Byrd brings positive attitude to minor leagues of golf
LOS ANGELES: With five victories, Jonathan Byrd had such a productive PGA Tour career that spending any time on the developmental Web.com Tour never crossed his mind. His only stop in the minor leagues was in 2001, so long ago that it then was known as the Buy.com Tour.
A year after his playoff victory in the 2011 Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, however, Byrd had wrist surgery. He missed three months to start 2013, and his game and confidence slowly eroded to the point that he was trying to make cuts, make money and keep his job.
“You stop trying to bring your best and you’re trying just to stay out here, and that’s no way to play,” Byrd said last month at the RSM Classic. “The tighter you hang on, the farther you get away from what you’re doing.”
With nothing but past champion status that would offer him limited starts, his best option to regain a full PGA Tour card was to spend a year on the Web.com Tour. That can be a tough pill for someone who had never come close to losing his PGA Tour card before the injury.
Byrd, who turns 39 in January, brought with him an attitude that is worth emulating for anyone who winds up in that spot.
“It was humbling,” Byrd said. “To go back to the Web was difficult. There’s so many reminders every week that you’re not where you want to be. But I tried to embrace it . ... I didn’t want to be the grumpy old tour player talking about how great it is on tour and how bad it is out here and how good I used to be. I made friends out there. I enjoyed it. I focused on enjoying the competition.”
Byrd event turned down a half-dozen exemptions to PGA Tour events last year. He finished 48th on the money list (the top 25 get PGA cards) and he didn’t earn one of the 25 additional spots from the four-tournament series at the end of the year.
Even so, he was upbeat about his progress. Besides, being around a bunch of kids in their early 20s has helped. “You’ve got to play good to beat these guys,” he said. “But what I’ve learned from being out here so long is that I’ve got what it takes. Guys who have won five times on the PGA Tour, it’s a short list.
I’ve got something in there that’s good enough. And I still think it’s good enough.”
OH, BROTHER: Jordan Spieth is headed to Rhode Island this week to watch Brown host Maine in college basketball. His younger brother, Steven, is a senior who is averaging 15.4 points a game for the Bears.
The former Masters and US Open champion is doing everything he can to prepare, because this apparently involves more than sitting in the stands to cheer on little brother. Spieth suggested that there might be a little contest Thursday morning before the Brown game.
“I’m not sure. He kind of set up something,” Spieth said. “We might be playing horse, and it might be videoed. At the moment, I’m starting my grind in the gym, shooting a thousand shots a day so I don’t embarrass myself.”
Asked if he knew where the public might see this video, Spieth said: “Even if I knew, I certainly would not be announcing that. I think it’s through ESPN. I’m not sure.” However it turns out, perhaps Steven might consider coming out to Augusta National early for a putting contest.
POWER MEMORIES
Jim Furyk is used to players smashing it by him off the tee. One of the shorter hitters in golf, he still has managed to win 17 times, including the US Open. But there was something about the 2009 Cadillac Championship at Doral that he still remembers clearly.
“I was paired with Adam Scott and Rory (McIlroy) the first two days, and I was hitting it real short,” Furyk said. “I’m already short anyway, but I had a driver that I was hitting straight but real short. We’re playing Doral. You know, Adam and Rory are hitting it 30 (yards) by me all day and I’m like, ‘I need to get a new driver.’”