LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – On a brutal scoring day in which every team was over par at Chenal Country Club, the UT Arlington men's golf team moved up the leaderboard in Tuesday's final round at the Little Rock Invitational.
 
UTA finished in sole possession of 10th place with an 895 total, and were led by Hiroki Miya (T-14, +1) and Daniel Cronje (T-17, +2) who both registered season-best placements. Cronje paced the Mavericks in the final round with a 1-over 73 – incredibly more than four shots below the field scoring average for the day of 77.20.
 
Behind a +5 closing round, Southern Mississippi won the 16-team event with an 865 (+1) total, four strokes clear of VCU (869, +5). Those were the only two programs to finish single digits over par for the week as the par-72, 7,115-yard layout in the western outskirts of Little Rock proved to be extremely challenging.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
10) UT Arlington: 295-295-305: 895 (+31)
 
Lineup
T-14) Hiroki Miya: 68-70-79: 217 (+1)
T-17) Daniel Cronje: 71-74-73: 218 (+2)
T-37) Caleb Hicks: 75-76-74: 225 (+9)
T-75) Zak Jones: 81-75-79: 235 (+19)
88) Trent Griessel: 83-81-81: 245 (+29)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
MIYA
Entering the final round looking for his first-career medalist honor, Miya began the day at -6 and just two shots off the lead. However, a tough stretch to end his front 9 – the course's back 9 – in which he played holes 16, 17 and 18 collectively in +6 proved to be too much to overcome. The New Zealander's only birdie of the round came on the par-5 1st en route to the 79. Still, the T-14 showing is his best of the year, bettering a T-15 set last week at the Tempest Collegiate.
 
CRONJE
The South African put the best round of the day on the board for UTA with the 73. He rolled in a team-high three birdies – on the 5th, 9th and 13th holes – and made nothing worse than a bogey. His birdie on the par-4, 441-yard 5th was one of only seven made by the 90 players in the field on Tuesday. The T-17 also bests his previous finish this year (T-24 at the Tempest Collegiate), and the 218 54-hole total is also Cronje's lowest of the season.
 
HICKS
Hicks moved up 14 spots on the leaderboard Tuesday thanks to the round of 74. Like Cronje, he did not put anything on his card worse than a bogey. The Arlington native's only birdie occurred on the par-5 16th, but he led the Mavs with 14 pars.
 
JONES
Jones made a couple of birdies, but a pair of big numbers derailed what otherwise would have been a relatively clean round as he posted a 79.
 
GRIESSEL
Griessel also put a couple of big numbers on his card and couldn't get much momentum going as he signed for an 81.
 
THIS AND THAT
Only two holes for the day played under par, both par 5s – the 1st (-0.12 to par) and the 9th (-0.26 to par) … scoring average for the field for the week was 75.49 … Cronje tied for 6th in the field in total pars for the week with 36 … as a team, UTA placed 2nd in the field in pars with 162.
 
NEXT UP
The Mavs will finally have some time off after a demanding fall slate as this completed their fourth tournament in as many weeks. UTA will travel to Waco for the Second Annual Bear Brawl hosted by Baylor on Halloween, Oct. 31, for just a one-day, 36-hole event to conclude the fall docket.
 
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.