North Carolina's David Ford secures record breaking win at Valspar Collegiate

March 25, 2025 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

David Ford (North Carolina Athletics Photo)

Ford secured his third win of the season while Texas secured its third win of the season in the team competition

After securing two wins in the fall portion of the season, David Ford of North Carolina won his first tournament of the spring portion of the season at the 2025 Valspar Collegiate at the Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, Fla.

Ford carded rounds of 68-63-64 to finish 18-under and win by two shots over the talented field.

His total 195 strokes equal the fewest in a 54-hole tournament by a Tar Heel (Hampton Roberts shot 195 last month in finishing second in the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawai'i). Ford's 18-under score to par equals the third-best in a tournament by a Tar Heel.

Ford's 195 is four better than his previous collegiate best (199 last season at Amer Ari), and his 18-under is one stroke better than his 17-under at Amer Ari last year. He is currently ranked No. 8 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.

According to North Carolina athletics, Ford also set the Valspar Collegiate Invitational's 54-hole record, breaking the previous lows of 14-under 199 by Florida State's Luke Clanton in 2024, Pepperdine's Dylan Menante in 2022 and Oklahoma State's Matthew Wolff in 2019.

Ford broke his own UNC record for lowest stroke total in consecutive rounds with the second-round 8-under 63 and today's final-round 7-under 64. He held the previous record with matching 64s in the final two rounds at Notre Dame's Fighting Irish Classic in the fall of 2022.

To open the tournament, Jase Summy of Oklahoma shot impressive rounds of 65-64 with just one bogey to finish the first two rounds 13-under and hold a two-shot lead heading into the final round.

Summy carded 14 birdies in 36 holes, including on holes No. 3 through 6 in the second round, to propel to the top of the leaderboard. He finished T2 with Daniel Bennett of Texas at 16-under. Kelly Chinn of Duke, Jackson Koivun of Auburn, and Wilhelm Ryding of South Florida finished T4 at 11-under.

Koivun recorded a hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 8. 2024 champion Luke Clanton of Florida State finished in solo seventh place after playing in the Valspar Invitational over the weekend.

Ford's win earns him a spot in the 2026 Valspar Invitational.

12 of the top 20 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings were in the field.

Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt was notably absent from the field. Brentley Romine of the Golf Channel first reported this, which was confirmed after the pairings and tee times were released.

In the team competition, Texas finished 36-under to win by 13 shots. Arizona State finished in solo second place at 23-under and Florida State finished in solo third place at 22-under. This was the Longhorns third win of the season and second win of 2025 (Hayt Invitational).

The Floridian, designed by Gary Player in 1996, was the private course of Wayne Huizenga and was recently sold to Jim Crane. The course has been redesigned by Tom Fazio, with a re- opening in November of 2011. Butch Harmon has signed on to build a Harmon Golf School at the Floridian.

Results: Valspar Collegiate Invitational

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	David Ford	Peachtree Corners, GA	800	68-63-64=195
2	Jase Summy	Keller, TX	500	65-64-68=197
2	Daniel Bennett	, South Africa	500	64-67-66=197
4	Kelly Chinn	Great Falls, VA	400	70-64-68=202
4	Jackson Koivun	Chapel Hill, NC	400	64-72-66=202

View full results for Valspar Collegiate Invitational

About the Valspar Collegiate Invitational

North Carolina's David Ford secures record breaking win at Valspar Collegiate

54-hole collegiate invitational hosted at The Floridian. Team (best four scores out of five players each round) and individual competitions. Began in 2014 and is already one of the elite college events on the schedule.