St. Augustine, FL – Marcus Byrd won for the second time in just the third event of the APGA Tour season with an runaway 10-stroke victory over Davin White, Kevin Hall and Zachary Juhasz at the 36-hole APGA Tour Florida at St. Johns Golf & Country Club. Byrd followed his opening-round 66 with a second round 67 for an 11-under-par total for the fourth APGA Tour victory of his career.
The win comes after the 25-year-old returned from making back-to-back starts on the PGA TOUR at The Genesis Invitational and the Honda Classic earlier this year. Byrd also won the APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational at Torrey Pines, the first event of the season, where the final round was broadcast on Golf Channel.
Byrd entered the second and final round with a three-stroke lead and came out firing in difficult, windy conditions with a 5-under-par 31 on the front nine that included three birdies and an eagle.
Byrd’s stretch of golf on the PGA TOUR ended with a 3-under-par 69 in his second round at the Honda Classic. Over the two weeks, Byrd said that learning from the best players in the world and playing in PGA TOUR conditions only served to push him to continue his work in pursuit of becoming a full-time player on the world’s top golf tour.
“I was extremely fortunate to have two opportunities to play on the PGA TOUR. Those events played a monumental factor for me this week. I really found a lot of confidence in my game and in my process. Being out there just gave me even more belief in myself and how to control my game,” Byrd said. “I hit some very good shots early today. I hit it inside a foot on the first hole for birdie and then I had three feet for eagle on two and that just really kick started the round. I really enjoyed this golf course and I knew the course would play tough today, so to get off to a hot start was great for me mentally.”
Juhasz, White, a two-time winner on the APGA Tour, and Kevin Hall, who won the APGA Tour Black History Month Classic in February, finished in a three-way tie for second. Hall shot a bogey-free 3-under-par 69 in the final round. He was diagnosed as profoundly deaf at age 2 after surviving H-flu meningitis. He learned to play golf at 9 and later became the first Black golfer to play at Ohio State University, where he was the winner of the 2004 Big Ten Individual Championship.
The APGA Tour was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf. The APGA Tour Board of Directors works to accomplish this by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs and by introducing the game to inner city young people.
“The exposure, competition and opportunities that the APGA Tour provides have played a huge role in my progress and development,” Byrd continued. “Without the APGA Tour, I don’t have the experience of playing on the PGA TOUR. Those starts helped share my story and now I have support from incredible people and partners at Stout, ADP, Invited, Callaway and others which is really freeing me up to practice, travel and focus on my goals of earning Korn Ferry Tour status and, an opportunity to play regularly on the PGA TOUR. Today’s win is another step in the right direction.”
The next event on the schedule is the APGA Tour Las Vegas on April 9-11 at TPC Las Vegas.
