-straight pars. She rolled in consecutive birdies on the 13th and 14th holes to get her card to +2 for the day, but a pair of quadruples derailed her round.
   
• Howard was unable to register a birdie on her final round as a string of bogeys set her day back.
   
• Playing as an individual, Adams also was unable to record a below-par hole on her round, which included 10 pars and a front-side 38.

THIS AND THAT

• UTA's previous-best finish in a field which featured 10 or more teams came courtesy of a solo 4th (out of 10) at Lamar's Cardinal Challenge in April of 2019 – the program's second year of existence.
   
• The Mavs had only one counting score all week which was above the field scoring average for the event (80.31). Every hole for all three rounds played over par on the par-71, 6,126-yard Raven Nest GC layout.
   
• Tran led the 67-player field in par-3 scoring at 2.73 (-4) for the week. Murray paced the Mavs and tied for 2nd in the field in par-4 scoring (4.11, +3). Tran's eight birdies over the three rounds were tied for the 3rd-most in the field, while Murray's 38 pars were the most by a UTA player and 4th-most in the field.
   
• Adams recorded the only eagle of the tournament; that occurred on her first hole of the 2nd round Tuesday – the par-5, 483-yard 9th.

NEXT ON THE TEE
The Mavs will head to Beaumont to take part in the aforementioned Lamar Cardinal Challenge from Beaumont Country Club Apr. 5-6.
 
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 – which opened in March 2021 – 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.