WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – After back-to-back 25-foot birdie putts from senior Noah Zediker and graduate student Will Chambless completed a shocking comeback victory on Friday, the No. 1 University of North Georgia men's golf team has advanced to the 2024 NCAA Division II Men's Golf National Championship match.
The Nighthawks will face No. 5 Colorado Christian beginning at 9:30 a.m. The Cougars have made it to the National Championship after finishing in sixth place in stroke play and defeating No. 16 Central Oklahoma and No. 6 Oklahoma Christian in the quarter and semi final matches. Colorado Christian defeated both opponents 4-1 in the match.
The UNG matchups against the Cougars are as follows:
9:30 a.m. – Hughes Threlkeld vs. Dylan Arthur
9:40 a.m. – Jack Vajda vs. Xavier Bighaus
9:50 a.m. – Myles Jones vs. Peyton Jones
10:00 a.m. – Noah Zediker vs. Bradley Mulder
10:10 a.m. – Will Chambless vs. Adam Duncan
Threlkeld enters today's National Championship match after shooting a four-over 75 in the semifinals against West Texas. Despite an above par round, Threlkeld proved his clutch ability with a late birdie at hole 15 followed by a par at 16 to take the lead in his match for the first time with two holes to play.
Vajda struggled in his semifinal match on Friday against the Buffs' best player this week. Despite shooting a two-under 69, Vajda lost the match by three strokes. He has shown significant improvement each day this week after shooting a three-over 74 on day one.
Jones has already served as a hero once this week. Yesterday, he came through with a clutch birdie at 17 to help in his match in a draw that ultimately played a large roll in UNG's win over West Texas.
Zediker, a senior with newfound playing time since the Nighthawks advanced to medal match play, starts today's match after sinking an improbable 25-foot, must-make putt for birdie on 18 to finish his match all square.
Chambless comes in having shot a three-under 68 to defeat the tournament's individual medalist Wyatt Provence by a single stroke. Chambless' birdie putt on 18 would be incorrectly characterized as something out of a movie. You couldn't make up his performance yesterday. The momentum may help him against Duncan on Saturday.
For both programs, this is their first ever appearance in the national championship. Not only is it the first appearance in the final match for both programs, this year marked the first time in either school's history that the team advanced to the match play stage of the tournament.
Colorado Christian entered the postseason as champions in the 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Within the RMAC, the Cougars dominated this year. Senior Dylan Arthur was named RMAC 2024 Golfer of the Year after finishing the season ranked fourth in the nation
Arthur struggled in the stroke play portion of the event, shooting a six-over in total and finishing the outing at six-over-par in three days. In match play, Arthur split his matches, shooting a three-over 74 in the first contest against Central Oklahoma and a one-under 72 against Oklahoma Christian
Meanwhile, freshman Bradley Muler and his 73.2 scoring average helped him become the RMAC Freshman of the Year and earn a spot on the RMAC All-Conference team.
Junior Xavier Bighaus was named RMAC First Team All-Conference at the end of the season and finished one-over at T29 in stroke play this week.
Junior Adam Duncan had the best performance of any Cougar in stroke play this week. He shot four-under over the three rounds and finished T10 on the individual leaderboard.
Tee times begin from Orange County National Golf Center with Threlkeld at 9:30 a.m. A first-ever National Championship is on the line for both programs. If the Nighthawks secure the win, it will serve as UNG's fourth national championship in athletics history.
