The Hayt: David Ford shoots 70 one day after playing in the Arnold Palmer Invite

The grind never stops in collegiate golf.

David Ford of North Carolina knows this well, as he is playing with the Tar Heels at the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., hosted by the University of North Florida, just one day after playing in the first two rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour. And he is only one shot off the lead.

Ford, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings, shot a 2-under 70 and is T4 with Adam Wallin of Ohio State, Jones Free of Alabama, and Jonathan Griz of Alabama. Neal Shipley of Ohio State, Alexandre Vandermoten of Jacksonville, and Canon Claycomb of Alabama are tied for the lead at 3-under.

Alabama leads the team competition at 6 under by four shots over Ohio State, which is in solo second place at 2 under. North Carolina is in solo third place at 1-over, and Virginia is in solo fourth place at 2-over.

Ford earned a spot in the Arnold Palmer through the 2023 Palmer Cup. Each year, one player from the men's team is voted upon by their peers to receive exemptions into the API, and they voted for Ford.

All for the team 👏⁰⁰Roughly 24 hours after his second round at the @APInv, David Ford teed it up for @UNCMensGolf at The Hayt. pic.twitter.com/oBlfzJArmG

— PGA TOUR University (@PGATOURU) March 9, 2024

Ford finished 10-over and missed the cut. He shot an impressive 1-under 71 in the first round but an 11-over 83 in the second round saw him miss out on playing the weekend. 

Due to that, he joined his team just two hours down the road at Sawgrass Country Club to play in the John Hayt this weekend.