David Ford shot a 6-under 65 in the final round to claim the title and match a scoring record in the 116th Southern Amateur hosted by Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Ford, of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, made five birdies on the back nine at the Plantation Course in a closing 5-under 31 to break free of a crowded leaderboard that featured several top junior and college players. His 20-under 264 total put him three strokes clear of Louisville’s Jiri Zuska and Georgia Southern’s Mason Williams. It also tied Maxwell Moldovan (2021) for the lowest score in Southern Amateur history.
“I haven’t won in so long, and I had a lot of emotions in the final round – and especially yesterday – that I haven’t felt in a while,” Ford said. “It feels really good to win, and it hasn’t really set in yet.”
Ford, a rising sophomore at North Carolina, has been well known in junior golf circles for many years, especially given that his identical twin, Maxwell, is a solid player at Georgia. The two were highly recruited and decided to go different paths, although David’s development has outpaced his brother’s to this point. David came into the week ranked No. 18 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, ahead of Maxwell at No. 68.
This is the biggest victory of David’s young amateur career. He shot a second-round 62 – despite making a double bogey on the par-4 eighth hole – to put himself into the mix, but he still trailed Williams by three strokes heading into the final day.
By the time the last groups were making the turn, a handful of players were around the lead. Caleb Surratt, the recent Terra Cotta Invitational winner, reached 16-under before a triple bogey on No. 12 sank his chances. Ford, meanwhile, pulled away with birdies on Nos. 10, 13, 14, 16 and 18.
RESULTS
Emilia Migliaccio defeated Megan Schofill, 2 and 1, in the final match to win the 120th North and South Women’s Amateur on Saturday at Pinehurst No. 2.
The 23-year-old Wake Forest Demon Deacon from Cary, North Carolina, ran the table in match play to win for the first time since early 2020. Migliaccio, ranked No. 21 in the WAGR, is returning to Wake as a graduate student this year and plans to remain an amateur as she embarks on a broadcast career with Golf Channel.
“This means everything,” Migliaccio said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been as happy to win a tournament as I have been this week just because of everything I have been through in my life career-wise and golf-wise. To win in North Carolina, I don’t remember the last time I did that, so it just means so much.”
Migliaccio has five victories in her college career, which puts her fourth in school history. She is the fourth Wake player to win the North and South, following Rachel Kuehn (2020), Laura Philo Diaz (1995) and Stephanie Neill Harner (1994).
Auburn’s Carson Bacha shot 6-under 274 and then defeated Garrett Engle with a par on the first playoff hole to win the 63rd Porter Cup on Saturday at Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston, New York.
Bacha, of York, Pennsylvania, chased down Engle with a 2-under 68 in the final round, falling back into a playoff after making a bogey on the par-3 18th. He had a 6-foot par putt to win at the last, but raced it by nearly 8 feet and had to make the comeback effort just to reach a playoff.
It was a tight leaderboard as several players had chances to win. Dillon Stewart of Oklahoma State made two bogeys late to miss out on a playoff by one stroke, and Southern Cal’s Jack Boulger bogeyed his last two holes to miss the playoff by two strokes.
Engle, a UT-Chattanooga transfer, shot 64 in the third round to take a two-stroke advantage into the last day, but he failed to make a birdie over his last six holes on Saturday. In the playoff, he hit his tee shot out of bounds moments after Bacha had hit his tee shot to about 15 feet.
This is another big victory for Bacha, who also won the Dogwood Invitational earlier this summer. He was ranked No. 223 in the WAGR before this week.
The inaugural English Under 25 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship crowned Robert Holden and Hannah Screen on July 14 on the Duchess Course at Woburn Golf Club.
Holden, who is based at Letchworth Golf Club, utilised all the extensive local knowledge he’s gained as a country member at Woburn for a one-shot victory in the men’s event. A winner of last year’s club championship, Holden said: “It’s amazing, but it was nerve-racking at the end. I felt like I had a bit of an advantage over some people on a few holes as I knew where to put the ball. It definitely helped. There’s a few places you can’t miss and you have to be sensible and take irons off the tee.”
After Freddie MacArthur carded a 3-under, 54-hole total, Holden approached the last hole needing a par for victory. He made life difficult for himself by finding a greenside trap, but he escaped to 6 feet and drained the putt.
Holden avoided leaderboard-watching throughout the day, perhaps with good reason. Even when he caught sight of a leaderboard at the 17th, he was unsure whether it could be trusted. When the final putt dropped, he learned that rounds of 68-72-72 were sufficient to claim victory on 212.
The women’s title was snatched in imperious fashion by Screen after she overcame a three-shot deficit entering the final round to thrash the field by seven on level-par 219. The Berkhamsted Golf Club member’s 4-under-par 69 in the final round was the best score of the week and left runner-up Ellena Slater from Kings Hill Golf Club in the dust.
The University of Oklahoma graduate said: “It’s been six years since I had a win and it feels so good to get one back. I stayed present, had a great strategy and was confident into every shot.”
She even completed the win with a 30-foot birdie putt at the last and then celebrated with her father, who’d turned up late to the course and was then engaged in an unexpected role. “I said, ‘Hop on the bag for a hole and we can enjoy it.’ ” They enjoyed it so much, he never gave up the role.
Staff and wire reports