Jonathan Byrd (golfer)

Jonathan Currie Byrd (born January 27, 1978) is an American professional golfer. He was the 2002 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, and has won five times on the PGA Tour.

Biography

Byrd was born in Anderson, South Carolina. He attended Clemson University between 1997 and 2000. During his Clemson career, Byrd was the first four-time First Team All-ACC player in Clemson history, was named a First Team All-America in 1999, and represented the United States on the Walker Cup team in 1999.

Byrd turned professional in 2000 and played on the Buy.Com Tour (now Nationwide Tour), winning the BUY.COM Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs and finishing eighth on the money list.

In his first season on the PGA Tour in 2002, Byrd won the Buick Challenge and was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Byrd won the B.C. Open in 2004 and the John Deere Classic in 2007.

Byrd had an average season in 2008 with two top-10s and a little over $1,000,000 in earnings. His best finish in 2009 was at the Memorial Tournament, where he was joint second round leader with Jim Furyk. Byrd would go on to finish T3.

On July 7, 2009, Byrd 's father, James, died aged 65 after a long struggle with a cancerous tumor in his brain. The death of his father caused Byrd to withdraw from the John Deere Classic, an event he had won previously in 2007.

On October 24, 2010, Byrd defeated Martin Laird and Cameron Percy in a sudden-death playoff at the Justin Timberlake......
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