GLADEWATER, Texas – Daniel Cronje,
Hiroki Miya and
Zak Jones all turned in under-par rounds to lead the UT Arlington men's golf team to a season-low 2-under performance on Monday in the 2nd round of Texas State's Tempest Collegiate from Tempest Golf Club.
Cronje and Miya both posted 3-under 69s, while Jones signed for a second-straight 1-under 71 to open the tournament. Jones sits in a tie for 7th place overall at -2, while Cronje is T-12 at -1 and Miya resides in a tie for 16th at E.
As a team, UTA finished with its best round of the season – and its first under-par showing as well – with the 2-under 286. That allowed the Mavericks to move from a three-way tie for 7th at +10 after the 1st round to sole possession of 6th place at +8 with one round remaining Tuesday.
Rice leads the 11-team field at -15, six shots clear of 2nd-place South Alabama – the only two teams in the field under par. The Mavs opened up a six-shot gap on 7th-place UT Rio Grande Valley (+14), and find themselves just one back of 5th-place Louisiana, four of 4th-place Stephen F. Austin (+4) and eight of 3rd-place Texas State (E).
UTA SCORES
Team
6) UT Arlington: 298-286: 584 (+8)
Lineup
T-7) Zak Jones: 71-71: 142 (-2)
T-12) Daniel Cronje: 74-69-143 (-1)
T-16) Hiroki Miya: 75-69: 144 (E)
T-51) Trent Griessel: 78-77: 155 (+11)
T-58) Caleb Hicks: 80-79: 159 (+15)
T-51) (Ind.)
Alberto Menacho: 79-76: 155 (+11)
INSIDE THE SCORES
JONES
For the second-consecutive day, Jones opened with a bogey on the par-4 1st, but like he did on Sunday, the grad student bounced back to get into the clubhouse in red figures. Sitting at +2 heading to the par-5 6th, Jones birdied the 566-yard hole and then made six-straight pars before carding an eagle on the 584-yard, par-5 13th to move to -1. After closing with five more pars, the Spring, Texas, native continued his hot play with a third-straight performance at, or below, par, dating back to last week.
CRONJE
The South African bogeyed his 2nd hole, but after that registered a clean card and took advantage of the par 5s brilliantly. Cronje birdied all four of the par 5s on the course – the 6th, 9th, 10th and 13th – and carded nothing else but pars after the 2nd hole en route to his first round in the 60s this year.
MIYA
Miya got off a slow start at +2 through eight holes thanks to a pair of bogeys and six pars. However, from there the New Zealand native found another gear and rolled in five birdies over his final 10 holes for a flawless closing stretch to move from +2 to -3 and a season-low 69. Four of those birdies came in a five-hole stretch from the 9th to the 13th, including three in a row on the 9th, 10th and 11th.
GRIESSEL
For the second day in a row, Griessel was the lone Mav to birdie the 1st hole. After a double bogey on the 3rd and bogeys on the 7th and 8th, he birdied the 9th to post a front-side 2-over 38. The sophomore – making his season debut this week – birdied the par-3 12th and par-4 16th, but couldn't overcome a trio of bogeys and another double on the back.
HICKS
Entering the tournament with his worst round of the year being a 74, Hicks uncharacteristically followed up an opening-round 80 with a 2nd-round 79. The Arlington native came into the week with a team-leading four par-or-better rounds and an average score below par at 71.33 (-0.17 versus par) in six rounds this year, but for a second-straight day made just one birdie.
MENACHO
Competing as an individual, Menacho went out in +4 before getting one of those back with a birdie on the 10th. He made two more bogeys on the back before finishing his day with UTA's lone birdie of the round on the 503-yard, par-4 18th.
THIS AND THAT
The tight-fairway Tempest GC is currently ranked as the No. 2 best course in Texas … after playing the par 5s at +3 in the 1st round, UTA collectively played them at -8 in the 2nd round … the round of 286 was the 3rd-best in the field on Monday (Rice: 280, South Alabama: 282) … Cronje and Jones are both tied for 5th in the field in par-5 scoring at -4 (4.50) through two rounds.
NEXT UP
The final round of the 54-hole tournament is scheduled to take place on Tuesday. Tee times/pairing and live scoring will once again be available through
Golfstat by clicking here.
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: @UTAMavsMGolf 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 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.
