EL DORADO, Ark. – In its final Sun Belt Conference Championship, the UT Arlington men's golf team got one step closer to its first-ever league title on Tuesday as the Mavericks held on to their 3rd-place position on the leaderboard at Mystic Creek to advance to Wednesday's match play to determine the 2022 Sun Belt Champion.
UTA moves on to a match play semifinal contest against Little Rock beginning at 8:30 a.m. off the 10th tee. With a win in the morning match, the Mavs will take on the winner of Georgia Southern and Georgia State in the other semifinal which will begin at the same time off the 1st tee.
Georgia Southern and Little Rock both tied for the top position after 54 holes of stroke play with identical 889 (+25) totals, but by virtue of a better final round (305 to 307), the Eagles earned the No. 1 seed in match play and will face their in-state rival from Atlanta as the Panthers held on to their No. 4 position with a final-round 304 for a 904 (+40) total.
The Mavs were threatened all throughout Tuesday's final round, but never wavered from their 3rd-place position on the leaderboard that they occupied following Sunday's 36 holes of action. UTA closed with a 306 to post a 900 (+36) total for the stroke play portion, good enough to advance to its second match play appearance in the Sun Belt Championship.
Storylines are abundant in match play as the UTA-Little Rock semifinal features two schools competing in their final Sun Belt Championship as they depart for the Western Athletic Conference and Ohio Valley Conference, respectively, on July 1. The Mavs entered the week ranked #114 in the Golfstat national rankings, while the Trojans came in as the highest-ranked Sun Belt team at #44.
The other semifinal features a renewal of one of the Sun Belt's most fierce rivalries. Georgia Southern was the 2nd-highest-ranked Sun Belt team at #46, while Georgia State punched above its conference-low ranking of #156 to reach match play.
The match play format is five players from each team competing head-to-head in five matches (UTA player makes a '4' on a hole, Little Rock player makes a '5' – UTA wins the hole). The first team to win three matches claims the victory and marches on to the Sun Belt Championship Final Match to play for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
Daniel Cronje helped propel UTA to that position thanks to a final-round 75 to finish as the low man for the Mavs in a tie for 8th overall for the week at +7. Medalist Evan White from Texas State was even for the three rounds, but every other player in the field posted at least +3 for the 54 holes on the relentless, 7,318-yard Mystic Creek layout.
UTA SCORES
Team
3) UT Arlington: 297-297-306: 900 (+36)
Lineup
T-8) Daniel Cronje: 75-73-75: 223 (+7)
T-16) Paul Gonzalez: 74-72-80: 226 (+10)
T-29) Caleb Hicks: 75-77-78: 230 (+14)
T-34) Kyle Cox: 81-75-75: 231 (+15)
T-34) Daniel Steinarsson: 73-80-78: 231 (+15)
INSIDE THE SCORES
Cronje
A strong round only featured one major blemish – a triple on the par-3 12th in which his re-tee plugged in the rear bunker and forced him to punch out sideways to avoid an even higher score. Otherwise, the South African made two birdies and two bogeys along with 13 pars en route to the +3 round which actually moved him up two spots from his 2nd-round position.
Gonzalez
Similar to Cronje, Gonzalez had one major slipup and it unfortunately came on the 1st hole as he made a triple on the par 5. However, he settled down with five-straight pars and from there made nothing worse than a bogey – of which he had six, with his lone birdie coming on the short par-4 11th.
Hicks
He also took on a triple, in addition to a double, on the front 9 to go along with seven pars in an otherwise clean beginning side. A back 9 was highlighted by a lengthy birdie on the par-3 12th and a closing birdie on the par-5 18th to help nearly offset a trio of bogeys.
Cox
The best round of the day along with Cronje for UTA belonged to Cox, who posted a brilliant front-side 34 with two birdies coming on the par-4 8th and par-4 9th – one of only three birdies on that hole by the field all day. However, the back 9 wasn't as favorable as he made a quintet of bogeys but still advanced up the leaderboard by nearly 10 positions with the 75.
Steinarsson
Rolled in a birdie on the long par-3 4th – the only birdie by a UTA player on that hole in the final round – but otherwise his front 9 featured six bogeys. The back side was much more stable as he also carded the team's lone birdie on the par-5 14th – one of just three birdies by the field on the 600-yard hole on Tuesday – and made a couple of bogeys en route to a 37.
THIS AND THAT
UTA led the field in par-4 scoring (4.20) for the week … the Mavs rolled in 39 birdies – tied for the 2nd-most in the field (Louisiana: 40) … UTA's 154 pars were the 4th-most in the field … Cronje tied for the field lead in par-4 scoring at exactly 4.00; Gonzalez was 5th alone at 4.07 … Gonzalez and Cronje both carded nine birdies to pace UTA and tie for 6th in the field … the final-round field scoring average of 77.33 was the highest of the week … the field played 36 holes on Sunday after tournament officials made the decision to move Monday's scheduled 2nd round to Sunday due to inclement weather.
MATCH PLAY INFO
Since the Sun Belt implemented match play to determine the conference champion in 2016, UTA had only advanced out of stroke play once – that coming back in 2018 when the Mavs dropped a 3-2 semifinal contest to Georgia Southern.
Live broadcast coverage will air on
ESPN+ for the semifinal match and the
final match. Additionally, Golfstat live scoring will be available for every hole
by clicking here.
Gallery: (4-26-2022) 2022 Sun Belt Championship Final Round (Stroke Play)
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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.
