Finalists Announced for 2024 NCAA Division II Jack Nicklaus Award presented by Workday
NORMAN, Okla. - Five finalists have been named for the 2024 NCAA Division II Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award presented by Workday. They are Drew Coble of Grand Valley State, Adam Duncan of Colorado Christian, Leandro Mihaich of Oklahoma Christian, Sangha Park of UTPB, and Jack Vajda of North Georgia. The winner will be announced by Nicklaus on Tuesday, June 4 during his annual Memorial press conference with awards presented to each of the recipients by Nicklaus and Workday.
Coble almost went undefeated in March and finished no worse than eighth this spring under first-year head coach Gareth Lappin. The senior from Lake Orion, Mich., won three tournaments and captured a 3-1 match-play record this season en route to earning Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Player of the Year and March 2024 NCAA Division II SwingU College Player of the Month honors. Ranked fifth in the Scoreboard powered by Clippd National Rankings, Coble carded 27 rounds of par or better in 35 rounds with 14 rounds of 69 or better.
Looking to become Colorado Christian’s first Jack Nicklaus Award recipient, Duncan recorded 10 top-10 and six top-three finishes this season with wins at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championship and Las Vegas Desert Classic. The junior from Bakersfield, Calif., ranks fourth in the Scoreboard powered by Clippd National Rankings and led the Cougars to four victories and the second trip to the NCAA Championship in program history. 11 of Duncan’s 17 rounds this spring carded in the 60s and he is a two-time PING All-South Central Region honoree.
Mihaich transferred to Oklahoma Christian after being a PING Second-Team All-American last season at Oklahoma City (NAIA) and hasn’t missed a beat. The sophomore from Bell Ville, Argentina, won the Lone Star Conference (LSC) Championship and finished second at the South Central/West Regional en route to nine top-10 and seven top-five finishes this season. Ranked second in Scoreboard powered by Clippd’s National Rankings, Mihaich earned LSC Newcomer of the Year and First-Team All-LSC honors while leading the Eagles to their third straight NCAA Championship appearance.
Ranked first in Scoreboard powered by Clippd’s National Rankings for all but two weeks since 2024 began, Park enjoyed the most decorated season for a Falcon golfer in school history in 2023-24. The senior from Cheongju, South Korea, tallied 10 top-10 finishes, eight being inside the top five, in 11 tournaments with three victories this season. One of those wins was at the 92-player Dennis Rose Intercollegiate where he shot an opening-round 62 that broke his own school record and 11 birdies. Park produced an NCAA Division II-leading 69.1 adjusted scoring average in 32 rounds while becoming the first UTPB golfer to ever win Lone Star Conference (LSC) Player of the Year honors.
All three of Vajda’s wins and four of his seven top-10 finishes this season have come since March 26 for the top-ranked Nighthawks, skyrocketing from 100th to sixth in Scoreboard powered by Clippd’s National Rankings. The graduate student from Canton, Ga., won the Peach Belt Conference Championship by five strokes and the South/Southeast Regional by one with all six rounds coming in at 72 or below. Before his win at the Tennessee River Rumble, Vajda had finished under par in only two tournaments on the season with his highest finish being seventh at even par.
Coble, Duncan, Mihaich, and Vajda are competing next week at the 2024 NCAA Championship at Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge in Winter Garden, Fla.
Nicklaus, a Big Ten and NCAA Champion at Ohio State, helped inspire and create the Jack Nicklaus Award in 1988. The award is now presented to the National Player of the Year in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, as well as NAIA and NJCAA.
About the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday
The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday is held annually at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. The Tournament, founded and hosted by Jack Nicklaus, is conducted each year with three goals in mind: to honor the memory of individuals living and deceased who have distinguished themselves in the game of golf; to showcase the world’s best golfers competing on one of the most challenging venues in the world for the enjoyment of spectators; and to benefit many Greater Columbus Charities in alliance with the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation and numerous other local organizations. For more information, visit www.thememorialtournament.com or call 614-889-6700.
About Workday
Workday is a leading enterprise platform that helps organizations manage their most important assets – their people and money. The Workday platform is built with AI at the core to help customers elevate people, supercharge work, and move their business forever forward. Workday is used by more than 10,000 organizations around the world and across industries – from medium-sized businesses to more than 50% of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.