TUNICA, Miss. – Thanks to four under-par rounds from a quartet of different Mavericks, the UT Arlington men's golf team began its regular-season finale in strong form on Monday and reside in sole possession of 3rd place at the Tunica National Intercollegiate.
 
UTA posted rounds of 4-under 284 and 6-over 294 for a 2-over 578 total through 36 holes of action. The Mavs are just three shots out of 1st place, which is held by tournament host Arkansas State at 1-under 575. North Alabama (+1, 577) sits in 2nd place in the 12-team field at Tunica National; UTA has a five-shot lead over 4th-place Samford (+7, 583).
 
Caleb Hicks is tied for 7th overall at -1 following rounds of 69 and 74. While he represents UTA's best placement on the leaderboard, Cameron Beck (68), Hiroki Miya (71) and Zak Jones (71) all fired rounds under par to position the Mavs for their best 54-hole finish of the season in their final tune-up before the Western Athletic Conference Championship.
 
Final-round action is set for Tuesday. Pairings and tee times – in addition to scoring all day – will be available via Golfstat.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
3) UT Arlington: 284-294: 578 (+2)
 
Lineup
T-7) Caleb Hicks: 69-74: 143 (-1)
T-22) Hiroki Miya: 71-76: 147 (+3)
T-25) Zak Jones: 77-71: 148 (+4)
T-25) Cameron Beck: 68-80: 148 (+4)
T-34) Daniel Cronje: 76-73: 149 (+5)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
HICKS
1st Round (-3, 69): A bogey-free round which featured three birdies yielded Hicks's fourth round of the year in the 60s to match Cronje for the most on the team. The Arlington native put circles on his card on the 2nd, 12th and 16th holes to match his best opening-round score in now back-to-back tournaments.
2nd Round (+2, 74): As consistent as the 1st round was for Hicks, the 2nd was anything but as he carded an eagle, a double bogey, two birdies and four bogeys. After opening with a bogey on the 1st, he eagled the par-5 3rd before a birdie on the par-5 7th resulted in a 2-under 34 on the front side. However, a closing-nine 40 produced the round of 74.
 
MIYA
1st Round (-1, 71): Bookend bogeys on his opening hole and the closing 18th were the only blemishes for Miya. In-between, the New Zealand native birdied the par-4 5th and went back-to-back on the par-5 16th and par-4 17th. The showing was Miya's team-leading ninth under-par round this season.
2nd Round (+4, 76): An eventful front nine featured just one par as Miya rolled in three birdies but also had four bogeys and a double. The closing nine was much calmer, relatively, with just a pair of bogeys and a birdie on the par-4 12th.
 
JONES
1st Round (+5, 77): An up-and-down front nine was similar to Miya's 2nd round with only two pars, a pair of birdies and five holes of bogey or double. Like Miya, he settled down after the turn and played it in +1. In a testament to his consistent play this year, it marked the first time since the 1st round of the Trinity Forest Invitational on Oct. 2 that Jones's score was not used in the team total.
2nd Round (-1, 71): Sitting at +2 with six holes to play, Jones caught fire and birdied three of those closing opportunities – the par-3 13th, par-5 14th and 17th.
 
BECK
1st Round (-4, 68): A brilliant performance produced the freshman's best collegiate round. A clean front nine included a birdie on the 5th hole. Beck then put his drive on the par-4, 372-yard 10th hole to 46 holes and proceeded to drop that for an eagle. Another birdie on the par-3 11th quickly moved him to -4, which is where he would remain thanks to two more birdies that were offset by a pair of bogeys.
2nd Round (+8, 80): His 2nd round looked just as promising with a birdie on the par-4 1st, but quickly deteriorated with a stretch of bogeys and a couple of big numbers after making the turn.
 
CRONJE
1st Round (+4, 76): Cronje put nothing higher than a bogey on his card, and registered two birdies on his way to a 76.
2nd Round (+1, 73): The South African battled and nearly completely overcame a pair of double bogeys and a bogey on the front nine alone. Cronje dropped five birdies – on holes 3, 7, 10, 11 and 14 – and made just one bogey after the 9th hole.
 
THIS AND THAT
UTA ranks 2nd in the field in par-4 scoring (+18, 4.18), and 3rd in both par-3 scoring (+8, 3.20) and par-5 scoring (-11, 4.73) … the Mavs' 33 birdies are one behind A-State for the most in the field … Hicks played the par 5s in -5 (4.38) to tie for the 3rd best in the field … Beck is tied for 4th in par-3 scoring (E, 3.00)
 
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.
 
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