PHOENIX – Kyle Cox claimed medalist honors with a 1st-place, near-program-record finish of 11-under par, and the UT Arlington men's golf team posted a 3rd-place, top-5 all-time program performance as the Mavericks shot a 13-under score at the Grand Canyon Invitational from the GCU Championship Golf Course.
 
Cox capped three-straight rounds in the 60s with a final-round 3-under 68 to earn his second-career win at the collegiate level by two strokes over Fresno State's Michael Cliff (-9). Cox opened his tournament with a career-best 66 on the par-71 layout before backing it up with consecutive 68s – which was his career-low round entering this week.
 
The 202 total for Cox was just one shot shy of tying the all-time 54-hole program record of 201 set by Zack Reeves at the 2007 Turtle Bay Resort Collegiate Invitational. Cox joins Tanner Gore in a tie for 2nd place as Gore also recorded a 202 total at the 2019 Redhawk Invitational from Chambers Bay.
 
Play from the 2nd round was suspended due to darkness on Monday with most players having three-four holes remaining to conclude play Tuesday morning. Cox – who slept on a two-shot overnight lead at -8 – incredibly started the final round two shots back as GCU's Matthew Braley woke up Tuesday and closed his 2nd round birdie-eagle-birdie to catapult from -6 to -10 and overtake the individual lead. However, Cox still commenced the final 18 holes with a two-shot cushion over a trio of other competitors in the 120-player field.
 
However, a near flawless final round from the Carrollton native propelled Cox to medalist honors as he rolled in four birdies and made just one bogey on an otherwise clean scorecard, which was accentuated with a closing birdie on the 640-yard par-5 3rd hole in the shotgun format.
 
When play resumed around 7:15 a.m. local time on Tuesday, UTA resided in a tie for 4th place at -7. The Mavs dew swept their way to picking up four more shots to leap into sole possession of 2nd place at -11, nine shots back of Grand Canyon (-20).
 
UTA closed the gap during the final round and got within striking distance to potentially overtake the Lopes, but the hosts held on with a final score of -18, four shots ahead of Fresno State (-14) with UTA in 3rd at -13. The Mavs finished four strokes clear of TCU (-9) as the Bulldogs, Mavs and Horned Frogs were the only squads in the 23-team field to shoot under par all three rounds.
 
The 839 total for UTA represents the 4th-best 54-hole score in program history, bested only by an 823 at the 2007 Turtle Bay Resort Collegiate Invitational, an 835 at the 2007 Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate and an 837 at the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Championship.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
3) UT Arlington: 279-278-282: 839 (-13)
 
Lineup
1) Kyle Cox: 66-68-68: 202 (-11)
T-10) Caleb Hicks: 70-71-69: 210 (-3)
T-21) Zak Jones: 71-69-72: 212 (-1)
T-46) Daniel Steinarsson: 72-70-74: 216 (+3)
T-86) Paul Gonzalez: 74-75-73: 222 (+9)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
 
Cox

• Cox had holes 1, 2 and 3 to play in the morning to conclude his 2nd round. He opened with a bogey, followed it up with a par and then finished with a birdie to sign for the 3-under round.
   
• In the final round he recorded the aforementioned quartet of birdies on holes 6, 10, 18 and 3, with the lone bogey coming on the 5th – his second hole of the day.

Hicks

• Hicks capped his 2nd round at even par due to an unfortunate closing bogey on the par-4 4th. Still, the round of 71 was his eighth par-or-better round of the season.
   
• He added his ninth such performance in the final round thanks to a 2-under 69 which featured four birdies and two bogeys.

Jones

• Jones woke up in a tie for 38th, but birdies on each of his three holes in the morning – the 3rd, 4th and 5th moved him from +1 to -2 and into a tie for 16th – a jump of 22 positions on the leaderboard.
   
• He leveled off a bit in the final round with a 72, but didn't put anything higher than a bogey on his card.

Steinarsson

• Had his card at +1 with four holes to play Tuesday morning, but carded back-to-back birdies on holes 3 and 4 to slide into red figures for the 2nd round at -1.
   
• After starting his final round 3-over through two holes, an eagle on the par-5 10th erased two of those strokes, but he was only able to add one more birdie on the par-5 18th en route to a +3 day.

Gonzalez

• Closed his 2nd round with a pair of pars and a birdie on the par-5 3rd to make up a stroke and post the 75.
   
• Avoided a double for the first round of the event, but still couldn't get much going on Tuesday with a trio of birdies being offset and then some with a quintet of bogeys en route to an uncharacteristic showing.

THIS AND THAT
Cox's previous medalist honor also came by two shots as part of a team victory at Sam Houston's Bearkat Invitational last April with rounds of 70-71-69: 210 (-6) … Gonzalez's trio of birdies bring his career total to 394; on Monday, he surpassed the previous all-time program record of 387 held by Bobby Massa from 2007-10 … Cox rolled in two eagles on Monday to give him 14 for his career, moving him into a tie atop the all-time program record list along with Cash Wilkerson from 2011-15 … UTA led the field in par-5 scoring (4.40, -27) … the Mavs' 56 birdies were the 3rd-most in the field, and their three eagles were tied for 2nd … Cox led the field in par-5 scoring (4.11, -8) and was tied for 3rd in par-3 scoring (2.83, -2) … Jones tied for 5th in the field with 14 birdies, which led UTA.
 
NEXT UP
UTA faces a quick turnaround as the Mavs head to the Big Texan Invitational hosted by UTRGV in Kerrville next Monday and Tuesday, Mar. 21-22, from Comanche Trace GC.
 
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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.