Every injury comeback reaches a point when a player stops wondering if they will return and starts thinking about when. For PGA Tour pro David Ford, that moment came after almost three months away from golf. And when he finally returned, he made it count.
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Ford finished T3 at the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, on October 4-5, 2026. He shot a final-round 64 to finish at 23-under 261. It was the second top-five finish of his PGA Tour career. His first was also a T3 at the Bank of Utah Championship in 2025. Same course. Same result. But this time, the story was completely different.
Speaking to Cameron Jourdan in a video posted to X on October 5, 2026, Ford laid out exactly what the last several months had looked like. “I actually played through it for eight out of nine events this year, and the ankle pain and the foot pain in my right foot just got too bad in early April,” he said. “Took a bunch of time off. Tried to go back to playing around CJ Cup, after about a month and a half. Couldn’t swing without pain, so ended up taking a medical. Didn’t start hitting again until probably right at a month ago, maybe a week more. Yeah, didn’t touch a club for, I want to say, almost three months. Didn’t know when I was going to play. The foot was progressing slower than we thought.”
This wasn’t a simple ankle sprain or a week of rest. Ford described a layered set of problems when Jourdan asked him directly what the diagnosis was. “It was some tendonitis and impingement in the ankle, the outside of the ankle on the right side, and then a stress reaction, almost a stress fracture, but not quite, in the outside of the right foot in that bone,” Ford explained in the same October 5 interview. “And I had a lot of great doctors that really just put their time and effort into me, more time than I deserved. And I’m thankful to be standing here pretty much fully healthy.”
Tendonitis, ankle impingement, and a stress reaction that was close to a fracture would be enough to keep most players out. Ford was dealing with all three while still trying to play professional golf. He played through the pain for eight of his first nine events before his body finally forced him to stop.
What makes Ford’s injury story even harder is that he had been playing solid golf before he had to stop. In 2026, he finished T13 at The American Express after shooting 67-66-70-65 to finish 20-under, and he also finished T16 at the Puerto Rico Open. He finished at or below par in six of his first nine starts. He was not playing badly. He was slowly finding his game when the injury forced him to step away.
Before the injury, Ford finished T50 at the Sony Open, T13 at The American Express, missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, finished T32 at the Cognizant Classic, T16 at the Puerto Rico Open, missed the cut at THE PLAYERS, finished T46 at the Valspar Championship, missed the cut at the Houston Open, and finished T59 at the Valero Texas Open. His last start before taking medical leave was the Valero Texas Open in early April, where he finished T59.
Ford’s return to competition didn’t begin with a highlight reel moment. He came back at the Biltmore Championship Asheville in September, his first tournament in nearly five months. He shot 70 in round one, 72 in round two, and missed the cut at even par.
He didn’t walk back onto a PGA Tour course and immediately contend. He had to get through an event first, shake the rust, remind himself what competitive golf felt like. The Biltmore was the stepping stone.
Then came Utah. At the Bank of Utah Championship, Ford shot 65-67-65-64 to finish at 23-under 261, three shots behind Austin Smotherman, who won his first PGA Tour title at 26-under 258. Ford’s final-round 64 included back-to-back birdies on holes 13 and 14 during a late charge that moved him up the leaderboard.
His first career top-five had come at this exact tournament in 2025, when he finished T3 at 16-under with rounds of 67-65-69-67. That time, he was a second-year professional earning his stripes. This time, he was a player who had spent the better part of a year wondering if and when his body would let him compete again.
“So to have a tee time in Utah and even to play Asheville last week and get one event under my belt before coming here to a place I love, it just, it feels amazing,” Ford said in the October 5 interview with Jourdan.
Ford is only 24 and still in the early stages of his PGA Tour career. Before the injury, he was starting to build some momentum. The Bank of Utah Championship may not change his world ranking in a big way, but it showed something more important. His foot is feeling better, his swing is back, and the form he showed earlier in 2026 is still there.
Just weeks ago, Ford did not know when he would play again. Now, he has another top-five finish on the PGA Tour. For him, that comeback may mean more than the finish itself.