(DAHLONEGA) – The No. 1 University of North Georgia men’s golf team had three players named to the 2024 PING Southeast All-Region by the Golf Coaches Association of America as announced by the association Wednesday night.
Graduate students Will Chambless and Jack Vajda joined junior teammate Ethan Day as the all-region honorees this year.
With three all-region selections, UNG and Lincoln Memorial led the way with the most honorees from the southeast region. The Nighthawks were the only Peach Belt Conference school with more than two honorees in this year’s pool.
Chambless, Vajda and Day have helped lead UNG to what has already been one of the best seasons in program history. In 12 tournaments this year, the Nighthawks have finished third or better 11 times. They’ve won six different tournaments, by far the most in a single season in program history. That achievement includes winning the PBC Championship and South/Southeast Regional for the first time in school history.
Chambless, a Macon, Ga. native, has helped the Nighthawks with four top-10 finishes in the 2024 season. In three of those tournaments, Chambless finished in the top-5 including at the GCSU Bobcat Invitational in mid March which he won with individual medalist honors after shooting two-under-par.
In a team loaded with talent from a number of juniors, Day has led the way for his class with three top-10 finishes on the season. He made UNG history with a thirteen-under performance in the Cateechee Fall Invitational at Cateechee Golf Club back in October.
It was there that Day carded back-to-back six-under rounds of 65 in the first two rounds of the tournament. Each round enters the Nighthawk record book in a tie for the second lowest 18-hole score in program history. Adding a one-under 70 in his final round, Day finished the tournament in second place at 13-under, breaking the program’s 54-hole scoring record previously set back in 2016.
For Vajda, he’s in the midst of one of the best seasons among any individual golfer in the country. The Canton, Ga. native has finished in the top-10 in a whopping seven different events this year. He’s earned individual medalist honors three times, once coming in the regular season at the Tennessee River Rumble in late March.
Two of Vajda’s wins have come in back-to-back events in the postseason. First, he earned individual medalist honors at the 2024 PBC Championship after finishing at 12-under-par, five shots ahead of the next closest competitor.
His wire-to-wire win and 54-hole score of 206 strokes was the second-lowest individual score in PBC tournament history. It was also the second-lowest 54-hole score in UNG men’s golf history, one shot shy Day’s performance at the Cateechee Fall Invitational.
With back-to-back rounds of 66 in the opening two days, Vajda also made history with the third-lowest round in PBC Championship history. Those same performances tied the second-lowest individual round in Nighthawk history as well.
Just three weeks later, Vajda leveled the competition again in the 2024 NCAA South/Southeast Regional Tournament. With six birdies on the tournament’s final day, Vajda leaped from fourth to first place to record his third tournament win of the season. Tied with the clubhouse leader with only three holes to play, Vajda birdied the 16th hole at Chattahoochee Golf Club in Gainesville, Ga. to earn the individual medalist honors, ending with a 54-hole score of eight-under.
Vajda, Chambless and Day look to continue the stellar season for the Nighthawks in the 2024 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships at Orange County National Golf Club in Winter Garden, Fla. The 54-hole portion of the competition begins on Tuesday, May 21.
