Tour pro erases quad bogey with two eagle hole-outs in wild round at PGA National

David Ford’s final score on Thursday at the 2026 Cognizant Classic, a 72, was not surprising, although perhaps a little higher than he would have liked. However, his scorecard from Day 1 at PGA National tells a very different story.

That’s because Ford’s score obscures the fact that he made eight pars, four bogeys, three birdies, two eagle hole-outs and a nasty quadruple bogey in the opening round.

Here’s exactly what happened in one of the wildest rounds of the year, as well as video highlights from Ford’s rollercoaster day at PGA National.

David Ford shoots 72 in the most unlikely way at Cognizant Classic

Ford is a 23-year-old fresh out of college and just starting his professional golf career. He made 13 PGA Tour starts last season, including four starts, including a T3 finish at the Bank of Utah Championship in October.

More importantly, Ford finished first in the 2025 PGA Tour University rankings while starring at the University of North Carolina. That earned him his 2026 PGA Tour card.

In three starts before this week’s Cognizant Classic, Ford has done well, with two of three cuts and a T13 at the American Express, won by Scottie Scheffler.

But even though his PGA Tour career is just beginning, he may never experience another round like Thursday’s at PGA National.

Ford started his day Thursday at 1:35 p.m. ET on the back nine of the Champion Course, quickly making a birdie at 10 a.m. to start in the red.

When he dropped a second birdie at 12 to go to two under, things started to look good for the young pro. But just five holes later, Ford was at five over after dropping seven shots.

His first bogey came at 13, but it was the infamous Bear Trap – the difficult stretch from 15-17 – that really caught Ford’s eye.

He stayed dry at 15 but still made bogey. At 16, he hit his tee shot into the water and made another bogey.

But the real disaster struck on the watery par-3 17th. Ford’s first tee shot landed just in the water, short and right of the green. Since his ball had only just come under water, he decided to try to hit it from there instead of taking a penalty.

Ford splashed down with his second shot, sending his ball halfway up the steep bank in front of him before falling back into the water. He decided to try to make the same shot with his third shot, and he got the same result.

At that point, Ford made the wise choice to take a penalty shot and shoot his fifth shot from the drop area.

Two putts later he had a quadruple-bogey 7, which dropped to five as the round went on.

But David Ford’s roller coaster was about to make a dramatic climb down the tracks.

Suddenly his score had improved to two overs. But Ford was far from done. He stopped his second shot on the par-5 third, leaving 30 yards for his third shot. Incredibly, Ford has also dipped that wedge for a second time in a row.

And just like that, in just four holes, Ford had erased his quadruple bogey and improved from four to even par.

The rest of his round was much less volatile, with Ford making five pars and one bogey to cap off his one-over 72.

That left him in the middle of the pack on the leaderboard, just below the expected cutline heading into Round 2. Despite the mess he made in his first eight holes, Ford has a chance to make the cut at PGA National.

You can watch video highlights from Ford’s wild opening round at the Cognizant Classic above.