Marcus Byrd goes wire to wire in securing his seventh APGA Tour victory at APGA at Port St. Lucie
PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (May 20, 2025) – Marcus Byrd rejoined the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour for a week’s break from playing on the PGA TOUR Americas tour with the belief that he had found his best form in 2025. As it turned out, his third APGA event of the year proved to be quite the charm.
Washington D.C. native Byrd posted a two-day total of 11-under-par 133 at PGA Golf Club – Dye Course to win the APGA at Port St. Lucie on Tuesday by two strokes over Illinois native Brian Ohr. Byrd won his seventh career APGA Tour title and earned a $7,500 winner’s prize from a $25,000 overall purse and 500 Cisco Cup Series points, rising to second place in those points standings.
“I just feel like I’ve been playing some good golf over the last month-and-a-half. These last two days, it just kind of all came together at the right time,” said Byrd, a Temple Hills, Md. resident who is a product of the First Tee-Greater Washington, DC program and was the 2019 Conference USA Golfer of the Year following his senior year at Middle Tennessee State University.
Of late, it has been a barnstorming tour of golf for Byrd, who arrived to the APGA at Port St. Lucie after posting three consecutive top-10 results on the PGA TOUR Americas tour over the past four weeks. He flies to Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday to tee it up in this week’s PGA TOUR Americas event, which begins on Thursday.
Byrd, 27, finished runner-up in his 2025 APGA debut at the Cisco APGA Black History Month Classic at TPC Sawgrass in February. Turns out the decision to catch up with the APGA Tour in Florida this week was wise and worthwhile.
Byrd blitzed the field during Monday’s opening round, tallying a score of 8-under 64 which included a stretch of eight birdies in nine holes (Nos. 5-13). It gave him a two-shot lead over another APGA golfer from the Mid-Atlantic, Everett Whiten Jr., a Chesapeake, Va. native who played collegiately at Hampton University (Va.) and Howard University (Washington D.C.).
After carding a bogey on the first hole on Tuesday, Byrd’s sluggish start to the final round began to turn around with a crucial par save on the par-4 fourth hole, enabling him to regain a wave of positive momentum that carried over to him posting his first birdies of the round on holes 5 and 7.
As Byrd approached the turn, his lead had whittled down to one stroke over Ohr (9-under 135), whose final-round score of 6-under 66 featured a spurt of four birdies in five holes (Nos. 4-8). However, Byrd restored himself to a comfortable lead that would not be challenged again following birdies at the 10th, 12th and 14th holes.
Said Byrd: “I had a really good up-and-down on the fourth hole. I hit my second shot way left. I was in the rough, short-sided to a pin, and I hit this high flop shot to six feet, and then I rolled it in. That just gave me a little more confidence moving forward.”
Byrd has made seven PGA TOUR starts since March 2022, the most recent of which was his only cut made, a T-53 finish at November’s RSM Classic. His most notable berth on the PGA TOUR came in his second career start as he was awarded the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption into the Tiger Woods-hosted Genesis Invitational at iconic Riviera Country Club in 2023.
A host of Florida residents finished in the top six from the APGA at Port St. Lucie’s field of 49 golfers. Juan Jose Guerra (Orlando resident) and John-Baptiste Hakizimana (Hobe Sound) were among a trio which tied for third place at 8-under 136.
Orlando residents Willie Mack III, a 15-time APGA champion, and Luis Gagne, a two-time 2025 APGA runner-up, tied for sixth place at 7-under 137 alongside Lake Mary resident Gabe Lench.
Two-time reigning APGA Tour Player of the Year and 2024 APGA at Port St. Lucie champion Chase Johnson, of Boynton Beach, Fla., placed T17 at 2-under 142.
Johnson is one of seven 2025 APGA members – along with Jordan Bohannon, Christian Heavens, Michael Herrera, Troy Taylor II, Andrew Walker and Whiten Jr. – who has advanced to the U.S. Open’s Final (Sectional) Qualifying round, to be played on June 2 at nine U.S. sites and one site in Canada.
The APGA Tour hosts its sixth tournament of the year at the APGA at TPC Scottsdale (Ariz.) from June 2-4, and the 2025 season runs through November with 17 tournaments from coast to coast.
