Fans looking at the Oneflight Myrtle Beach Classic field this week may think there is an error in the pairings with two players listed under the last name Byrd but they aren’t seeing double. That’s because veteran pro Jonathan Byrd and son Jackson are playing together in a PGA Tour event for the first time.
“This is a bucket list item for me,” Jonathan, 47, a five-time Tour winner said of playing with his 17-year-old son, one of the top junior players in the country. “Probably three, four years ago when I started to see him develop and become quite a good player as elite junior player and win tournaments and represent his country in the Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Presidents Cup, it started to become apparent to me that this kid is probably going to have an opportunity to turn pro.”
Jackson is a three-time American Junior Golf Association All-American, including a first-team selection in 2024. He is the second-ranked junior golfer in the country according to the AJGA. He’ll be a freshman in the fall at Clemson, his father’s alma mater and where his Uncle, Jordan, is the head men’s coach since 2021.
“I would say he’s much more advanced than I was at 18 from a just skill level,” Jonathan said, noting that Jackson drives it 30-50 yards longer off the tee with regularity. “I win half the time. He wins half the time. We have a pretty good match these days. But I’m leaning more on experience, and he’s leaning on just kind of raw youth.”
The elder Byrd may be selling himself short. Jonathan was a three-time All-American at Clemson between 1997-2000. He is in his 23rd year on the PGA Tour, earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2002 and playing in 487 events while racking up 26 top-five finishes and 46 top 10s beyond his handful of wins.
Father-son tandems in golf date all the way to Old and Young Tom Morris. Of more recent vintage, Bill Haas, son of Jay, has notched six Tour titles, including the FedEx Cup; Kevin Stadler, son of Masters winner Craig, claimed the 2014 WM Phoenix Open; and Kevin Tway, son of PGA Championship winner Bob, hoisted the Safeway Open trophy in 2018. But good genes never helped Gary Nicklaus, son of 18-time major winner Jack, to the winner’s circle.
Jonathan, who is eyeing PGA Tour Champions eligibility in three years, and Jackson are both competing this week on sponsor exemptions, and while both will be in the same wave on Thursday and Friday, they will not be in the same group.
“It was more about me being able to hang on long enough so maybe we could play in a tournament together. I probably felt more pressure than he did for this to happen,” Jonathan said. “I hope he gets the opportunity to do this as a profession because I think he’s very talented, and he doesn’t need a whole lot of help from Dad anymore. I just have to let him run.”
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