The performance of Colorado Springs resident Kaden Ford in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals on Easter Sunday was certainly no April Fools’ Day joke.
One of just 80 junior golfers overall to earn a spot in the Finals at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia — the home of next week’s Masters — Ford finished sixth out of 10 competitors in the Boys 14-15 division. That ties the best showing ever by a Coloradan in the event.
Ford (pictured) was just the fourth Coloradan to advance to the DCP National Finals in the first five years of the championship. Luke Trujillo, a teammate of Ford at Discovery Canyon High School, competed at Augusta National in 2016, along with fellow Coloradans Arielle Keating and Caitlyn Chin. Trujillo, who went on to win the 4A state high school individual title in the fall of 2016, and Keating finished sixth in their respective age/gender divisions two years ago, while Chin was 10th.
“It was definitely inspiring to watch someone I know on TV and it was awesome to play with a past DCP finalist during the high school season this (past) fall,” Ford said of Trujillo in his DCP bio.
Ford placed seventh in the drive portion of the contest (235 yards), second in the chipping (5 feet, 9 inches aggregate distance from the hole) and sixth in the putting (6 feet aggregate distance from the hole). That gave him 18 points overall. The putting portion of the event was held on the 18th green at Augusta National.
Brendan Valdes of Orlando, Fla., won a putting playoff to claim the title after posting a 23-point total.
Each competitor was scored based on the longest of two drives (provided it’s inbounds), and the cumulative proximity to the hole of two chips and of two putts from different distances. The kids with the highest combined scores in driving, chipping and putting won the overall titles.
Ford, a 15-year-old high school freshman, had advanced through three previous competitions to earn a spot in the National Finals. He competed in the Local event at The Club at Flying Horse in Colorado Springs — his home course — and in the Sub-Regional at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora, then he won the Regionals at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
During Sunday’s telecast, the Golf Channel ran a three-minute feature segment on Ford, who has battled epilepsy, asthma and serious food allergies but controls those issues with medication. To watch that segment, which also aired last month on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive, CLICK HERE.
Golf Channel also showed Ford hitting a drive, a chip (after which he gave a fist-pump) and two putts on Sunday.
Ford, who started playing golf at age 5, owns an 8.2 Handicap Index. It’s his first trip to the Masters site.
On Sunday, he wore an orange shirt and hat — true to what he wrote on his DCP bio.
“The brighter my clothes, the better I play,” he wrote. “I also have multiple outfits that I have won in and consider them lucky.”
In all, 80 kids qualified for the DCP National Finals — 10 in each of four age groups for boys and girls.
The Golf Channel televised five hours of the DCP National Finals on Sunday. Among those on hand to watch the festivities were major champions Gary Player, Annika Sorenstam, Bubba Watson, Nick Faldo, Nancy Lopez, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Mark O’Meara and Martin Kaymer, along with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
“This is very inspiring,” Sorenstam, a 72-time winner on the LPGA Tour, said on the Golf Channel telecast.
“I don’t think I could have done this at that age,” O’Meara added.
The Drive, Chip and Putt is a joint initiative of the Masters, the USGA and the PGA of America designed to help grow the game.
For all the results from the DCP National Finals on Sunday, CLICK HERE.
