KERRVILLE, Texas – The UT Arlington men's golf team completed the opening two rounds of play at The Big Texan Invitational on Monday from Comanche Trace GC.
 
Deviating from its standard team lineup, UTA is utilizing almost an entirely new quintet this week, and the Mavericks recorded rounds of 304 and 309 to reside in 12th place.
 
Individually, Daniel Cronje paced the Mavs as he signed for a one-over 73 in the 1st round and an even-par 72 in the 2nd round. Cronje is tied for 14th in the field at +1.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
12) UT Arlington: 304-309: 613 (+37)
 
Lineup
T-14) Daniel Cronje: 73-72: 145 (+1)
T-43) Alberto Menacho: 72-78: 150 (+6)
T-54) Trent Griessel: 79-78: 157 (+13)
T-59) Andrew Lindberg: 80-81: 161 (+17)
64) Jacob Massengale: 85-85: 170 (+26)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
Cronje

• A clean start to his 1st round had Cronje sitting at -1 after seven holes, but he bogeyed three of his next four holes. The South African birdied three of his last six holes, but a double bogey on the par-4 14th washed out two of those en route to the 73.
• In his 2nd round, Cronje got off to a quick start with a pair of birdies in his first three holes, but gave those back with a pair of bogeys all coming on the front side. Making the turn to the back, he rolled in nine-straight pars to conclude his day.

Menacho

• Starting on the 3rd hole, Menacho carded an eagle on the par-5 4th to quickly move his opening-round score to -2, but a string of bogeys pushed him all the way to +3. However, four birdies over a seven-hole stretch got him all the way back into red figures before a closing bogey on the par-4 2nd.
• Menacho made three birdies in his first seven holes, but also mixed in a pair or pars and two bogeys. However, a pair of big numbers on consecutive holes after making the turn to the back move his card over par and he wasn't able to recover. For the round, he had four birdies.

Griessel

• Playing in his second-career collegiate tournament, Griessel made two birdies in his opening round. He had nothing else on his card higher than a bogey, with the exception of a double on the par-5 7th.
• Griessel commenced his 2nd round with a birdie on the 5th, but was only able to record one more in his round. Once again he only had one big number on his card for the round.

Lindberg

• Lindberg was only +3 through 11 holes, but a stretch of five-over through four holes on the back nine pushed his card to the final +8 number for the 1st round.
• Unfortunately, Lindberg began his 2nd round with a triple and was never able to bounce back from it. He did register two birdies, including one on the par-4, 460-yard 16th which played as the 3rd-toughest hole of the day.

Massengale

• Massengale carded a pair of birdies – including UTA's only birdies of the 1st round on the par-4 5th and par-3 12th – but a trio of big numbers prevented his from gaining any ground.
• Back-to-back birdies on the 4th and 5th holes quickly moved him to -2 on his 2nd round, but several squares on his card the rest of the way was too much to overcome despite posting two more birdies to tie Menacho for the team lead in the 2nd round with four.

THIS AND THAT
Cronje has an even scoring average on par-3 holes through 36 holes, tied for the 5th-best in the field, and his 24 pars are tied for the 6th-most … Menacho has played the par 5s in -4 (4.50 scoring average) to tie for the 7th-best among all players …
 
NEXT UP
Final-round action is set to begin Tuesday morning at 8:30 with another shotgun start.
 
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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.