Five Tigers to Play in Sony Open

Jan. 12, 2011

CLEMSON, SC – Five former Clemson All-America golfers will tee it up at the Sony Open on the PGA Tour this weekend, including Jonathan Byrd, who won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Maui last weekend. D.J. Trahan, Charles Warren, Kyle Stanley and Ben Martin all will make their first appearance of the year in the first full field (144 players) tournament of the PGA Tour season. The Sony Open will be held at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu and will be played Thursday through Sunday.

Byrd won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions last Sunday in a playoff with Robert Garrigus after both players shot 24 under par 268 for 72 holes. It was Byrd’s fifth career win, his second in a row. He became the first PGA Tour player to win two straight starts since Ernie Els did it in 2010. Byrd will play with Els and Jim Furyk for the first two rounds, Thursday and Friday.

Byrd won $1,120,000 with his victory in Maui and has now made nine straight cuts and won over $2 million since he decided to play without a golf glove at the Canadian Open last year. He has two wins, a fifth-place and a 10th place during those nine tournaments.

Stanley and Martin have both played in PGA Tour events previously, but this weekend will be their first start as fully exempt PGA Tour players. Both made the PGA Tour through PGA Tour Qualifying School last December. Martin finished second in that event.

Stanley and Martin were teammates on Clemson’s 2008 team that finished fifth in the nation. Stanley was a first-team All-American in 2009, his final year with the Tigers, and Martin was the leader of Clemson’s 2010 Tigers team that finished 16th at the NCAA Tournament.

Trahan, who was inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame last fall, finished 47th on the PGA Tour money list last year with over $1.6 million in earnings, had four top 10 finishes in his last 10 events last year. Warren, who was inducted into the Clemson Ring of Honor two years ago, made the cut in eight of his last nine events last year, including three top 10s.