David Ford Golfer Profile, Injury Update and 2027 Card Status
David Ford's 2026 split into two halves. A T13 at The American Express in January looked like a breakout, then an injury kept him off the PGA Tour for more than five months after the Valero Texas Open in April. He returned at the Biltmore Championship Asheville, missed the cut, and tied for third at the Bank of Utah Championship with a final-round 64.
Everything on this page is current as of October 5, 2026. It covers his scorecard, earnings, injury, bag and the math behind his 2027 card. I'm adding my own read, as a PGA-certified instructor, on what his strokes gained numbers say about his game.
Who is David Ford?
David Ford is an American golfer who turned professional in May 2025 after four years at the University of North Carolina. He's 24, stands 5 feet 8 inches and plays left-handed. His birthplace is Peachtree Corners, Georgia, and his PGA Tour profile lists the same town as the place he plays from. He earned his PGA Tour card by finishing No. 1 in the 2025 PGA Tour University Ranking, the third player to do it after Ludvig Åberg and Michael Thorbjornsen.
| Detail | Answer | How often it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 24 | Every September 14 |
| Birth date | September 14, 2002 | Never |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | Never |
| Plays | Left-handed | Never |
| Birthplace | Peachtree Corners, Georgia | Never |
| College | North Carolina, 2021 to 2025 | Never |
| Turned pro | May 2025 | Never |
| PGA Tour wins | 0 | After each win |
| Equipment sponsor | Titleist | At contract renewal |
| World ranking | 373rd | Every Monday |
| FedExCup Fall rank | 124th | After each Fall event |
David Ford's 2026 scorecard, event by event
Here's every PGA Tour start Ford has made in 2026, including the two FedExCup Fall events. A final column shows the gap between his best and worst round, which tells you how steady each week was.
| Event | Finish | Rounds | To par | Earnings | Best-to-worst spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sony Open in Hawaii | T50 | 66-68-72-70 | -4 | $22,404 | 6 |
| The American Express | T13 | 67-66-70-65 | -20 | $169,740 | 5 |
| Farmers Insurance Open | Missed cut | 72-73 | +1 | $0 | 1 |
| Cognizant Classic | T32 | 72-70-69-67 | -6 | $54,816 | 5 |
| Puerto Rico Open | T16 | 70-70-69-69 | -10 | $63,000 | 1 |
| THE PLAYERS Championship | Missed cut | 75-72 | +3 | $0 | 3 |
| Valspar Championship | T46 | 69-70-78-67 | E | $24,115 | 11 |
| Texas Children's Houston Open | Missed cut | 73-69 | +2 | $0 | 4 |
| Valero Texas Open | T59 | 68-73-72-73 | -2 | $22,050 | 5 |
| Biltmore Championship Asheville | Missed cut | 70-72 | E | $0 | 2 |
| Bank of Utah Championship | T3 | 65-67-65-64 | -23 | $354,000 | 3 |
The Valspar Championship was his loosest week. He shot 78 in round three and 67 in round four, an 11-shot swing.
Utah was his best. He posted 65, 67, 65 and 64 at Black Desert Resort for 23 under, which paid $354,000 and 163 FedExCup Fall points. Both of his career top 10s came at that event, because he also tied for third there in October 2025 behind winner Michael Brennan.
The Cognizant Classic gave him the strangest round of the year. He made a quadruple bogey on the 17th hole Thursday, then holed out for eagle on back-to-back holes and still signed for 72. Across all 36 rounds this season he averages 69.64, and 17 of them were in the 60s.
How much has David Ford earned?
David Ford has earned $1,029,523 in PGA Tour prize money across 27 career starts. He made $710,125 of that in 2026 and $319,398 in 2025. His biggest single check is the $354,000 he took home for tying third in Utah.
Spread across 2026's 11 starts, that works out to $64,557 per start and $101,446 per cut made. The PGA Tour ranks him 132nd on this year's money list.
Those numbers are prize money only. They skip his Titleist deal and any other endorsement income, and nobody outside his camp knows those figures. Prize money also comes before taxes, caddie pay and travel.
David Ford's injury history and return
Ford's body is the longest-running subplot of his career. He felt something pop in his back while lifting a carpet in early 2021, a few months before he started at North Carolina. He later said golf did more damage than the carpet did.
Back and left hip trouble followed him into college. In spring 2024 he finished outside the top 25 six times, and that summer he played just three individual events with a best finish of T24 at the Southern Amateur. He considered a redshirt year before his senior season, then won twice that fall and five times over the full 2024-25 season.
He rebuilt his routine around his body. Every day starts with water and stretching, and he caps how many balls he hits.
The 2026 layoff began after a T59 at the Valero Texas Open on April 5. Ford withdrew from the Zurich Classic later that month, pulled out of the Myrtle Beach Classic, and withdrew from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson after the Tour listed him in the field. His next start came at the Biltmore Championship Asheville on September 17.
PGA Tour's preview of Biltmore week said he was returning from an ankle injury, while the school's announcement and the Tour's field list called it undisclosed. I found no statement from Ford confirming a diagnosis, so "ankle" stays the Tour's report.
I'd treat that five-month gap as context for every 2026 number on this page. Thirty of his 36 rounds came before the layoff and six came after it. His first week back brought a missed cut, and his second brought the best finish of his season.
David Ford's world ranking and FedExCup position
David Ford ranks 373rd in the Official World Golf Ranking as of October 5, 2026, according to his PGA Tour profile. That number moves every Monday, so check the live list before you quote it. He turned pro at No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, so 373rd is a long way from where he started.
In the FedExCup he finished the 2026 regular season 154th with 128 points. After Utah he's 124th on the Fall list with 290 points.
What David Ford's stats say about his game
These are his 2026 PGA Tour numbers across 29 measured rounds, as of October 5. The Tour lists his values but leaves the rank column blank for most categories, so I'm not comparing him to named players.
| Stat (2026) | Number | What it tells me |
|---|---|---|
| Strokes gained: total | +0.421 per round | He beats the fields he plays by about four-tenths of a shot a round. |
| Strokes gained: off the tee | +0.446 | His entire edge. It's bigger than his total. |
| Strokes gained: approach | +0.149 | Slightly better than the field. |
| Strokes gained: around the green | -0.328 | The leak. That adds up to 9.5 shots lost over 29 rounds. |
| Strokes gained: putting | +0.155 | Better than the field, with 321 makes on 321 attempts from 3 feet. |
| Driving distance | 306.6 yards | Average on the 72 drives the Tour measures. Across all 398 drives he averages 293.5. |
| Club head speed | 117.08 mph | Comes from a 5-foot-8 frame. |
| Driving accuracy | 66.73% | 331 of 496 fairways. |
| Scrambling | 64.79% | Falls to 41.94% from 20 to 30 yards, on 13 of 31. |
| Sand saves | 46.43% | 26 of 56. |
Ford's game runs on the driver. He gains 0.446 strokes a round off the tee, which beats his 0.421 total. Approach, short game and putting combine for -0.024, so everything except driving nets out to roughly even.
The leak sits around the green, where he loses 0.328 strokes a round. His scrambling splits by distance show where it starts. He gets up and down 89.47 percent of the time inside 10 yards and 72.22 percent from 10 to 20 yards, then 41.94 percent from 20 to 30 and 28 percent from beyond 30.
My read as an instructor: he needs distance control on partial wedges from 20 to 40 yards. His 89 percent conversion inside 10 yards says the basic chipping motion works. His 46.43 percent sand-save rate puts bunkers second on the list.
His scoring average falls from 69.73 in round one to 67.86 in round four. Don't read that as clutch play. It covers 11 first rounds and only seven fourth rounds, and the four missed cuts mean only his good weeks reach Sunday.
The 2027 card math
Ford's PGA Tour University exemption runs through 2026, so the FedExCup Fall settles what he plays in 2027. The top 100 on the final Fall list earn full status. Players ranked 101st through 125th keep conditional status, which ranks below a full card.
At 124th, Ford would land in the conditional group if the Fall ended today. He needs to climb 24 spots. Utah showed what one good week does, because it moved him from 158th to 124th.
The Fall has eight events, and the RSM Classic in November finalizes the standings. Ford has played two of them, and I can't confirm which of the remaining events he's entered. Points and ranks change after every event, so check the live Fall list before you quote these numbers.
Ford's card hinges on his wedge game. His driving already puts him in position, so the short game decides how many of those holes turn into points.
What's in David Ford's bag
GolfWRX documented Ford's bag in September 2026, and I compared it with the setup Titleist showed in June 2025. Four things changed in 15 months: the driver model, the 3-wood, the putter and the wedge model. His irons didn't change.
| Club | Spec | Should you copy it? |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Titleist GTS2, 10 degrees, Project X HZRDUS Blue Smoke RDX TX 60g | Skip the TX shaft unless a fitter measures you above 110 mph. |
| 3-wood | Titleist GT1, 14.5 degrees (C4 SureFit), Project X Titan Black TX 70g | Same shaft rule. A 14.5-degree head is hard to launch at slower speeds. |
| 5-wood | Titleist GT3, 18 degrees (D4 SureFit), Project X HZRDUS Black TX 80g | The 3.5-degree gap between his two woods is easy to copy. |
| Irons | Titleist 620 CB 4-6, Titleist 620 MB 7-9, Project X Rifle 6.0 | Blend sets suit players who strike the center. Most golfers should stay in cavity backs. |
| Wedges | Vokey SM11 46-10F, 50-12F, 54-10S, 60-08M, Project X Rifle 6.0 | Copy the gapping. Four wedges at 46, 50, 54 and 60 degrees cover the scoring zone. |
| Putter | Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.2R Prototype | Fit a putter to your stroke, not to a Tour player's. |
| Ball | Titleist Pro V1 | Pick a ball by greenside spin and driver speed. |
In June 2025 he carried a Scotty Cameron Timeless Tour Prototype that he'd played for at least four years. He also runs Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips, including the Tour Velvet 360.
None of this bag suits the average golfer. Muscle-back 7-irons and TX shafts punish anyone who misses the center of the face or swings slower than 110 mph. If you copy one thing, copy the wedge gapping.
David Ford's swing and club head speed
Ford plays left-handed, and he's the only lefty among the Ford triplets. His twin brother Maxwell swings right-handed, which makes them mirror twins.
His 117.08 mph club head speed comes from a 5-foot-8 frame. Height can't explain that number, so rotation and sequencing do the work. His coach, Chris Moore, has known both brothers since they were young.
I'm not breaking down swing positions here. I haven't charted his swing frame by frame, and guessing from broadcast clips isn't instruction.
You can copy his workload habit. Ford caps his daily ball count to protect his back, and if you hit 150 balls a session with a sore back, that's the first thing I'd cut. See a doctor before you change a routine that hurts.
David Ford at North Carolina
Ford tied the North Carolina record with seven wins and set the single-season record with five in 2024-25. He won the Haskins Award, the Jack Nicklaus Award and Golfweek's player of the year award that spring. He was also the ACC Player of the Year in 2023 and 2025.
His career scoring average of 70.13 is a North Carolina record. His 68.78 average as a senior is the lowest in ACC history, and he shot 66 rounds in the 60s across his career.
At the 2023 Walker Cup at St Andrews, he beat Alex Maguire 3 and 2 in the anchor singles match. A 12-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole clinched the Cup, and the United States won 14.5 to 11.5. That fall he shot a final-round 64 to lead the U.S. to the Eisenhower Trophy in Abu Dhabi.
David Ford's brother, sister and family
Ford has an identical twin brother, Maxwell, and a triplet sister, Abigail. Maxwell stands three inches taller and plays right-handed. Their father, Patrick, played golf at Georgia State.
Maxwell played two seasons at Georgia, then transferred to North Carolina and joined David on the Tar Heels team from 2023 to 2025. He turned pro in 2025 and qualified for PGA Tour Americas that summer.
The twins' rivalry shows in the results. At the 2023 RSM Classic they both missed the cut, and David finished three strokes ahead. At the 2025 Valspar Collegiate, David won and Maxwell finished 92nd in a 92-man field.
No source I found reports that Ford has a wife, and I haven't seen a credible report of a marriage. His PGA Tour and North Carolina bios name his parents and siblings and stop there.
Other people named David Ford
David Ford is a common name. Wikipedia's disambiguation page lists an American character actor, a British singer-songwriter, an English footballer and a former Hong Kong civil servant, among others. If you searched "David Ford antiques," you want a different person than the golfer covered here.
David Ford FAQ
How old is David Ford?
He's 24. His birthday is September 14, and he turned 24 in 2026.
How tall is David Ford?
Five feet eight inches, or 1.73 meters. His twin brother Maxwell stands three inches taller.
Is David Ford married?
No source I found reports a wife or a marriage. His official bios list his parents and siblings and nothing else about family.
Who is David Ford's brother?
Maxwell Ford, his identical twin. Maxwell swings right-handed, played at Georgia and North Carolina, and turned pro in 2025.
What injury does David Ford have?
PGA Tour's September preview described an ankle injury, while the school and the Tour's field list said undisclosed. He didn't play a Tour event between April 5 and September 17. His back and left hip also gave him trouble in college.
How much money has David Ford made?
$1,029,523 in PGA Tour prize money through October 4, 2026, including $710,125 this year. Endorsements aren't in that figure.
What is David Ford's world ranking?
373rd in the Official World Golf Ranking as of October 5, 2026. Rankings update every Monday.
Where did David Ford go to college?
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from 2021 to 2025. He won seven tournaments there and finished No. 1 in the 2025 PGA Tour University Ranking.
Where is David Ford from?
Peachtree Corners, Georgia, is his birthplace and his home base. He attended Rivers Academy in Alpharetta.
Has David Ford won on the PGA Tour?
Not yet. His best finish is a tie for third, and he's done it twice, both at the Bank of Utah Championship in October 2025 and October 2026.
What to watch next
The Fall list decides Ford's 2027, and his around-the-green number is the one to track. If it moves from -0.328 toward zero, his driving will start turning into points. For a practice plan aimed at the same 20-to-40-yard gap, read my short game practice routine.