David Ford hit a wall. His North Carolina teammate has his back in taking The Hayt lead
David Ford didn’t want to admit he was tired – physically or mentally.
That’s okay. He’s got some dudes who have his back.
“My body feels good ... my mind feels good,” said the University of North Carolina junior, who played in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in the first two rounds, missed the cut, then drove to Ponte Vedra Beach to play in The Hayt, the University of North Florida's invitational tournament which began on Saturday. “Just some bad golf swings. I feel good.”
Counting practice rounds at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Ford was playing his sixth round of golf in as many days on Sunday at the Sawgrass Country Club and posted a 5-over 77 to finish last for the round among his teammates.
However, the rest of them did just fine. Graduate senior Austin Greaser shot 69, seniors Peter Fountain and Dylan Menante posted 71s and Ford’s twin brother Maxwell added a 72 as the Tar Heels, second in the Bushnell/Golfweek rankings, took the 36-hole lead at 4-under 572, three shots ahead of No. 21 Alabama and Ohio State.
Virginia is fourth at 7-over, followed by Louisville (15-over) and Duke (16-over).
Buckeyes' Adam Wallin, 'Bama's Canon Claycomb tied at the top
Ohio State senior Adam Wallin bogeyed the second hole, didn’t have another blemish and birdied the par-5 18th in posting his second 70 in a row to tie graduate senior Canon Claycomb of Alabama for first at 4-under 140. Claycomb birdied his last two holes for a 71.
Duke sophomore Ethan Evans birdied the last three holes to match Virginia’s Devin Patel for the day’s low round with a 68 and is tied for third with North Florida senior Robbie Higgins (71) and Louisville freshman Cooper Claycomb (70), the brother of Canon. Higgins two-putted for birdie from 12 feet at the last and Cooper Claycomb matched his brother’s two closing birdies.
The low North Carolina player was Greaser in a tie for sixth at 2-under with Patel and Ohio State’s Neal Shipley (73). But the Tar Heels were stacked up behind him with Menante and Fountain tying for 12th at even-par 144. David Ford is tied for 20th at 3-over and Maxwell Ford knocked seven shots off a first-round 79 and is tied for 42nd.
North Carolina coach Andrew DiBitetto said he wasn’t counting on David Ford to play this weekend, obviously hoping for the best for the 2023 ACC player of the year he tackled a PGA Tour Signature Event, courtesy of an exemption award to one member of the previous year’s Palmer Cup team, as voted by the players.
Ford started out well enough at Bay Hill, shooting 1-under 71. But he skyrocketed to an 83 in the second round and with DiBitetto’s blessing, Ford drove the 145 miles to the Sawgrass Country Club suited up and shot 70 in the first round.
“I didn’t think about it until it was time to make a decision,” Ford said. “I was pretty set on playing.”
But DiBitetto didn’t hesitate in putting a guy who’s been the team’s low player in 10 of the Tar Heels’ last 25 tournaments, with two victories and three seconds, back in the lineup.
“He and I had a conversation after he missed the cut [at Bay Hill] on Friday night,” DiBitetto said. “He was obviously disappointed with the way the second round went but it was a pretty easy conversation, and everyone was in agreement that the best thing for him was to get back on the horse and go compete again. We didn’t need to overthink anything.”
David Ford was playing Sawgrass for the first time
North Carolina didn’t have a team staff bag for Ford and DiBitteo had to cobble together a uniform. Ford also had never played Sawgrass but stepped on the brutish oceanside course on Saturday and had five birdies and three bogeys.
Ford triple-bogeyed the par-4 second hole on Sunday and then played the rest of his round at 1-over.
“He was great,” DiBitetto said of Ford’s first round. “He was playing the golf course blind. He just didn’t hit it great today but it’s a hard golf course. Knowing him, he’s going to get on the range, work really hard and he’ll be ready to go [Monday].”
Greaser said the Tar Heels, who have won eight tournaments in the past two seasons, reached the NCAA match-play semifinals after finishing first in the stroke-play qualifying and are the first NCAA team to have three Walker Cup members since 2013, have a deep enough team to overcome any one player have a tough day.
“The reason we’ve been playing so well and our ranking is so high is we just have so many guys who can go out and shoot really low numbers,” Greaser said. “David’s been our horse and it’s not like him to not have a good day. He’s played a lot of golf in the last week and he must be pretty tired but it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if he went out [in the final round] and shot really low.”
North Florida rallies from first round
The host Ospreys are tied for seventh with South Florida at 19-over but shaved seven shots off their first-round score. In addition to Higgins, senior Nick Gabrelcik shot 70 and is tied for 16th and freshman Chase Carroll (72) playing as an individual, is tied for ninth at 1-under 143.
There are seven players tied for first at one point in the second round and 13 players are within four shots of Wallin and Claycomb.
UNF coach Scott Schroeder would obviously love it if his team had a commanding lead but it appears the Ospreys' streak of five consecutive top-five finishes in their event (with one victory and two seconds) is in jeopardy.
The next best thing for the tournament, in its 32nd year, is a shootout at Sawgrass among several national powerhouses such as the Tar Heels, Crimson Tide and Buckeyes.
“It should be fun,” UNF coach Scott Schroeder said of the final round. “It’s way more fun to have a lot of people coming down the stretch and it makes the event that much more exciting.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Austin Greaser leads North Carolina to first through 36 holes of The Hayt
