Identical twins David and Maxwell Ford take different paths up U.S. Amateur 4-Ball board
David and Maxwell Ford are identical twins.
Who aren’t entirely identical.
The brothers from Peachtree Corners, Georgia, are playing in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championships this week at Chambers Bay and The Home Course. The tournament format is two-man sides. They competed in stroke play Saturday and Sunday before the United States Golf Association cuts the field to the top 32 sides for match-play elimination to Wednesday’s final.
They graduated together Thursday night from Rivers Academy, a private school in Alpharetta, Georgia.
“We were on a plane at 4:45 a.m. (Friday) in Atlanta, so 1:45 out here,” Maxwell Ford said, walking off the 18th green at Chambers Bay later Friday afternoon following the twins’ straight-from-the-airport practice round that lasted six hours.
“My high school is one of my favorite places, ever,” David said. “I’ve been a little sad,” he said.
“But coming to a place like this...”
He looked out from the first tee box out to the sun glistening off Puget Sound beyond the first green, about 600 yards away.
“...it makes those sad emotions kind of happy,” he said.
Thing is, the 18-year-old Fords aren’t a team here.
They aren’t playing together in this U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.
While Maxwell talked to The News Tribune, David practiced putting 10 or so yards away just off Chambers Bay’s panoramic first tee. When David talked, Maxwell walked away to start practicing his putting.
David golfs left-handed. Maxwell, right-handed.
David Ford is vaccinated from the COVID-19 virus. Maxwell is not.
“I was at a tournament when he got vaccinated,” Maxwell Ford said, shrugging.
“We don’t talk all that much,” David Ford said. “I think competitiveness is one thing, with me and my brother.”
Asked if his twin goes by “Max” or “Maxwell,” David said: “Maxwell. I think. I don’t know.
“I haven’t asked him in a while. It was Maxwell the last time I checked.”
Sunday, David and playing partner Kelly Chinn were in second place among 128 sides after starting the day 5-under par through 10 holes at Chambers Bay. Saturday they combined for a 9-under 63 at The Home Course in DuPont.
Maxwell Ford and Bruce Murphy, a junior at Johns Creek High School 10 minutes from where Ford lives, began their round Sunday at Chambers Bay tied for 99th place at 1-under. Then they went a blistering 5-under through their first four holes to climb to 46th.
The top 32 advance to Monday’s match-play elimination round.
David Ford is headed to the University of North Carolina to golf there. Maxwell is going to golf at the home-state University of Georgia.
You can probably surmise by now they weren’t going to the same college.
“We had the same top two,” Maxwell said. “And he committed to UNC about a month before I ended up committing to UGA.
“After he committed I had to decide if I wanted to go with him or do my own thing. And, yeah, I’m so happy with the decision that I’ve made.”
Yet they aren’t total strangers in their own house, either. The Fords have paired together in other amateur tournaments back home.
“We’ve played together in the past, in the Southeastern Four-Ball,” Maxwell Ford said, “and it worked well.”
But David Ford and Chinn, who is graduating from Langley High School in McLean, Virginia, and headed to Duke University to golf, received exemptions from qualifying for this U.S. Amateur Four-Ball back in September. That was because of their high amateur-ranking number at the time. Maxwell Ford and Murphy had to qualify their way recently to Chambers Bay.
Rather than wait to see if his twin qualified, David Ford teamed with Chinn for this championship months ago.
Asked if there were any hard feelings between the twins about that, David said: “Ummm...maybe a little.”
Then two weeks ago Maxwell Ford, who like Chinn and David Ford played in the 2020 U.S. Amateur, injured the middle finger on his left hand. He was wearing a splint until Wednesday.
“They told me four to six weeks before I could play,” Maxwell said. “So I was not at all expecting to play in this tournament.
Ford taped his middle fingers together. His doctor told him to try to swing to see if he could tolerate the pain.
“He didn’t expect it to be painless,” Maxwell said. “And it wasn’t, at all.
“Yeah, it’s kind of a miracle that I’m here. ...It’s getting better each day. Kind of unreal.”
So is this: the Fords are actually triplets. They have a fraternal sister, Abigail, who is older. By 2 minutes.
She doesn’t golf.
“She works. A lot. She makes the money,” Maxwell said.
Abigail works at an all-day breakfast place in their hometown. She graduated with them and their classmates Thursday night, and remained back in Georgia—probably working—this weekend.
Her family is going to be out West for a while longer this week.
David Ford said his goal for this week at Chambers Bay was to “have fun.” After the week he had, the sadness of graduating from his favorite place, fun was number one.
Yet David Ford and Chinn comfortably made the cut down to 32 sides Sunday. The 18-year olds will begin elimination match-play Monday at Chambers Bay, playing well enough to perhaps win the whole thing.
Maxwell and his partner Murphy went off to such a roaring start Sunday, they may be there, too.
The quarterfinals are Tuesday. The semifinals and final round for the title are at Chambers on Wednesday.
That means the Fords’ parents Karen, 58, and Patrick, 69, will remain with their twin sons, as they were walking the sprawling 7,475-yard Chambers Bay course Friday.
It’s a picturesque, rewarding cap to a wild, emotional week from Georgia to Chambers Bay.
“Definitely a sad week, when I didn’t think I would be said,” David Ford said. “I was sad.
“But out here is just amazing. Makes me happy for the future.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2021 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Identical twins David and Maxwell Ford take different paths up U.S. Amateur 4-Ball board."
