Top 100 players to watch in 2011: No. 100 Jonathan Byrd

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A shot hit in near-darkness proved there was light at the end of the tunnel for Jonathan Byrd -- turning a forgettable year into a springboard for potential success in 2011. The walk-off ace ended a four-hole playoff with high drama and gave Byrd the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open title.

Outside the Ropes Shriners Hospitals win Making good contact

The victory was the fourth title of his PGA TOUR career.

But prior to the signature strike that traveled airborne about 194 yards before hitting the green and tracking 10 more into the cup, Byrd had only posted three top-10 finishes. The former Clemson All-American had played just one event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup after advancing to the third in each of the first three years. He was looking at what would have been his second-lowest earnings total -- the $774,000 he earned in Vegas was more than his cumulative total for the 25 previous events -- and it might have marked only the second time Byrd had failed to hit seven figures since he joined the TOUR in 2002.

After a string of six straight missed cuts that ended at the Memorial Tournament, though, Byrd began to get back on track -- failing to play the weekend just once in his final 12 starts of the season. If he can harness his driver on the range back at home on Sea Island and get the putter grooved again, Byrd could be coming up aces again in 2011.

Hit the best shot of the year in 2010 -- the PGA TOUR's first-ever walk off ace.

Deserves to have a plaque on the 17th tee at TPC Summerlin, where he struck his walk-off hole-in-one to win in Las Vegas. Of more relevance to fantasy owners, he's steady as he goes, particularly tee-to-green. Will bite more than benefit in weekly games, so stick with the long-term investment. Perfect value at $1.534 million.

Here's how Jonathan Byrd has ranked in three key categories in the last five years

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010*   28th 55th 66th 105th 63rd 42nd 101st 67th 55th 97th 60th 157th 144th 114th

* - end of 2010 PGA TOUR season

HOW THE RATINGS ARE COMPILED
Power Rating: An aggregate score based on several Off the Tee statistics used to measure a player's performance off the tee. The statistics used to compute this are: Driving Distance, Percentage of Drives over 300 yards and Percentage of Drives over 320 yards.
Accuracy Rating: An aggregate score based on several Off the Tee and Approach the Green statistics used to measure a player's overall accuracy from tee to green. The statistics used to compute this are: Driving Accuracy, GIR over 100 yards and Proximity to Hole over 100 yards.
Short Game Rating: An aggregate score based on several Around the Green statistics used to measure a player's performance 100 yards and in (not including putting). The statistics used to compute this are: Scrambling, Proximity to the Hole (PTH) from sand, PTH from Rough, PTH from fringe, PTH from less than 100 yards and Greens in Regulation from less than 100 yards.
Putting Rating: An aggregate score based on several Putting statistics used to measure a player's performance on the green. The statistics used to compute this are: Putting Average, Putting inside 5 feet, Putting from 5-15 feet, Putting from 15-25 feet, Average distance of putts made and 3-putt avoidance over 25 feet.
Scoring Rating: Score used to measure a player's performance on scoring. The statistic used to compute this is Scoring Average.