WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – Day one of the 2024 NCAA Men's Golf National Championship is complete and the No. 1 University of North Georgia men's golf team sits in seventh place at two-under-par as a team.
Difficult course conditions posed early challenges for the Nighthawks who struggled out of the gate. Strong winds and high temperatures made it difficult for many golfers to score well early. Despite the difficulties, UNG went three-under on the back nine to get back below par as a team.
"The biggest challenge is keeping the ball in play and putting it on the correct side of the fairway so that you can be aggressive into holes that you have a chance to be aggressive into," said head coach Bryson Worley after the round.
At two-under, the Nighthawks sit only five shots back of first place No. 6 Oklahoma Christian and No. 5 Colorado Christian who each carded seven-under rounds on day one.
Individually, Tony Tao of Cal State Monterey Bay had a shocking day with five birdies and two eagles to record an eight-under-par 63 and sit atop the individual leaderboard.
Sitting six shots behind Tao and at T12 overall is UNG graduate student Will Chambless.
Chambless had a very strong back nine after making the turn at one-over-par. He birdied three of his final five holes to shoot an opening-round 69 at two-under.
Junior Hughes Threlkeld also posted a 69 in his opening round to join Chambless in the seven-way tie in 12th place. Despite a bogey at the par-4 second hole, Threlkeld dropped birdies at holes 4, 8 and 11 before paring his way into the clubhouse for the two-under round.
Just behind Threlkeld and Chambless is junior Myles Jones. He sits in a 10-way tie for 29th, but just one shot back of his teammates at one-under.
Jones had three birdies on the difficult front nine and two on the back to help himself to a 71 on Tuesday. His three front-nine birdies were the most of any Nighthawk on the opening nine holes in round one.
Bringing up the rear in day one for UNG were junior Ethan day and grad student Jack Vajda.
Despite five birdies on the front nine, Vajda went bogey free in the final six holes of the day, which included a pair of birdies to improve his round to three-over.
While Day finished at four-over, he provided the layout on how to score at the short par-4 ninth hole. At 400 yards, Day took advantage of a down wind and front hole location to place his drive a mere 12 feet from the flag stick. He sank a sliding left-to-right putt for UNG's only eagle of the day.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 22, the Nighthawks will be among the first groups out on the golf course. Threlkeld leads his team with a 7:30 a.m. tee time. Worley hopes the early-morning round will bring a benefit to his team in the middle round of the competition.
"It's fortunate for us that we get to get off early before the wind kicks off in the afternoon, so we're looking forward to it again in the morning," said Worley.
Threlkeld is the first UNG golfer to go out at 7:30 a.m. while Chambless will represent the last car in the Nighthawk train with an 8:14 a.m. tee time.
