GLADEWATER, Texas – The UT Arlington men's golf team concluded its third tournament in as many weeks on Tuesday with a 7th-place showing at Texas State's Tempest Collegiate from Tempest Golf Club.
 
Zak Jones and Hiroki Miya both carded rounds of 73 to lead the Mavericks in the final round. For Jones, it represented a career-best T-7 finish at -1 for the week, bettering a solo 14th showing back in 2019-20 as the highest in the graduate student's career.
 
UTA recorded a final-round 299 (+11) to post an 883 (+19) 54-hole total and register the aforementioned 7th-place finish – which is the Mavs' best of the still-young season – and 16 shots clear of 8th-place Incarnate Word (899, +35).
 
Texas State came from behind with a 7-under 281 final round to win its own event at -7 (857) by four shots over South Alabama (-3, 861). Rice entered the final round in 1st place at -15, but registered a 19-over 307 on Tuesday to fall all the way to +4 (868) for the week and into 3rd.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
7) UT Arlington: 298-286-299: 883 (+19)
 
Lineup
T-7) Zak Jones: 71-71-73: 215 (-1)
T-15) Hiroki Miya: 75-69-73: 217 (+1)
T-24) Daniel Cronje: 74-69-78: 221 (+5)
T-52) Caleb Hicks: 80-79-75: 234 (+18)
T-57) Trent Griessel: 78-77-83: 238 (+22)
54) (Ind.) Alberto Menacho: 79-76-80: 235 (+19)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
JONES
The Spring, Texas, native made two birdies and three bogeys on the front to post a 1-over 37. After a birdie on the par-5 9th, he carded nothing but pars on the way home to sign for the 73 – his fifth-straight round of 73 or lower dating back to last week.
 
MIYA
Miya posted a team-high-tying four birdies and, like Jones, didn't put anything higher on his scorecard than a bogey. The New Zealander canceled out two bogeys with a pair of birdies on the front, and rolled in two more birdies on the back along with a trio of bogeys to get into the clubhouse with the 73.
 
CRONJE
A birdie on the par-3 4th was his lone one of the day as the South African struggled to get anything else going. He entered the day at -1 after two rounds, and still sat at even par for the tournament heading to his closing 9, but ended up over par after the 78.
 
HICKS
After making just two total birdies in the first two rounds combined, Hicks equaled Miya's team-pacing total of four in the final round. However, the fifth-year made a pair of double bogeys to offset those birdies and a trio of other bogeys prevented a potentially low round. Still, the 75 was the best of the week for Hicks, who entered the tournament with nothing higher than a 74 in six rounds this year.
 
GRIESSEL
Griessel also made just one birdie, and two big numbers prevented a round in the 70s as he concluded his season-opening tournament with an 83.
 
MENACHO
Competing as an individual, Menacho was set back with a pair of doubles on the first eight holes, and was never able to get on track. His lone birdie – like Cronje – came on the 4th as he signed for an 80.
 
THIS AND THAT
The tight-fairway Tempest GC is currently ranked as the No. 2 best course in Texas … Miya finished the 54-hole event in a tie for 3rd in par-3 scoring at 2.83 (-2) … Jones ranked tied for 4th in par-4 scoring (4.07, +2) and tied for 5th in par-5 scoring (4.50, -6) … with 37 pars over the three days, Jones ranked tied for 6th in the field … Miya's 11 birdies also were tied for the 6th-most in the field … scoring was the hardest of the week on Tuesday as the field average was 75.94.
 
NEXT UP
The Mavs will make a trip out to Little Rock, Ark., for their sixth-straight appearance at Chenal Country Club as part of the Little Rock Invitational. Last season UTA finished 8th, and in the 2020-21 season Hicks posted his best career finish with a T-2 showing to lead the Mavs to a solo 3rd.
 
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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 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.