Norman, Okla -- North Georgia’s Ethan Day & Jack Vajda, and USC Aiken’s Erik Olin have been named PING Third-Team All-Americans by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) on Thursday. Georgia Southwestern’s Felipe Gomez & North Georgia’s Hunter Smith were previously named First-Team All Americans.
North Georgia’s Colby Bennett & Hughes Threlkeld, Georgia Southwestern’s Joao Costa & Nicolas Escobar, Columbus State’s Martin Gruendemann & USC Beaufort’s Erik Rengardt were also named PING All-American Honorable Mention.
Ethan Day and Jack Vajda were UNG's top scorers this season, led by Day who averaged 71.47 strokes over 36 rounds in all 12 events this year. The senior from Dalton, Ga. tied a team-high with five top 10 finishes on the year. He led the Nighthawks with 19 rounds under par this season. His best finishes of the year came in the fall when Day finished in second place at both the Bearcat Fall Invitational and the GSW Hurricane Invitational.
The only player to defeat Day at the Hurricane Invitational was his fellow teammate Vajda. The Canton, Ga. native etched himself into the UNG record books this year by becoming the winningest golfer in program history. With individual medalist honors at UNG's 3rd Annual Mizuno Intercollegiate, the Hurricane Invitational and the 2025 NCAA South/Southeast Regional (for the second straight year), Vajda capped off his Nighthawk career with a whopping six individual tournament victories. Vajda closed his career with a program-best stroke average of 71.59 over 66 rounds. He finished under par in 35 of those outings (53 percent) and recorded the second-most top 5 and top 10 finishes of any golfer in program history.
Erik Olin led USC Aiken in stroke average with 71.14 on the season, the third lowest in school history. The senior from Falsterbo, Sweden, posted six top 10 finishes, including four top 5 finishes. Olin finished second at both the PBC Championship and the Bobcat Invitational, along with third place finishes at the Bearcat Fall Invitational and the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate. For his career, Olin notched the second-best career scoring average in school history at 71.82 over 100 rounds.