NEWTON, Kansas – An eventful day for the UT Arlington men's golf team included a hole-in-one by
Ethan Miller, an eagle on a par 4 by
Daniel Cronje and yet another under-par performance overall as the Mavericks completed their final round on Tuesday from Wichita State's Grier Jones Shocker Invitational from Sand Creek Station Golf Course.
As a team, UTA posted a 4-under 284 to finish the event in sole possession of 6th place at 7-under 857. The Mavs, along with Seton Hall, had the biggest jump up the leaderboard in the final round of the 15 competing teams. Host Wichita State (-23) defended its home course to win by three strokes over the aforementioned-surging Pirates.
Hiroki Miya led UTA on the individual leaderboard as he registered a solo 10th (-7) following an even-par round of 72. Oklahoma State's Rayhan Thomas claimed medalist honors at -16 by four shots.
While Miya paced the Mavs for the week, it was Cronje (68) and
Arran Kanth (71) providing UTA's red numbers on Tuesday at -4 and -1, respectively. Cronje's par-4 eagle came on the 365-yard 9th hole, which also represented a walk off as he began his day on the 10th hole in the shotgun format.
As for Miller's ace, that occurred on the 161-yard 3rd hole using a 9 iron. It was his third ace in his lifetime, but just the first in competition.
"I was coming off a double bogey, so it was an important tee shot for me and I wanted to make sure I hit a great shot," Miller said. "The pin was in the back right, and I couldn't see the hole from the tee box. I hit a nice, smooth 9 iron directly at the flag, the ball bounced once and disappeared. My parents (Jonas and Chrissie) were up ahead at the green, and they lost their minds, which was how I knew the ball had gone in the hole."
UTA SCORES
Team
6) UT Arlington: 291-282-284: 857 (-7)
Lineup
10) Hiroki Miya: 70-67-72: 209 (-7)
T17) Daniel Cronje: 75-70-68: 213 (-3)
T27) Arran Kanth: 73-71-71: 215 (-1)
T56) Ethan Miller: 73-74-74: 221 (+5)
T80) Cameron Beck: 80-78-73: 231 (+15)
INSIDE THE SCORES
MIYA
Miya started his round on the 9th hole within two shots of the lead, and he was able to claw his way closer to the top of the leaderboard with three birdies in his first 10 holes to get to -10. However, the momentum stalled out with three bogeys over his final eight holes to produce a final-round 72 (E).
CRONJE
Cronje began his day on the 10th hole and recorded a birdie on the 11th to quickly move to -1. He was able to card another birdie on the par-5, 525-yard 16th hole – his seventh hole of the day – and rounded out his first 9 in 2-under. Making the turn, the South African continued his strong round with two more birdies on 4 and 5 to lower his score to -4 with four holes to play. He carded back-to-back bogeys on 7 and 8; however, on his last hole, the fifth year carded the aforementioned eagle to sign for a season-low 68.
KANTH
The Englishman coasted along with an extremely consistent scorecard which featured two birdies, a bogey and 15 pars to finish at 71 (-1) – his fifth under-par round of the year.
MILLER
The graduate transfer from Kansas State commenced his round on the 10th hole and got off to a rocky start with two doubles, two bogeys and just one birdie through his first 11 holes. Coming off a double on the par-5 2nd hole, Miller recorded the ace on the 3rd to go from +5 to +3 for the day, and made another birdie on the par-4 5th to finish with a respectable 74 (+2).
BECK
Beck began his day with seven-straight pars from holes 10-16, and parred 11 of the first 13 holes, with the only blemish being a bogey on the 17th. Still at +1 heading to the 4th hole, the Mansfield native made a birdie on the 600-yard, par-5 4th to get back to level and settled for a +1 round with two bogeys and one more birdie the rest of the way.
THIS AND THAT
UTA's three eagles for the week were tied with Rice and Abilene Christian for the most in the field … the Mavs also led the field with 180 pars, and ranked 5th in par-4 scoring average (4.08, +12) … Miya ranked 5th in par-4 scoring average with a 3.83 (-5).
NEXT UP
The Mavs will conclude their fall season with their third tournament in as many weeks at Little Rock's Everett Buick GMC Classic at the familiar Chenal Country Club Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 16-17.
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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 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.
