Jonathan Byrd Advances in Accenture Match Play Championship

Feb. 21, 2008

Marana, AZ – Former Clemson golfer Jonathan Byrd defeated Andres Romero by a 6 & 4 margin Thursday afternoon in the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Byrd, who defeated top-seed Ernie Els in the Ben Hogan bracket in round one, moves on to face either Henrik Stenson or Trevor Immelman in the round of 16 on Friday. Stenson and Immelman were all square through 24 holes as of 6:30 PM eastern time Thursday.

Byrd did not waste time in building a comfortable lead Thursday. He took advantage of bogeys by Romero on the first and third holes, and then birdied #4 to take a three-up lead through just four holes of play. The two halved four straight until Romero scored another bogey on the par-four ninth hole.

Romero, a native of Argentina, gained a stroke back on the 11th after he birdied the hole. However, Byrd answered with back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th holes before Romero conceded the match on the 14th hole.

For the second straight day, Byrd was dominant while not recording a single bogey on his scorecard. He defeated Els by a 6 & 5 margin in the opening round of match play Wednesday. His victory over Els was the first-ever for a former Clemson golfer in the 10-year history of the event.

Byrd is the lowest seed to advance to the final 16 in the championship, which is being held on the south course at the Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain, just outside of Tucson, AZ.