GAINESVILLE, Ga. – The No. 1 University of North Georgia men's golf team is prepared to host the 2024 NCAA Division II Men's Golf South/Southeast Regional at Chattahoochee Golf Club in Gainesville, Ga. this weekend. 

The regional tournament is one of four regional tournaments across the country taking place this weekend. Tee times range from 7:30 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. for three days beginning on Thursday, May 9. The three-round tournament concludes on Saturday, May 11. 

UNG has again partnered with the Greater Gainesville Sports Alliance (GGSA) to welcome 19 other teams and eight individuals to CGC which is hosting its third consecutive NCAA championship. 

The top five finishing teams and the top two student-athletes not with a team from the South/Southeast Regional will advance to the finals. The finals will be hosted May 21-25 at Orange County National Golf Center in Winter Garden, Fla. by Rollins College and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission as part of the 2024 NCAA Division II Spring Sports Festival.

The South/Southeast Regional features a loaded field this year. Fifteen of the top-25 teams and six top-10 teams from the Bushnell/Golfweek DII Coaches poll will make the trip to Gainesville this weekend. 

In the Southeast Region participant list alone there are eight top-25 teams, including UNG (No. 1), Lincoln Memorial (No. 2), Georgia Southwestern (No. 3) and USC Aiken (No. 7) who comprise a large chunk of the top-10. 

CGC, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., features 18 holes totaling 7,166 yards. It's a par-72 course and the longest hole on the layout is the 606-yard, par-5 14th. The course recently just underwent a $2 million renovation, restoring it back to its original layout from Jones Sr.

The last time the Nighthawks competed at CGC, they finished in second place out of an 18-team field in their own event; the 2nd Annual Mizuno Intercollegiate. No.2 Lincoln Memorial won that event with a team score of 837, 11 shots better than UNG. 

UNG enters its fourth consecutive NCAA Regional under head coach Bryson Worley after having one of the best regular seasons in program history.

In 11 events this year, the Nighthawks finished outside the top three just once. They won five tournaments, including the Peach Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in program history. 

It was in the PBC Tournament at Forest Hill Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. that the Nighthawks simply dominated the field. As a team, they won the event by 18 strokes, setting a PBC Tournament record along the way with a 54-hole team score of 846. Graduate student Jack Vajda earned medalist honors in the tournament finishing at 12-under-par, five shots better than the field. 

Vajda's 54-hole individual score of 206 marked the second-lowest score in PBC Tournament and UNG men's golf history. Vajda leads a group of five golfers competing for the Nighthawks this weekend. Fellow graduate student Will Chambless returns to the regional after a T57 finish in the same event a year ago. He is joined by juniors Hughes Threlkeld, Ethan Day and Myles Jones.

Last year, UNG finished fourth in the South/Southeast Regional at Grande Oaks Golf Club in Davie, Fla. to advance to the NCAA Division II Championship for the second consecutive season. They'll need to finish fifth or better again to make the trip to Orlando, Fla. this season. 

Spectators are permitted at the South/Southeast Regional this year. Spectators must remain on the cart paths or in the rough approximately 15 yards from the players. There may be no communication between players and spectators that could be deemed advice of any nature for the duration of the 18 holes.