BOULDER CITY, Nev. – Looking to carry momentum over from a co-championship to conclude the regular season just a couple of weeks ago, the UT Arlington men's golf team recorded a 5-over round of 293 on Friday in the 1st round of the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Championship from Boulder Creek Golf Club.
 
Playing in his first conference tournament, true freshman Cameron Beck performed brilliantly for the Mavericks, firing a team-best round of 2-under 70 to pace UTA. However, he was the only UTA player in red figures on the day, but all four counting scores for the Mavs were 76 or lower.
 
Sam Houston posted -14 (274) and leads the 13-team field by three strokes over New Mexico State (-11, 277). Despite the +5 round by the Mavs which has them in sole possession of 10th place, UTA is only six shots out of the top 5 entering Saturday's 2nd round.
 
UTA SCORES
Team
10) UT Arlington: 293 (+5)
 
Lineup
T-12) Cameron Beck: 70 (-2)
T-33) Zak Jones: 73 (+1)
T-38) Hiroki Miya: 74 (+2)
T-49) Daniel Cronje: 76 (+4)
T-56) Caleb Hicks: 77 (+5)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
BECK (-2, 70)
The freshman started his first round out excellently as he recorded the lowest front-nine score of any Maverick with a 34 (-2). Beck got out to a troubling start on his back nine by recording a double on the 10th hole, but managed to fight back his last eight holes and recorded a birdie, bogey and an eagle on the massive 635-yard, par-5 16th hole.
 
JONES (+1, 73)
The graduate produced a solid start to his WAC Championship, carding no bogeys and a single birdie on the front nine. Jones, however, was unable to roll in any more birdies for the rest of the round. He finished his back nine with two bogeys to conclude his 1st round at 73. He was the only Maverick to not card a double or worse in the 1st round.
 
MIYA (+2, 74)
Miya was able to stay under control for his first nine, as he recorded two birdies and a bogey. Making the turn, the New Zealand native collected another birdie and two bogeys. With his final hole, however, Miya carded a double bogey on the par 4 to finish the day at 74.
 
CRONJE (+4, 76)
The South African started out smoothly recording a birdie, bogey and three pars through his first five holes. However, along with teammate Hicks, he recorded a quadruple bogey on the par-4 6th hole. He was able to card a birdie on the 9th hole to bring him to +3 making the turn. Cronje settled down and was able to record two bogeys and a birdie on the back nine to finish at 76 for the day.
 
HICKS (+5, 77)
Hicks started out his WAC Championship on fire recording an eagle at the par-5 2nd hole. But, the aforementioned quadruple bogey on the 6th hole quickly put the 5th year in a hole heading into the back nine. He was able to notch his first birdie, but three more bogeys caused him to slip even further, signing for a 77.
 
THIS AND THAT
UTA ranked 8th in par-4 scoring average (4.36), 3rd in par-3 scoring average (3.10) and 6th in par-5 scoring average (4.50) … the Mavs accounted for 2 of 18 eagles in the opening round with Beck and Hicks being responsible for those … additionally, the Mavs are tied for most pars in the tournament with 60.
 
NEXT UP
Tee times and pairings, when posted, along with live scoring for Saturday's 2nd round will be available via Golfstat.
 
FOLLOW THE MAVS SOCIALLY
For up-to-date news, photos and videos of the UTA men's golf program, follow us on Twitter: @UTAMavsMGolf, Instagram: @UTAMavsMGolf and Facebook: /UTAMavsMGolf.
 
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.