Michael Jancey "Briny" Baird (born May 11, 1972) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and Buy.com Tour.

Briny Baird
Personal information
Full nameMichael Jancey Baird
NicknameBriny
Born (1972-05-11) May 11, 1972 (age 51)
Miami Beach, Florida
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceJupiter, Florida
Career
CollegeGeorgia Institute of Technology
Valdosta State University
Turned professional1995
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Buy.com Tour
Golden Bear Tour
Professional wins3
Highest ranking53 (April 4, 2004)[1]
Number of wins by tour
Korn Ferry Tour1
Other2
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 2004, 2009
PGA ChampionshipT22: 2001
U.S. OpenT40: 2001
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2009

Early life edit

Baird was born in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of professional golfer Butch Baird. He played varsity golf in the 7th grade at Miami Country Day. He originally attended Georgia Tech before transferring to Valdosta State University where he won the NCAA Division II individual golf championship in 1994 and 1995. He turned professional in 1995.

Professional career edit

Baird won the 2000 Monterrey Open on the Buy.com Tour (now the Korn Ferry Tour). He currently plays on the PGA Tour, but a poor 2005 season saw him lose his card. His highest placing to date on the end of year tour money list was 22nd in 2003. In 2008, he finished 27th in FedEx Cup, automatically qualifying him for the 2009 PGA Tour season. Although he has never won a PGA Tour event, he has finished second on six separate occasions, most recently at the 2013 McGladrey Classic.

Baird is known for his odd putting style that worked for him when he was doing it as a drill and it just stuck. On May 19, 2009, Baird hit a 230-yard shot from the top of the Omni San Diego Hotel to a bulls-eye in the center of Petco Park in order to give everyone a free chicken wrap at P. F. Chang's China Bistro.[2]

In 2010, Baird entered the final event of the season 125th on the PGA Tour money list. He stumbled in the final round and a number of other players had better finishes. Baird finished 127th on the Tour, two spots out of retaining full Tour status.

In 2011, Baird nearly won his first PGA Tour event, the Frys.com Open. He lost on the sixth playoff hole to Bryce Molder. Despite the loss, the finish moved Baird from 148th to 93rd on the Tour's money list, which meant avoiding Q School.

Baird still has status on the PGA Tour via a medical exemption but he has not played a tour event since 2014.

Baird had the distinction of being the richest golfer never to win a PGA Tour event, earning over $13 million during his career, but coming up short six times.[3] Cameron Tringale now holds that status, as Baird is currently 3rd on that list behind Tringale and also British golfer Brian Davis.

Professional wins (3) edit

Buy.com Tour wins (1) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 Mar 13, 2000 Buy.com Monterrey Open −20 (66-69-67-66=268) 4 strokes   Mark Hensby

Golden Bear Tour wins (2) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 Aug 21, 1998 Waterford Crystal Invitational −12 (65-68-71=204) 2 strokes   Patrick Sheehan
2 Sep 11, 1998 Embassy Suites Classic −15 (68-66-67-70=271) 2 strokes   Robert Bilbo

Playoff record edit

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2011 Frys.com Open   Bryce Molder Lost to birdie on sixth extra hole

Results in major championships edit

Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Masters Tournament CUT CUT
U.S. Open T40 CUT CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship T22 T43 T39 T37 T42 CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary edit

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 5
Totals 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 6
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (2001 U.S. Open – 2003 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship edit

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The Players Championship T49 T11 T33 T56 CUT 4 CUT CUT WD WD
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships edit

Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Match Play R64
Championship T31
Invitational
Champions
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Week 14 2004 Ending 4 Apr 2004" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  2. ^ "PGA Tour Pro Briny Baird Hits the Bullseye and you get Free lettuce wraps at PF Changs". zimbio. May 19, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  3. ^ "All-time money leaders with no wins". PGA Tour. November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2013.

External links edit