DALLAS – Daniel Cronje led the UT Arlington men's golf team for the second-straight day at the challenging Trinity Forest Invitational as the Mavericks completed their 2nd round on Monday at Trinity Forest Golf Club.
 
UTA resides in 14th place following a 2nd-round 306 as the average score on the par-71, 7,330-yard former PGA Tour layout was even higher than Sunday's opening round. The Mavs have a 36-hole total of 604 (+36) as every team in the field is double-figure shots over par with the exception of host and #13 SMU (564, -4) entering Tuesday's final round.
 
Cronje recorded his second-straight round of 74 and resides inside the top 30 at +6, which is only five shots out of a top-10 position. As a team, the Mavs are only eight shots back of a top-10 spot on the team leaderboard as the extremely-competitive field features five teams ranked in the top-40 of the nation.
 
UTA LINEUP SCORES (No. 10 Start)
T-29) Daniel Cronje: 74-74: 148 (+6)
T-32) Kyle Cox: 74-75: 149 (+7)
T-54) Zach Cole: 74-79: 153 (+11)
T-58) Caleb Hicks: 76-78: 154 (+12)
T-71) Daniel Steinarsson: 80-79: 159 (+17)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES

• Cronje rolled in two birdies and made five bogeys – but nothing higher – and signed for the +3 round. He continues to play the short holes well as the sophomore is tied for the 3rd-best par-3 scoring average in the 75-player field through the first two days at 2.88 (-1).
   
• Cox produced a similar card to Cronje with a pair of birdies and four bogeys with the addition of an unfortunate double bogey.
   
• Cole had nothing worse than a bogey on his round, but after opening with a birdie on the par-4 10th he couldn't get any others to fall. That birdie on the 416-yard 10th was one of only eight made by the field on that hole all day.
   
• Hicks added to his team-leading par total through 36 holes with 13 more on Monday as he now has 23 for the tournament – tied for the 12th-most in the field. However, the junior was unable to convert any birdies and made a pair of double bogeys and a trio of bogeys.
   
• Playing in his first collegiate tournament, freshman Steinarsson made a pair of birdies on his closing 9 (course's front side) to improve his score by one shot from Sunday. The Icelander had a double and eight bogeys, but still was able to break 80.

THIS AND THAT

• Scoring increased from an average of 74.59 in the 1st round to more than four strokes over par in the 2nd round at 75.13.
   
• UTA again began its round on the statistically-harder back-9; the five easiest holes on the course in Round 2 were on the front.
   
• In total – including an SMU 'B' squad – one-third of the field is ranked in the top-40 in the country.
   
• SMU was the only team in the field to shoot under par on the day.
   
• Only the par-5, 560-yard 1st and par-4, 412-yard 3rd holes played under par for the round.

FINAL-ROUND TEE TIMES (No. 10 Start)
10 AM: Daniel Steinarsson
10:09 AM: Caleb Hicks
10:18 AM: Zach Cole
10:27 AM: Kyle Cox
10:36 AM: Daniel Cronje
 
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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 – set to open this spring – 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.