Byrd Named to Walker Cup Team

Aug. 2, 1999

CLEMSON , S.C. – Clemson All-America golfer Jonathan Byrd has been named to the United States Walker Cup team. The native of Columbia, who will be a rising senior on the 1999-00 Clemson team, was one of five team members chosen on Monday.

The Walker Cup matches will be amateur competition between the United States and a team from Great Britain and Ireland. The event will be held Sept. 11-12 at Nairn Golf Club in Nairn, Scotland. The remainder of the 10-man team will be announced following the 1999 US Amateur Championships.

Byrd will be joined on the team by 1998 US Amateur runnerup Tom McKnight, 1997 US Amateur champion Matt Kuchar, collegian Edward Loar and and career amateur Tim Jackson. Byrd is the third Clemson golfer in history to compete in the Walker Cup. The others are Kevin Johnson (1990) and Richard Coughlan, who played on the Great Britain/Ireland team in 1997.

Byrd was informed of his selection on Sunday while he was in Chicago preparing for US Amateur qualifying. By virtue of his selection, he does not have to go through US Amateur qualifying, so he returned to his home in Columbia, SC. He will compete in the US Amateur at Pebble Beach August 16-22.

Byrd was a first-team All-American on the course and in the classroom in 1998-99, just the seventh athlete, regardless of sport, in Clemson history to accomplish that double.

This summer, Byrd has been outstanding. He was 4-0 in match play competition for the United States against Great Britain/Ireland in the Palmer Cup, and also won the Northeast Amateur. Two weeks ago he was the runnerup in hte Porter Cup and was also third in the Southern Amateur. He will compete in the South Carolina Amateur this week in Charleston.