WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – After a dramatic three-hole stretch in Thursday's final round of stroke play, the No. 1 University of North Georgia men's golf team has advanced to the match play stage of the 2024 NCAA Men's Golf National Championship at Orange County National Golf Center in Winter Garden, Fla.
The Nighthawks went six-under-par on the day and nine-under in the last three holes to sneak into the top-8 and medal match play bracket. They will face No. 20 Coker who had a rally of their own on day three, shooting five-under on the day to finish the stroke play portion in fourth place at six-under overall.
The two teams will compete in a medal match for the right to advance to the semifinals. The winner will play another 18-hole match later today against the winner of No. 1 West Florida and No. 8 West Texas A&M. By the end of the day, UNG will know whether or not it has secured a spot in the 2024 National Championship. They'll need two wins to get there.
All eight teams will compete in medal matches today. A "medal match" is when each match is scored by the cumulative number of strokes won by a player, rather than the number of holes won. "Up 3" means that the player is up by 3 strokes, not 3 holes. The player up by the most strokes after 18 holes wins the match.
Whichever player wins the match earns a point for his team. All matches are worth one point, ties are worth a half point. The winning team will be the first team to total three points in the overall match.
The Nighthawks matchups with the Cobras are as follows:
8:20 a.m. – Hughes Threlkeld vs. Killian Ryan
8:30 a.m. – Myles Jones vs. Derek McGlaughlin
8:40 a.m. – Jack Vajda vs. Aaron Teece
8:50 a.m. – Will Chambless vs. Caleb Tidd
9:00 a.m. – Noah Zediker vs. Jonathan Hallinger
A name that has only been seen in the UNG lineup three times since October has made another appearance for national championship match play in head coach Bryson Worley's lineup. Senior Noah Zediker, Worley's alternate for the championship, has been inserted into lineup for the first match play battle.
Zediker, a 2023-24 Peach Belt Conference All-Conference First Team Selection, had an outstanding fall portion for the Nighthawks. The Panama City, Fla. native finished in the top-10 in five events this season for UNG, all of which came during the fall portion of the season.
The Nighthawks only participate in five tournaments in the fall. Zediker finished top-10 in all of them and top-5 in three of them with a win at the McCoy Wright Currahee Invitational in late October.
Zediker's five top-10 finishes this year rank second on the team while his 71.77 strokes per round average ranks third among his teammates.
The most important appearance Zediker made this spring was in the second of two medal matches against No. 4 Grand Valley State back in early March. In an attempt to give their teams some experience with medal match play, the Nighthawks and Lakers squared off in a head-to-head match, formatted the exact same way as the medal match play portion of the NCAA Tournament.
It was there that Zediker competed in the second team match for UNG. The senior won his only match by three strokes, helping the Nighthawks to a team win.
Chambless and Threlkeld are the only other two XX competitors who competed in the medal match against GVSU that will play again today. Back in March, Chambless went 0-2 in his pair of matches with the Lakers while Threlkeld went 1-1 in his matches
Zediker, despite limited use in the spring portion of the season for Worley, is an extremely competitive golfer who excels at head-to-head matchups, particularly in match play. Worley is using his secret weapon early in the match play portion of the tournament.
Zediker will face All-South Atlantic Conference Second Team Selection Jonathan Hallinger today. Halling enters match play on the coattails of a T6 finish in the stroke play portion of the championship. The senior bookended his stroke play outing with two rounds of a three-under-par 68. His T6 finish was the best of any Cobra golfer this week.
Hallinger is not the only Coker player possessing a strong pedigree heading into the Friday matchup with the Nighthawks. The Cobras also have a pair of All-SAC Third Team selections competing today in Killian Ryan and Caleb Tidd.
Tidd went sub-70 in his final two rounds of the tournament including a three-under 68 on Thursday to finish T12 after the first three days.
Ryan, who will face Threlkeld in his first match, struggled in his stroke play output. He had just one sub-par round which came on day one with a one-under 70. He shot 72 and 73 in the final two rounds to finish T45 overall.
Coker and UNG have made themselves very familiar with each other already this year. Despite running away with the 2024 NCAA South/Southeast Regional Championship, the Nighthawks had the Cobras directly behind them in second place for the entirety of the tournament. Coker would finish second in the regional. It was their second runner-up finish in a postseason tournament this year after finishing behind No. 3 Lincoln Memorial in the South Atlantic Conference Championship.
West Florida and West Texas A&M, who which UNG will face the winner of should they get past the Cobras, will also begin their match at 8:20 a.m.
The Nighthawks start off of the 10th tee at the same, looking to continue a historic season.
