Byrd comes up short in PGA Tour China Q-School; Lundy remaining in Asia

Kunming, China is a long way to travel from the Grand Strand to come up one shot short.

That’s the reality Zack Byrd of Murrells Inlet was forced to accept Friday after coming agonizingly close to qualifying for a season on PGA Tour China, officially known as Ping An Bank China Tour – PGA Tour China Series.

Byrd recovered from a tough start by playing his final two rounds 6-under par for a 9-over 297 total to tie for 36th Friday in the second of the tour’s two global qualifying tournaments at Kunming Wind Valley Club.

The top 15 earned full exempt tour status and golfers finishing 16th through 35th earned conditional status that will likely qualify them for starts in each of the tour’s 12 events in 2016. Byrd has no status on the subsidiary of the Web.com Tour.

“It has been one of the lowest points in my pro career, knowing the shots I left out there,” Byrd said from Kunming. “It was a week unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I’m shocked, mad and frustrated. I don’t know where to go from here. I’m not sure what the best step to take is. I’ve spent the last [several] hours trying to figure out what I’m going to do.

“… I can assure you I’m not done, it’s just a matter of where I’ll be.”

Byrd posted a final-round 2-under 70 early in the day for a 9-over total and moved up a handful of spots as the final round progressed. He was temporarily inside the top 35 in a 10-way tie for 29th, but Jihoon Kim of South Korea birdied his final hole to move to 8 over and drop Byrd and two other players back into a tie for 36th.

Byrd shot a 9-over 81 in the opening round and a 78 in the second round, and needed a birdie on his 36th hole just to get inside the top 100 at 15 over and make the cut to the final two rounds.

Conditions were tough throughout the tournament with temperatures in the 40s and 50s and strong winds at a high altitude, but Byrd caught particularly difficult conditions with the final tee time in the first round when an afternoon weather front came through the course following fairly benign conditions for the morning wave.

“As stupid as it sounds I was playing well, it was just how brutally hard it was to compete out here,” Byrd said. “It was the worst conditions I’ve ever played in.”

Byrd, whose wife, Ali, gave birth to the couple’s first child – daughter Payton – on Dec. 23, hadn’t played competitively since October and believes rust may have contributed to his early-round scoring, as he failed to get up and down from just off the green eight times through 36 holes.

“The short game was rusty,” Byrd said. “I was worried about having some rust but had two good practice rounds, though the weather was perfect for those.”

Byrd rallied with a 68 in the third round and his 6-under total over the final two rounds matched England’s Michael Skelton for the field’s lowest score.

“The last two days was some of the best golf I’ve played in years,” Byrd said. “It gives me confidence for whatever I decide to do next.”

Byrd, 29, will miss the Q-School for PGA Tour LatinoAmerica this upcoming week in Colombia, and he’s considering the OneAsia Tour Q-School in Malaysia in March. Byrd had status on that tour last year, “but they canceled two of the three events I was supposed to get into so I’m a little bit gun shy,” he said. The tour has a nine-event schedule with $1 million purses and significant world ranking points. “It’s a possibility but it’s a $4,000 trip,” Byrd said.

The 2009 Coastal Carolina graduate said if he plays a regional mini-tour it will likely be the GPro based in North Carolina, and he hopes to formulate a plan for 2016 next week. “I have a person [financially] sponsoring me this year so the window of opportunity is there I just have to figure out the best route from here,” he said.

Byrd has a new travel agency named “Where To Next Travel” to supplement his income and he was looking forward to being home. “I can’t wait to see the baby and wife,” he said. “The good thing is no matter what, I get to go home and see them.”

While Byrd was scheduled to return to the U.S. on Saturday, Patrick Lundy of Little River is planning to spend a full season in Asia.

He missed the cut last week to the final two rounds of the Asian Tour’s Q-School finals in Thailand by two strokes with a 3-over 74-71–145, leaving him with conditional Asian Tour status and full status on the Asian Development Tour.

“I’ll have the opportunity to play and work my way up on the Asian Tour, I just don’t know how many events I’ll get into yet,” said Lundy, 25.

The 2016 Asian Development Tour features 19 events with purses between $46,000 and $160,000 in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Chinese Taipei. The top five on the order of merit at season’s end earn status on the Asian Tour, featuring 2016 purses starting at $300,000 and increasing into the millions.

Former CCU golfer Lindsay Renolds, who grew up largely in Thailand and now lives in Phuket, has been splitting time between the two tours for the past few years. He finished 27th on the 2015 ADT order of merit and graduated to the Asian Tour last week by tying for 20th at the Q-School finals.

Lundy missed the cut Thursday in the Development Tour’s first event of the season, the $100,000 Players Championship in Singapore, by three shots with a 74-72–146. Lundy said Q-School was $2,000 to enter and ADT entry fees are $50.

“You have to be out of your mind to play mini-tours in the states,” Lundy said. “There are a lot of other events here also on the little various tours. No entry fee is above $75 and I haven’t seen a purse lower than $40,000. Not to mention opportunities for sponsors are all over the place.”

Lundy said he plans to return to the Strand two or three times this year to visit family and possibly enter Web.com Tour Q-School, “but there’s a very good chance I’ll be moving here to continue to pursue golf.”

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 7:33 PM with the headline "Byrd comes up short in PGA Tour China Q-School; Lundy remaining in Asia."