CANCUN, Mexico – Led by a pair of top-15 individual finishes, the UT Arlington men's golf team wrapped up its spring-opening event Wednesday with a final-round 300 en route to a 6th place showing at the Los Vaqueros Intercollegiate from Playa Paraiso Golf Club.
 
Arran Kanth paced the Mavericks with a closing 73 (+1) to move into a T-12 finish for the three rounds at 224 (+8). Daniel Cronje was just a stroke behind following a final round of 74 to tie for 14th overall at +9. His round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-4, 293-yard 13th hole.
 
The Mavs notched a final round of +12 to finish in sole possession of 6th place with a 54-hole total of 909 (+45). VCU won the nine-team event in Mexico hosted by UT Rio Grande Valley with an 869 (+5) score – nearly 20 strokes better than runner-ups UTEP and Lamar (888, +24).
 
LINEUP
T-12) Arran Kanth: 83-68-73: 224 (+8)
T-14) Daniel Cronje: 75-76-74: 225 (+9)
T-26) Ethan Miller: 80-73-76: 229 (+13)
T-30) Hiroki Miya: 77-77-77: 231: (+15)
T-49) Diego Nuno: 84-82-80: 246 (+30)
 
TEAM
6) UTA: 315-294-300: 909 (+45)
 
INDIVIDUAL
T-37) Shoichiro Kato: 75-78-81: 234 (+18)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
KANTH
In the shotgun format, Kanth started on the 13th hole and commenced his day with five-straight pars before a birdie on the 18th. He remained at -1 until a double bogey on the par-5 7th pushed him to +1, which is where he would finish after playing his final three holes birdie-par-bogey.
 
CRONJE
The South African started on the 14th hole and got his card to -3 with three birdies in a four-hole stretch on 17, 18 and 2. However, back-to-back bogeys on the 3rd and 4th dropped him to -1, and he fell to +4 after a second double bogey on the par-3 12th. He ended his round, and tournament, with the aforementioned eagle on the 13th.
 
MILLER
The grad transfer opened his day with a bogey on the 12th hole, but he put nothing worse than a square on his card all round. After rising to +3 on the day walking off the 4th green, he rolled in birdies on the 5th and 7th holes to get back to +1, but three bogeys over his final four holes pushed him to +4 for the round.
 
MIYA
Miya carded a third-straight 77 as a pair of double bogeys disrupted what was an otherwise clean round. One of those doubles came on the 14th hole after he commenced action on the 12th, but he got back to level thanks to birdies on the 18th and 5th holes. The New Zealand native sat at E with four holes remaining, but played those in +5 with three bogeys and a closing double.
 
NUNO
The true freshman competing in his first collegiate tournament got off to a tough start with a triple bogey on his opening 11th hole, but after that didn't make anything worse than a bogey. Unfortunately, his only birdie would come on the par-5 5th en route to the +8 round.
 
KATO
Competing as an individual, Kato got off to the opposite start as Nuno with a birdie on his opening 10th hole, but that would be his only one of the round. A pair of doubles in a five-hole period after that opening 3 pushed him over par, and he wasn't able to get any of the shots back.
 
THIS AND THAT
Kanth tied for the field lead in par-4 scoring average for the week with two others at 3.93 (-2) … Cronje was one of 10 players to record on eagle over the three rounds … Kanth tied for the 3rd-most birdies in the field with 13 … UTA lost ground on the par-5 14th hole in the final round as it played as the 2nd-easiest hole on the course at -0.06 to par, but the Mavs collectively totaled +3 … the field scoring average for the week was 76.64 – nearly five strokes over par.
 
NEXT UP
UTA will have a quick turnaround as the Mavs return stateside and head to Montgomery, Texas, to compete in Sam Houston's Bentwater Intercollegiate Feb. 12-13, from the Miller Course at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club.
 
FOLLOW THE MAVS SOCIALLY
For up-to-date news, photos and videos of the UTA men's golf program, follow us on X: @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 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.