Masters return is feather in Byrd's cap

Jonathan Byrd was one of those young players who thought he'd be in the Masters Tournament every year, especially after he tied for eighth place in his Augusta National debut in 2003 at age 25.

That finish qualified the former Clemson University All-American for the 2004 Masters, where he missed the cut. Then came a three-year dry spell before a return in 2008 and another missed cut.

He failed to qualify for the past two Masters, but is back this year.

"I definitely made the false assumption," Byrd said.

It wasn't easy for Byrd to be on the outside looking in at the Masters, which never seemed far from wherever he lived. He grew up in South Carolina, went to Clemson and moved to St. Simons Island, Ga., in 2003.

"Every year was kind of like a dagger when you don't go back," Byrd said. "My wife makes light of it. She says we need to go on vacation, go somewhere so we don't watch it on TV, because it hurts so bad when you're not playing."

Byrd said injuries adversely affected his game during the years he missed the Masters, but he chalks his absences up mainly to bad play.

A dramatic victory near the end of the 2010 season -- when Byrd made a hole-in-one to win a sudden-death playoff in Las Vegas -- still didn't get him in the Masters because it came in a Fall Series event. It was the first time in tour history that a sudden-death playoff ended with a hole-in-one.

That victory did get him in the season-opening Tournament of Champions, which Byrd won in another playoff to secure his 2011 Masters invitation. It was Byrd's fifth PGA Tour title.

His 2010 victory in Las Vegas came in the second-to-last event of the season. Byrd missed the finale with a strained muscle in his rib cage. That meant, with his victory in the Tournament of Champions, he won consecutive starts, even though they were nearly three months apart.

"That was fun," Byrd said.

There is a sad backdrop to Byrd's return to the Masters. His father, Jim, died from brain cancer in 2009 at age 65.

"My dad just loved golf, so he would love everything about this: me winning a couple of times, going back there (the Masters) and playing the schedule I'm playing," Byrd said.

Byrd said he'll be thinking of his dad during Masters Week.

"Absolutely," he said. "My dad got to caddie for me in the Par-3. I've got great memories going there with him and him watching me play."

Byrd is part of a group of talented pros who now live in the St. Simons Island area. In addition to longtime resident Davis Love III, who won the 1997 PGA Championship, the others are 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and Matt Kuchar, the tour's leading money winner in 2010.

With that kind of talent, it increases the likelihood of a Georgia resident winning the Masters for the first time since Larry Mize did it in 1987.

"We've got pretty good odds to win any tour event," Byrd said.

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 ordavid.westin@augustachronicle.com.