MONTGOMERY, Texas – On the strength of an opening-round 67, Paul Gonzalez sits in a tie for 2nd place after 36 holes of the Bayou City Collegiate Classic from Walden on Lake Conroe Golf Club on Monday to lead the UT Arlington men's golf team.
 
Gonzalez sits at -2 through two rounds as an afternoon 2nd-round 75 dropped from the top spot on the leaderboard after round 1 into a two-way tie for 2nd, just three shots back of FAU's Alex Maguire. The senior is one of just four players in the 90+ player field under par heading into Tuesday's final round.
 
Playing on the same course it won Sam Houston's Bearkat Invitational almost exactly one year ago, UTA posted rounds of 302 and 301 and resides in sole possession of 9th place at +27. The Mavericks were forced to play with just four members and utilize those scores after Zak Jones was forced to withdraw. FAU and one of the tri-hosts this week, Sam Houston, leads the 16-team field at +11.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
9) UT Arlington: 302-301: 603 (+27)
 
Lineup
T-2) Paul Gonzalez: 67-75: 142 (-2)
T-30) Caleb Hicks: 76-74: 150 (+6)
T-55) Kyle Cox: 79-76: 155 (+11)
T-57) Hiroki Miya: 80-76: 156 (+12)
N/A) Zak Jones: WD
 
INSIDE THE SCORES

• Gonzalez
  Had the lead after the opening 18 of the day thanks to a strong close to his 1st round. Gonzalez sat at -1 through 11 holes, but birdies on four of his final seven holes yielded his best round of the spring. In the 2nd round, he opened and closed with a bogey with only a double and a birdie in-between as he carded 14 pars.
   
• Hicks
  An uneven scorecard is exactly what Hicks ended up with in the 1st round as he signed for eight bogeys, six pars and four birdies. He commenced his 2nd round with three birdies in the first four holes – a stretch which also featured a bogey – but after that was only able to make one more birdie.
   
• Cox
  In his 1st round, he rolled in three birdies but couldn't over a trio of big numbers en route to his second-worst round of the season. He settled down a bit in the 2nd round with three more birdies, but a pair of consecutive doubles early in his round were too much to overcome despite two closing birdies.
   
• Miya
  His day got off to an inauspicious start with a triple on the par-4 7th in the shotgun format, and he wasn't able to recover despite registering three birdies. In round 2, Miya posted nothing higher than a bogey, but was only able to muster one birdie, and that came on the par-4 13th.

THIS AND THAT
UTA ranks in the top 5 in the field in par-3 (3.25, 4th), par-4 (4.30 (5th) and par-5 (4.95, 5th) scoring average … Gonzalez led the charge for UTA on the par 3s and par 4s as he is tied for 5th in par-3 average (3.00) and tied for 2nd in par-4 average (3.94) … Cox is tied for the field lead in par-5 scoring average at 4.60 … Hicks registered eight birdies on the day, tied for the 3rd-most in the field … Gonzalez's 25 pars lead the team and are tied for the 7th-most in the field.
 
NEXT UP
The final round takes place on Tuesday, Apr. 12. UTA is scheduled to start off the 10th hole with tee times commencing at 8:30 a.m.
 
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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.