PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — David Ford of North Carolina, the No. 1-ranked college golfer in the nation by Scorecard, is tearing up the final three holes of the Sawgrass Country Club on his way to the individual lead in The Hayt, an invitational tournament hosted by the University of North Florida.
Ford, a senior who went birdie-eagle at No. 17 and 18 to complete a first-round 69 on Saturday, birdied the last three holes on Sunday to complete a bogey-free 65 and finish at 10-under-par 134, one shot ahead of Alabama junior Jonathan Griz (68).
The Crimson Tide remains in the team lead at 22-under par after a 13-under performance on Sunday. In addition to Griz, senior Jones Free (66—139, seventh place), junior Dominc Clemons (72—141, 11th) and freshman Nicholas Gross (69—144, 25th) are all par or lower and Bama has a seven-shot lead over Virginia entering Monday’s final round.
Duke is third at 13-under, Texas fourth at 12 under and the defending champion Tar Heels are fifth at 9-under. Texas junior Luke Potter (66) is in third individually at 7-under and Duke junior William Love (70) is fourth at 6-under.
David Ford, Jonathan Griz attack different sides
Ford has played the final three holes at 6-under, and is 4-under on the other 15 holes.
Griz has gone the other way, scoring lower early. He is a combined 7-under on the front side and on Sunday birdied Nos. 2, 4, 7 and 11 before his only bogey of the day at No. 13. Griz birdied the next hole and parred out after that.
The field of 15 teams had to dodge an early line of thunderstorms but softer greens and lower wind combined for a tamer course in the second round. The second-round scoring average was 71.75, more than 2.5 strokes lower than the first round, and after three holes played under par in the first round, eight yielded an under par average in the second round.
Host UNF is in 12th place at 8-over. Senior Jason Duff (68) is in a tie for 17th at 2-under 142 and sophomore Filippo Serra (73) is tied for 21st at 1-under.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: UNC’s David Ford birdies last three holes to lead The Hayt; ‘Bama top team
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