David Ford No. 1 in Junior Golf Rankings

When David Ford parred the 72nd hole of the 2020 Rolex Tournament of Champions, he not only capped a seven-shot victory for his third AJGA Invitational win of the year, he most assuredly secured an ascent to the No. 1 spot in the national junior golf rankings.

In the days following that impressive win in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., that is exactly what transpired as Ford, who just weeks earlier signed to play at the University of North Carolina beginning in the fall of 2021, became the No. 1 Junior Boys player in the country in the Rolex AJGA, Golfweek and Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings.

"Becoming the number one-ranked junior player in the country has been a goal ever since I got serious about golf around age 14 or 15," says Ford. "It started as more of a dream that seemed far off, but as time went on I began to see myself improving and wanted it more and more until it became a goal and then a reality."

"David's rise and improvement have been remarkable," says Carolina head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "For our sport, it's also been pretty quick. There are many reasons for his development, but it comes down to his true passion for the game and the amount of time he devotes to his craft, as well as his self-belief."

Ford's climb, or sprint, to No. 1 began in earnest just a year ago. In 2018, he was ranked 75th in the Class of 2021 and a whopping 880th overall in the country. By the end of 2019, he was third in his class and 16th overall, and as 2020 draws to a close, he is holding down the top spot in the country.

"When we started recruiting David, he was ranked outside the top 50 in his class," says DiBitetto. "But when (assistant coach) Matt Clark and I saw him, you could tell he was different. He just walked different. There was so much energy and confidence. Also, most people get discouraged after a bad shot and have bad body language. David is the opposite. He bee-bops and bounces when he walks and I remember telling him early in the recruiting process that when he hits a bad shot, it's like his confidence rises and he bee-bops and bounces even more."

"To me, the main reason I've progressed so much over the past two years is my love for the game of golf," says Ford. "It's easy to work as hard as you can to improve at something you love, and it's even easier to work hard for it when you want it more than everyone else."

The senior at Rivers Academy in Alpharetta, Ga., parlayed a spectacular return to golf after the break in the schedule due to the pandemic to vault into the top spot in the rankings.

He fired a second-round 65 in June en route to winning the AJGA Invitational at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. He followed that title in the fall with a win at the AJGA Junior PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass, a third-place finish at the PING Invitational at Karsten Creek, another title at the Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational at the Country Club of Spartanburg and a dominant performance at the Rolex Tournament of Champions.

A left-hander from Peachtree Corners, Ga., Ford won the Junior PLAYERS by two strokes with a final-round 66, captured the Bobby Chapman title by getting up and down from the front bunker to win a three-way playoff, and blitzed the field with a 22-under-par 264 total in winning the Tournament of Champions.

"The biggest area of improvement for David in the last two years is his self-belief," says Chris Moore, his swing coach at the Atlanta Athletic Club. "There were signs, but a big turning point was winning an AJGA Junior All-Star qualifier in June 2018. He finished sixth or so in the tournament, then 12th in the next event, and then won the next one, holding off Maxwell (his identical mirror twin brother who signed with the University of Georgia) in the process. That set off a serious run of wins that fall and winter that really built his confidence.

"In 2019, the competition level for him stepped up and he responded. He didn't win as much, but he started to believe he could compete at the highest level of junior golf, and that belief was validated when he won following the restart in 2020 at Sedgefield, even without putting well. On the course, his putting, or his belief in his putting, has improved the most and allowed for some of those 69-71 rounds to turn into 65-67 rounds."

Ford won the E-Z-GO Vaughn Taylor Championship in 2019 and had top-10 finishes that year at the Press Thornton Future Masters (third in his age group), Callaway Golf/Ollie Schniederjans Junior Classic (fourth), Boys Junior PGA Championship (seventh), Rolex Tournament of Champions (seventh) and Jones Cup Junior Invitational (ninth). In 2018, he won that AJGA Junior All-Star event at Butte Creek in Chico, Calif.

Since returning to competition this year at Sedgefield, Ford has shot in the 60s in 10 of 16 rounds. But none of those were more spectacular than the third round of the Tournament of Champions in November when he made 10 birdies, no bogeys and shot 10-under 62, just a single stroke off the Fazio Course record at the PGA National Resort & Spa.

Ford amassed 1,117.08 points in the AJGA's 2020 standings, well clear of second-ranked Kelly Chinn, who signed with Duke, who has 623.24 points. Ford averaged 139.64 points per tournament, roughly 50 more per event than Chinn. Luke Potter of Encinitas, Calif., is third, but less than 10 points per event behind Chinn.

Golfweek ranks Ford first with a rating of 67.37. Chinn is next at 67.91 with Potter third at 67.97. Ford posted an overall record in 2020 of 613-30-11, including 88-15-6 against players in the top 25 and 270-21-6 against the top 100.

What's next for the high school senior?

"Over the next 12 months I want to make sure I have fun on the golf course every day," says the 2020 AJGA first-team All-America. "In every tournament I've won, I've never come close to playing the whole event with my 'A game'. So every time I win an event it shows I don't have to be playing my best in order to compete against some great players. It gives me something to look back on when my game doesn't feel amazing, and it reminds me that I don't need to have everything working perfectly."

DiBitetto is excited about the commitment and energy Ford has for helping Carolina compete at the highest level of collegiate golf.

"I do believe David can get better and will continue to get better. He's never satisfied. Even when he wins, he's always right back at it trying to figure out where he could have saved a shot or picked up another shot. He's also not focused on just himself. He regularly talks about winning with his teammates and bringing championships to Chapel Hill."

Moore says Ford is always looking to improve, a quality that bodes well not only for his time in Chapel Hill, but for years to follow.

"David's the total package on and off the course. He has a genuine passion and love for golf, people and life, and he puts everything he has into making every day better for himself and everyone around him. He always looks to improve. After he shot 63 to close out winning our club championship (with a 54-hole tournament record score of 19 under par), he said he needed to putt some more after the final round because he missed some he should've made. That's his mindset. He truly believes everything can always get better, and that he can help others improve while he is getting better."

Ford, who is actually a triplet with Maxwell and their sister, Abigail, says in addition to enjoying the game each time he steps on the course or range, his goal is to always win that next tournament and, eventually, help Carolina compete for national championships.

"I try not to get too caught up on the future, as difficult as that may be, and focus on winning the next event. I believe the Lord has blessed me with the tools to win every golf tournament I compete in, no matter what the circumstances. One of the goals that is always in the back of my mind, however, is to be better than Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Sam Snead, etc. If someone says Tiger Woods has worked harder than me, I tell them there's no way. If someone says I won't be better than Jack Nicklaus, I ask them why not. The people that tell me these things usually tell me it's too hard, so I just practice harder."

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