PINE MOUNTAIN - Jonathan Byrd is the 17th first-time winner on the PGA Tour this season. He closed with a 9-under 63 to win the Buick Challenge at Pine Mountain Sunday.<br>
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Runnerup David Toms slipped an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole over the left edge of the cup. Had it dropped, he would have forced a playoff.<br>
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Byrd finished at 27-under-par 261, and had 27 birdies and two eagles over four rounds on a rain-softened course. The rookie of the year contender also hit his fiancee with a tee shot on the seventh hole. The shot, headed for a cluster of pine trees, hit Amanda Talley behind the left shoulder and bounced to a favorable lie in the rough, possibly saving Byrd a stroke or two.<br>
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Phil Mickelson closed with a 63 to finish third at 265.
