Roseland a homecoming for Byrne

It might be just another stop on the circuit to most Canadian Tour professional golfers, but for one player the Jamieson WFCU Windsor Roseland Charity Classic is a chance to bring his golf career full circle.

David Byrne, 24, was born in Corner Brook, N.L. but moved shortly thereafter to the Windsor-Essex region with his mother, Jody St. Louis-Byrne. It was in nearby McGregor at Sutton Creek Golf and Country Club where Byrne first picked up the game of golf.

“I started playing at eight years old with my uncle Matt (St. Louis),” Byrne said.

St. Louis, who will caddy for Byrne in the Jamieson, is something of a legend at Sutton Creek, as he won the course’s club championship 11 times.

“I came out here with him, and my whole life I heard ‘maybe you’ll be as good as your uncle Matt one day’,” Byrne said. “Between (Sutton Creek) and Roseland (Golf and Curling Club), that’s the two places where I grew up. I always had a junior membership at Roseland, I played the shorty (the colloquial name for the nine hole, par 3 course at Roseland) all the time. That’s where my short game got good.”

Byrne’s mother worked in Windsor so it was easy for her to get him to the course, and uncle Matt could take him out to Sutton. Despite playing since a young age, it wasn’t until Byrne entered high school when he started to notice improvements.

“I wasn’t any good,” Byrne said bluntly. “Once I turned 16, I realized I wasn’t going to grow anymore and I kind of focused on golf a little bit.”

Byrne, who played center for the Essex Ravens and the Essex Red Raiders hockey teams, realized at 5’7” and 135 lbs, he wasn’t cut out for professional hockey.

“I was shooting in the 80s a lot, then the end of grade eight I was in the 70s, once grade nine came, that’s when I started seeing improvement. Once I turned 14, 15, 16 that’s when I started shooting in the 60s a lot.”

It was Byrne’s tremendous feel for the game which allowed him to start to score below par, because in his own words he wasn’t a good ball-striker at that stage of his career. Byrne said he “scrapped” to get around the course because of the difficult situations he’d put himself in.

“I’d come out here and hit three greens and shoot 68, chip in twice and make every putt I looked at.”

Byrne said a strong short game, especially with the flat stick, has always been his strength. Just don’t ask him to explain why, because it leads to some head-scratching.

“I’ve always been a good putter,” Byrne said. “I don’t know why. I do a lot of visualization, where I look at the hole and I pick out a little spot on the hole. I don’t think about anything, I don’t know my stroke, I don’t care about it. If the ball goes in the hole, that’s all that matters. I play a lot of golf through my eyes. I can walk onto courses and look at the greens, and I don’t know if it’s the colour of them, or the way they feel under my feet, or when I put a putter down, but I can step onto a green and be like ‘I’m gonna putt good this week’.”

Because Byrne plays golf by touching and feeling his way around the course, he said he expects himself to do well in the Jamieson, since it is being played at a course he has played “a thousand times”.

“Going in to Roseland, I feel good,” Byrne said. “I feel good, it kind of fits my eye. I’ll be staying at home, it’s a place I can drive to. I grew up there, I have a comfort zone. I know most of the breaks on the greens, and I’ve got my uncle caddying for me, so between the two of us, I figure we’ll know at least every single read on the greens.”

“I know people are going to come out and watch and support. I’m the one Windsor guy on the tour right now, it’s my home course, it’s my mini major. I’m expecting big things.”

“I’d call myself a dark horse (to win). I’m expecting to do well.”

Byrne, who turned pro to compete in – and ultimately win – the Golf Channel’s Big Break: Indian Wells last year is in his rookie year on the Canadian Tour. His highest finish through five events is a tie for 47th at the ATB Financial Classic. The Jamieson is being played at Roseland Golf and Country Club and will run from August 16-19.