EL DORADO, Ark. – The UT Arlington men's golf team wrapped up the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Championship from Mystic Creek GC on Tuesday in 7th place following three rounds of stroke play.
The Mavericks – who had climbed inside the all-important top-4 on the leaderboard entering the final round – dropped back with a closing 314 and failed to advance to the match play semifinals on Wednesday to determine a league champion.
UTA missed out on one of those top-4 spots by only five shots as it posted a 921 54-hole total; Coastal Carolina claimed the final slot with a 916 total. The Chanticleers will be joined by Georgia Southern (899), Little Rock (910) and ULM (914) in match play.
The Mavs were the only squad in the 12-team field to have four players finish in the top-20 of the final standings; however, unfortunately for UTA the four counting scores each day did not sync up well enough to climb into the top-4.
Paul Gonzalez led UTA with a final-round 75 on the par-72, 7,293-yard layout which for the third-straight day played well over par for the field as the average score was the highest of the week at 79.15.
UTA LINEUP SCORES/STANDINGS
T-14) Daniel Cronje: 72-75-82: 229 (+13)
T-19) Paul Gonzalez: 80-77-75: 232 (+16)
T-19) Kyle Cox: 78-74-80: 232 (+16)
T-19) Caleb Hicks: 75-76-81: 232 (+16)
T-50) Zakary Jones: 85-83-78: 246 (+30)
INSIDE THE SCORES
- Cronje began the day with medalist apirations as he was only two shots back entering the final round, but a trio of double bogeys on his front 9 unfortunately washed those chances away. The sophomore did roll in two birdies coming in, but it wasn't enough to remain in contention.
- Gonzalez capped off a gradual improvement as he lowered his score each of the final two rounds after opening with an 80. Thanks to the 75 on Tuesday, he moved up 17 spots on the leaderboard – tied for the largest jump of any player in the field. The senior carded 13 pars, had nothing worse than a bogey and converted a birdie on the par-5 5th.
- Cox could get nothing going until a birdie on his final hole of the tournament, the par-5 18th, as he was undone by a pair of doubles; Hicks disappointedly made three doubles. Jones posted his best round of the event with the 78.
THIS AND THAT
- Cronje finished 2nd in the field in par-5 scoring average for the three rounds at 4.83. He also led UTA and tied for 5th in the field in par-3 average at 3.00. Cronje paced UTA in birdies for the week as well with seven, and tied with Gonzalez for most pars with 32.
- The average score for the field over the course of the three rounds was 78.64.
- This was the first year the tournament has been contested at Mystic Creek in south-central Arkansas.
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.
