Jonathan Byrd's Hole in One Wins in Vegas

“I was kind of in a daze and confused when it happened,” said Jonathan Byrd, regarding his hole-in-one that ended the playoff of the Justin Timberlake Shriner’s Hospital for Children Open on Sunday.

“I didn't see it go in and then didn't know really how to react to it. I'm still kind of dazed and confused now taking a red eye home and reuniting with my family and just kind of taking it all in.”

Byrd was finishing off what he called a difficult season, where he was 130^th on the money list coming into the Vegas event.

“I've learned a lot,” he said. “But then to kind of play well in the fall and win this week, it's just a lot of emotions going on.”

When the PGA Tour official asked them if they wanted to continue playing with darkness looming, Byrd said, “ We all kind of hesitated. I initially was wanting to play for the fans and felt like we could get one more hole in.”

They decided to, at least, hit their shots to the 17^th green and then make the decision as to whether it was too dark to putt out.  

“We went to the hole, and I was glad we were going to play one more hole, because at that moment I had a red eye flight trying to get home that night,” Byrd added.

Then he described the situation.

“I mean, there is nobody, hardly anybody on the green,” he explained about the hole-in-one. All the fans are behind us on the hill or at 18 green, so the fans are yelling up the hill trying to tell us it went in.”  However, the fans were not loud enough for them to know for certain.

“After what felt like a minute, we finally realized it was in,” Byrd continued. “And my first response was like these guys still have to hit. I don't want to jump around on this tee box like a mad man. I just felt like it would be disrespectful. I wanted to give them the opportunity to try to hit a great shot.”

He had nothing but praise for his competitors.

“They were so gracious,” Byrd said. “They came over to me and congratulated me and they were great. And Martin Laird whispered in my ear, you know, the putt on 17 should have gone in any way, so you should have won. Which I thought was pretty cool.”

Although Byrd was not in the top 125 prior to winning the tournament, he did have some status as a past winner. “But there is nothing like full status compared to limited status,” he added. Byrd said he was tired from the long season, most likely from not playing well until last week, and he was ready to pack it in until 2011.

“I asked my wife after I won,” he said about calling the season finished. “And she said, ‘Are you kidding me? We've already told the kids we're going to Disney World, are you going to be the one that tells them we're not going now?’ So that's pretty much why we're going to Disney. We're going for the kids.”

Byrd also commented on the different “tiers” of players on tour.

“I think there’s about three different tours on the PGA Tour, and it's all based on schedule,” he said. “You've got your top 50 world ranked guys that are playing a certain schedule, and then you have some other guys who are playing somewhat of a full schedule, and then you have the rookies that are just starting out, and they're playing kind of a limited schedule. They're playing limited purse sizes, and it's a little bit tougher road to keeping your card.”

He added that the Fall Series gives those who have not had a great year another shot.

“I think the fall serves a great purpose. We went into the fall. I was in that position. I hadn't played that well this year. I was 130th on the money list,” he said. “And the story going into the fall is what guys are going to kind of finish the job and play well and secure their job for the next year? Then you have guys who are trying to move up in the money list for position for next year."

"So you ask me what purpose do they serve? For me, they serve me to salvage a pretty good year now. And other guys, like Cameron Percy was trying to win that tournament and trying to keep his card, and those are great stories.”

When asked if his hole-in-one is the shot of the year, compared to Mickelson’s shot at the 13^th on Sunday at Augusta National, Byrd said, ”I would say mine was the most dramatic to actually win a golf tournament with a hole-in-one. It's something that's never been done. I would think it's probably a different deal trying to win a major.”