No. 1 Nighthawks Eyeing Match Play Ahead Of Final National Championship Stroke Play Round
WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – The No. 1 University of North Georgia men's golf team has its 2024 season on the line today as the Nighthawks sit at T11 in the 2024 NCAA Men's Golf National Championship ahead of the final round of stroke play on Thursday.
The top-8 teams after Thursday's final round will advance to the match play stage of the tournament for a chance to be crowned the 2024 National Champions. UNG has four opponents separating it between 11th place and the coveted top-8 spots.
The Nighthawks got off to a decent start in the tournament, shooting two-under as a team on day one. However, day two led to more struggles than Tuesday's opening round as UNG shot five-over as a team in the middle round of stroke play.
A highlight from Wednesday was graduate student Jack Vajda's round. The 2024 Jack Nicklaus Award Winner Finalist had the best round of any Nighthawk on Wednesday, carding an even-par 71 in the morning.
Vajda's round Wednesday comes as a performance in the right direction after shooting a three-over 74 on Tuesday. He had four birdies, three on the back nine, in his second round. Two of his back nine birdies came in the final five holes of the round after recording a birdie at the par-5 14th and 17th holes.
Vajda currently sits in a tie for 54th place after 36 holes at three-over. He tees off at 10:26 a.m. today in UNG's final round.
The leader for the Nighthawks thus far is junior Myles Jones.
Jones posted a pair of rounds in the 70s through the first two days of the National Championship. He followed a one-under 70 on Tuesday with a two-over 73 on Wednesday to sit at T37 and one-over in total for the tournament. Jones heads out to the 7,419-yard, par-71 Orange County National Golf Center at 10:59 a.m. today.
Before Jones will be junior Hughes Threlkeld who heads out at 10:48 a.m. Thursday morning. Threlkeld is at T46 on the leaderboard after going two-over in total through the first pair of rounds. He shot a four-over 75 on Wednesday but ended the day with a strong birdie at 17 to level the scoring.
Junior Ethan Day and graduate student Will Chambless will also look to launch their team back up the leaderboard on Thursday.
Chambles tees off at 10:37 a.m. after a five-over 76 on Wednesday brought him back to three-over-par overall for the championship. Chambless used a birdie at 17 before paring 18 to end his Wednesday round in good standing.
Day sits at T72 in the 100-plus player field as of right now. He shot a one-over 72 on Wednesday, adding to a tournament score of five-over. Day begins his final round of stroke play at 10:15 a.m. as the first Nighthawk to take to the course this morning.
No. 6 Oklahoma Christian leads the field right now at 16-under through the first 36 holes. The Eagles hold a nine shot lead over No. 9 West Florida and No. 5 Colorado Christian, who are tied for second at seven-under.
Separating the Nighthawks and a spot in the match play portion of the National Championship are No. 4 Grand Valley State (T7, one-over), No. 17 Henderson State (T9, four-over), Cal State Monterey Bay (T9, four-over) and Ferris State (T11, five-over). Despite trailing four spots from eighth place, UNG is only looking at a four-stroke deficit before play begins on Thursday.
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