EL DORADO, Ark. – The UT Arlington men's golf team made an important move on moving day Monday at the Sun Belt Conference Championship from Mystic Creek GC.
 
The Mavericks posted a 2nd-round 302 – the 2nd-best round of the day by any team – to move into sole possession of 3rd place entering the final round of stroke play on Tuesday.
 
On the strength of 2nd-round 74 from Kyle Cox, UTA moved up two spots from its overnight position on the leaderboard and into the all-important top 4. Following action on Tuesday that quartet will advance to Wednesday's match play to determine the 2021 Sun Belt Champion.
 
Little Rock leads the 12-team field with a 36-hole 599 total, while Georgia Southern resides in 2nd place at 601 and UTA in 3rd at 607. The Mavs are just one shot ahead of Appalachian State (608) and ULM (608) as the teams residing in 3rd place through 7th place are separated by only five shots.
 
Individually, Daniel Cronje is tied for 2nd in the field at +3 as once again the par-72, 7,293-yard layout played extremely challenging as only one player in the field was under par in the 2nd round.
 
UTA LINEUP SCORES/STANDINGS
T-2) Daniel Cronje: 72-75: 147 (+3)
T-11) Caleb Hicks: 75-76: 151 (+7)
T-14) Kyle Cox: 78-74: 152 (+8)
T-36) Paul Gonzalez: 80-77: 157 (+13)
T-53) Zakary Jones: 85-83: 168 (+24)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES

• Cronje rolled in 13 pars on the day, made a pair of birdies and bogeys to offset each other, but a triple on the par-4 3rd proved to be the difference in his round. However, the sophomore is still in tremendous shape to claim medalist honors in the final round of stroke play Tuesday as he is just two shots back of current leader Logan Pate (+1) from Little Rock.
   
• Hicks – who like all his teammates began the day on the par-4 10th – went out in 39 before coming in with a 37, including a closing birdie on the par-4, 448-yard 9th. That was one of only six birdies all day by the field on the 9th.
   
• Cox made UTA's biggest advancement of the day as he moved up 18 spots on the leaderboard. The junior was able to overcome a pair of double bogeys in his first eight holes thanks to a team-leading four birdies on the day. After going out in 40, Cox posted an impressive inward 2-under 34.
   
• Gonzalez couldn't get much going through 15 holes as he resided at +7 for the round; however, the senior birdied two of his closing three holes to come in with a 37 and give him some momentum heading into the final round of stroke play.
   
• Jones rolled in three birdies – including two in his opening three holes – but a trio of big numbers disrupted his 2nd round.

THIS AND THAT

• UTA ranks 2nd in the field in par-4 scoring through two rounds at 4.29.
• The Mavs' 97 pars are the 3rd-most in the field.
• Cronje is tied for the overall lead in par-5 average at 4.75 for the week. His 25 pars are also tied for the most in the field.
• Hicks leads UTA with six birdies through 36 holes, tied for the 6th-most in the field.
• The field scoring average was even harder on Monday than Sunday's opening round (78.63 compared with 78.13).

STROKE PLAY FINAL ROUND TEE TIMES (1ST HOLE)
Jones: 8:30 AM
Gonzalez: 8:39 AM
Cox: 8:48 AM
Hicks: 8:57 AM
Cronje: 9:06 AM
 
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.