Maxwell Ford – Syndication Server

Terra Cotta Invitational: Tennessee commit Caleb Surratt edges Georgia commit Maxwell Ford

Caleb Surratt, a 17-year-old headed to NC State, was able to finally put away Georgia-bound Maxwell Ford with 15-foot birdie putt on 18.

NAPLES, Fla. — Caleb Surratt had made just two bogeys and a double bogey in 47 holes of the 25th Terra Cotta Invitational presented by Workday.

But bogeys on Nos. 13 and 15 dropped him into a tie with Maxwell Ford with three holes to play.

Surratt, a 17-year-old headed to Tennessee, and Ford, an 18-year-old going to Georgia, struggled over the next couple of holes, and when Ford left a 40-foot birdie putt 10 feet short on No. 17 and missed it, Surratt carried a one-shot lead to the final hole at Naples National Golf Club on Sunday.

Surratt finished in style, draining a 15-foot birdie putt to win by two.

“It was definitely a tough finish for all of us — the wind started getting up,” Surratt said. “It’s a great finish with a birdie on 18; it felt really good. I’ve been working really hard for a long time and been close a lot of times, and it feels great to finally get it done.”

Ford made another bogey, so Surratt ended up with a two-shot victory at 3-under 213.

“Being tied with three holes and two holes to go, you can’t really ask for much more experience-wise,” Ford said. “You had a chance to win the tournament. I really don’t think I hit that many bad shots coming in.”

Surratt, who is from Indian Trail, North Carolina, was the only golfer in the field of 70 top amateurs to finish under par.

“One thing for me was realizing that I’ve played great golf all week — I think I’ve had the least bogeys in the field,” Surratt said. “When I make a bogey and initially be really mad, I would just try to keep the perspective that how great you’re really playing. You’re not throwing that many shots away, and just keep plugging along like you have been.”

Surratt, whose dad Brent was his caddie, had the lead from wire-to-wire, shooting a 3-under 69 in the first round, and going into the final round tied with 18-year-old Cohen Trolio. But he never gave it up.

“It kind of felt like he didn’t really miss a shot,” said Ford, who is from Peachtree Corners, Georgia.

Sunday wasn’t a good one for the Southwest Florida contingent, three of whom were in striking distance of the lead.

But James Tureskis of Florida State, who started in sixth, stumbled to a front-nine 49 on the way to an 85 and tied for 40th. Sam Kodak, an FSU commit, shot a 78 and tied for 16th. Jack Irons was in the top 10 with four holes to play but played them 5 over and finished 14th at 6-over 222. Ryan Hart, who plays for Florida, had the best round out of them, with a 2-under 70 to end up tied for 24th. He was one of only four players to break par in the final round.

Florida Gulf Coast University golfer Van Holmgren, coming off winning the ASUN tournament title Tuesday, ended up tying for 10th at 221 with an even-par 72.

Carl Santos-Ocampo, a former Community School and Notre Dame golfer, did have a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th from 169 yards with a 7-iron, and shot a 77 to tie for 40th.

Surratt birdied No. 9 to close a painstaking, three-hour front nine by the final group to take a three-shot lead to the back. And he seemed in control before the middle of the back nine when he went over the par-4 13th in two and couldn’t get up and down, then missed a 3-foot par putt on the par-5 15th.

Ford, whose twin brother David withdrew with a back injury, had caught a break on the hole when his third shot rolled into the collar of the green, and into rocks guarding the greenside water hazard, then caromed back where he could putt it. He two-putted to move into the tie.

On No. 16, a par 4, both players went over the green – Ford from the fairway and Surratt from the pine straw left. Neither got up and down.

On the par-3 17th, Ford’s shot ended up 40 feet away and left his birdie putt well short, and Surratt just missed his 15-footer.

Ford’s miss gave Surratt back the lead, and he played the 18th perfectly, laying up, and then hitting it to 15 feet.

Trolio, an LSU commit, went to the back nine tied with Ford at 2 under, but played the back nine 3 over to finish in third at 1-over 217 with former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Scott Harvey.

Now Surratt goes back to high school to play in the state tournament series there, and plans on trying to qualify for the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship in a couple of weeks.

“I know I can compete on this level with my good golf,” Surratt said. “I have in previous amateur events. That makes it even better to get it done. We’ve worked on a lot of things that we thought would make the difference and they did this week so it feels amazing.”

Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com. Support local journalism with this special subscription offer at https://cm.naplesnews.com/specialoffer/

Junior golfers Maxwell and David Ford battle it out in mirrored success

Brothers Maxwell and David Ford have a healthy rivalry in junior golf, and they’re about to take it to the college level.

Before identical twins David and Maxwell Ford became forces in junior golf circles, their mom used to dress David in blue and Maxwell in red, and for good reason.

“I did it so the neighbors could tell them apart at the bus stop,” Karen Ford said with a chuckle.

To Maxwell, it’s more than mere coincidence that his brother signed to wear Carolina Blue at University of North Carolina next fall while he is headed to wear red at Georgia.

It’s hard enough to raise one American Junior Golf Association star; the Ford brothers of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, are both ranked highly in the Golfweek Junior Rankings – David is second, Maxwell 12th – and theirs is a healthy rivalry. When they play a tournament, the first goal is to beat one another and the next is to beat the field. For as long as Chris Moore, Atlanta Athletic Club’s junior golf leader, has known the boys, they have preferred to be paired in back-to-back groups, which helps their parents’ spectating and allows the brothers to keep an eye on each other.

“I try to think of him as just another guy on the golf course, but it can get a little more personal than that because he’s my brother,” David said. “I think we push each other a lot because we hate losing to each other, so it makes us practice harder and more efficiently.”

Maxwell Ford (Courtesy of the Ford family)

“People compare us, naturally,” Maxwell said. “It’s a struggle, but I’ve been doing it all my life and I’m getting better at it. I’m trying to get better at it anyway. He’s been beating me and telling me he’s beating me, and it’s getting in my head.”

Until recently, Maxwell outperformed his brother. At two AJGA events in 2018, the brothers swept the qualifiers and tournaments: David won the qualifier and Maxwell the tournament at the 2018 Evitt Foundation RTC Junior All-Star, and the brothers flip-flopped results at the 2018 AJGA Junior All-Star at Butte Creek.

College golf signing day: Class of 2021 signees

Maxwell pulled ahead by winning the 2018 AJGA Junior All-Stars at Cooks Creek and the prestigious Jones Cup Junior Invitational in December but hasn’t recorded a top-10 finish this calendar year as he’s experienced a six-inch growth spurt that has proved to be a bigger adjustment to his swing than anticipated.

Meanwhile, David put on a ballstriking clinic to claim the AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield in June, then in September shot 66 in the final round to rally from seven strokes back and win the Junior Players Championship at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. At the trophy ceremony at Sedgefield, home of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship, David credited his brother for pushing him to greater heights. Well, sort of.

David Ford (Courtesy of the Ford family)

“I was walking off the podium and one of my friends said, ‘Really? You’re not going to thank your brother.’ I was like, ‘Wait everybody, I have to thank my brother. He beats me a lot, so I want to thank him for that.’”

“He really doesn’t like losing to me,” Maxwell confirmed. “He’s had some blowups.”

None more so than when playing Ping-Pong. The Ford brothers are known to pack their own paddles when traveling in hopes a game breaks out during downtime at golf tournaments. Maxwell concedes his brother is better than him at table tennis, but there was a day where Maxwell beat him five times in a row and David smashed his paddle.

“I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that mad,” David said. “Ping-Pong has this way of exaggerating the emotions on the golf course.”

These 17-year-old mirror twins – David swings left-handed while Maxwell is a righty – are actually triplets. Sister Abigail popped out first and is the oldest by two minutes, weighing 3 pounds 7 ounces, followed by Maxwell at 2 pounds 14 ounces, and finally David, who tipped the scales at all of 2 pounds 7 ounces. If David had been chasing Maxwell in the rankings for the last few years, the roles have reversed and now it is Maxwell being pushed by David in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

While most teenage brothers are wont to sleep in and lounge around playing video games on the weekend, the Ford brothers are a different breed.

David, Abigail and Maxwell Ford — David (left) and Maxwell Ford flank their sister Abigail.

“That’s not David Ford. He’s up and beating everyone to the golf course and stays until dark,” Moore said. “I can’t coach him to take a day off. He’s got an energy and desire to be a champion, and that’s the stuff you can’t coach.”

It’s not uncommon for Maxwell, the more analytical of the two, to wake up, realize his brother already has left for the course and conclude he better get there, too. Especially after David ended Maxwell’s two-year reign as AAC’s men’s champion with a 54-hole club record 19-under par aggregate (two rounds played at Highlands Course, one at Riverside Course), including a final-round 63. But it was what David said and did in the aftermath of his victory that most impressed Moore.

“He said, ‘I’ve got to get on the putting green. I missed some putts today that I should’ve made.’ That was after a 63,” Moore said. “That’s his mentality.”

That’s the way these brothers roll. After all, they’re built Ford tough.

This story initially appeared in Issue 5 of Golfweek magazine.

Ford brothers of junior golf — A Ping-Pong match with Matt Kuchar.

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