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Eye Opener
ALAN SHIPNUCK
January 17, 2011
Most of the big names stayed home, but the Tour's winners-only kickoff event provided plenty of fireworks, as Jonathan Byrd outlasted Robert Garrigus for his fifth career victory
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January 17, 2011

Eye Opener

Most of the big names stayed home, but the Tour's winners-only kickoff event provided plenty of fireworks, as Jonathan Byrd outlasted Robert Garrigus for his fifth career victory

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Garrigus's passionate fist pumps on the 18th green were the day's defining highlight, but the biggest buzz came by way of Dustin Johnson, or, more specifically, his gallery, where LPGA starlet Natalie Gulbis was spotted. Rumors of their romance had been floating around the golf world for at least a month; on Saturday, Gulbis coyly confirmed to Golf.com that she and Johnson were dating, a coupling of good looks and talent and marketing muscle that instantly makes them golf's most glamorous twosome.

Byrd, who turns 33 on Jan. 27, will never generate any tabloid heat—he is a God-fearing Southern gentleman who is married with a four-year-old son, Jackson, and a two-year-old daughter, Caroline. Last week Jackson and his dad had a nightly ritual of stealing away to a hotel hot tub to soak under the stars. Byrd is prone to contemplating life's big questions; he says he enjoyed his on-course struggles during most of last year because it was a needed test of character. Now, after his latest victory, when Byrd looks to the heavens, he no longer needs to wonder about his place in the golf universe.

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