PHOENIX – Led by a pair of standout rounds of 67 from Arran Kanth, the UT Arlington men's golf team recorded a season-best round and resides in a tie for 7th place – just nine shots out of 2nd – following the opening day of action Tuesday at the GCU Invitational from Grand Canyon University Golf Course.
 
UTA started the day with a 4-over 288, but that total actually represented its best 1st round of the season by two strokes. A 2nd-round, 6-under 278 was three shots better than any previous round by the Mavs this year as all four counting scores were at, or under, par, paced by Kanth's -4.
 
Kanth's pair of 67s are one stroke better than a pair of 68s he had earlier this year to establish a new season low as the grad transfer resides in a tie for 3rd place on the overall leaderboard at -8. Grand Canyon's Tommaso Zorzetto leads the 93-player field at -12 entering Wednesday's final round.
 
Host GCU also leads the 16-team leaderboard at -22, 11 strokes clear of Cal State Fullerton (-11) and 12 ahead of Washington State (-10).
 
LINEUP
T-3) Arran Kanth: 67-67: 134 (-8)
T-39) Daniel Cronje: 73-70: 143 (+1)
T-49) Cameron Beck: 74-70: 142 (+2)
T-51) Hiroki Miya: 74-71: 145 (+3)
T-72) Ethan Miller: 75-73: 148 (+6)
 
TEAM
T-7) UTA: 288-278: 566 (-2)
 
INSIDE THE SCORES
KANTH
1st Round: He began his day with a par on the 4th hole and was off and running. The Englishman rolled in birdies on the 6th and 8th holes before making another at the 10th to get to -3. A bogey on the 11th dropped him back to -2, but two more birdies on his inward nine – the par-4 13th and par-4 3rd – pushed him to a 4-under 67, which was one shy of matching his career low.
 
2nd Round: Kanth commenced his 2nd round with a birdie to set the tone immediately. After five-straight pars he notched an eagle on the par-5 10th to move to -3. A bogey on the 12th set him back to -2, but the grad transfer bounced back brilliantly with three-consecutive birdies from holes 13-15 to get all the way to -5. A bogey on the par-5 18th dropped him to -4, but three pars to close yielded a second-straight 67.
 
CRONJE
1st Round: The South African recorded three-straight pars on 5, 6 and 7 to get his day going, but was met abruptly with a double bogey on the 8th. That was his only big number of the round, though, as Cronje responded with two birdies and two bogeys the rest of the way en route to the 73.
 
2nd Round: Cronje sat at +2 after only three holes as a result of two bogeys on the 6th and 7th holes. However, he rebounded emphatically as he turned to the course's back nine with birdies on 10, 11 and 13 to get into red figures. Another birdie on the 18th moved his scorecard to -2, but he dropped back to Even following a double bogey on the 2nd but capped his day with a birdie on 4th.
 
MILLER
1st Round: Miller started and ended his round with a bogey on the par-4 6th and 5th holes. In-between, the grad transfer made nothing worse than a bogey – of which he had three – and carded a birdie on the par-4 16th to produce the round of 75.
 
2nd Round: Following four pars in a row to open his 2nd round, Miller put a birdie on his card on the 10th and remained at -1 through seven holes. Over the next seven holes the Kansas State grad transfer notched two birdies, two pars but three bogeys to sit at level par with four holes to play. A birdie on the 3rd served as a partial bounce back from a double on the 2nd, but a closing bogey on the 5th capped his round of 73.
 
BECK
1st Round: Making his spring debut, Beck signed for an opening-round scorecard that featured every number from a '2' to a '7' as the sophomore made five birdies, but also registered four bogeys and a quadruple bogey on the par-3 2nd which resulted in a round of 3-over 74.
 
2nd Round: Beck resided at +2 after six holes, but settled down nicely and thanks to birdies on the 13th and 17th he made the turn to the 1st at Even. A bogey on the 2nd dipped him to +1, but back-to-back birdies on the 3rd and 4th and closing pars on 5th and 6th propelled the Mansfield native to a season-best round of 70 – his first in red figures this year.
 
MIYA
1st Round: Miya started his day with a bogey on the par-3 8th and made a double at the 9th to sit at +3 after only two holes. However, he got two of those strokes back with birdies on the 10th and 13th holes. The New Zealand product gave one back on the 14th and made the turn to the course's opening hole at +2. There, he played his final seven holes in +1 to post the round of 74.
 
2nd Round: Miya made consecutive bogeys on the 11th and 12th holes, but otherwise made nothing but pars until a birdie 3 on the 4th hole, and he backed it up with another birdie on the 5th hole to get back to Even which is where he finished. NEXT UP
The final round will take place on Wednesday, beginning with another shotgun start at 10 a.m. CT (8 local). Live scoring will be available via Golf Genius.
 
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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.