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By Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

LEMONT, Ill. -- In 30th place in the FedExCup standings, Jonathan Byrd entered the BMW Championship, the third of four events in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, feeling enough pressure without thinking about the concept of the first playoff series in PGA TOUR history.

After winning the John Deere Classic earlier this summer, Jonathan Byrd's game is on the rise. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

JONATHAN BYRD IN 2007

Category Total Rank Driving Distance 291.9 yds. 69 Driving Accuracy 60.40% 127 Greens in Regulation 63.08% 114 Putts Per Round 28.49 12 Sand Saves 60.83% 2 Scoring Average 70.37 48 FedExCup Points 94,271 30 Money Leaders $1,557,906 38

• Jonathan Byrd's Player Page

Byrd has never qualified for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, and he had little idea what kind of a finish he would need this week to ensure that he would remain in the top 30 and advance to the final Playoff event. But he's smart enough to realize that if he can make the math work on his scorecard, the points tend to take care of themselves.

Intent on being aggressive and earning his first trip to storied East Lake Golf Club, Byrd came out firing Thursday on a soggy Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, racked up eight birdies and tallied a 7-under-par 64 to seize the first-round lead by a stroke over Justin Rose and Camillo Villegas.

A winner earlier this year in Silvis, Ill., at the John Deere Classic, Byrd, 29, seems to harbor the appropriate mindset as mental and physical fatigue set in. This is no time to hold anything back.

"Being 30th and kind of on the bubble, I knew I would have to stay aggressive this week," Byrd said after taking the lead after 18 holes for just the second time in his career. "I can't say, you know, I've got to finish 15th this week or I'm not getting in or I've got to finish 30th. I don't know what that's going to be because I don't know how the other guys are going to play. I might as well shoot to win the golf tournament."

Sounds like a good plan, especially for a guy who has never finished better than 20th at Cog Hill. And given that the course was there to be plundered and that the field was competing under lift, clean and place rules -- which means a player can improve the lie of his golf ball in the fairway -- was optimal for green-light golf.

Byrd never let his foot off the gas, hitting 12 of 14 fairways to set up series of birdie chances -- in essence, creating his own BMW driving experience.

"Whenever it plays soft, you've got to alter your game plan and get more aggressive and hit your iron shots into the greens," he said. "Usually you're playing away from some of these hole locations, and today you just kind of had to keep firing at them just because the greens were soft."

Byrd admittedly is a different player since he won the John Deere Classic, which he did with a late birdie burst to edge Tim Clark by a stroke. Byrd, of St. Simons Island, Ga., had missed the cut in his four previous starts before his third PGA TOUR title and wasn't hitting the ball particularly well, especially off the tee. Now he's rolling.

"It's amazing what winning does for you confidence wise. It just does a lot for you. You get in position to win and you do it, and then you just feel like you go to the next tournament and try to win that one. So it's very addictive, winning."

As well as he performed at the Deere, however, Byrd's game is rising. And he knows it, thus the desire to extend his run in the Playoffs. "You know, I'm playing a lot better than I was probably that week at John Deere. My game is sharper."

He credits his recent surge -- which includes three top-25 finishes -- to adhering to a bit of simple advice that is alarmingly simple yet makes him technically better. Swing easier and hit it harder, not to mention straighter.

"My caddie, my swing instructor, my mental coach, they constantly ingrain in me to swing 85 percent. I'm doing a better job of that. But when I start to feel uncomfortable on the golf course, I just start swinging harder and harder. I've been doing a good job of getting away from that and been swinging within myself."

And, yet, he is swinging for the fences this week. A victory clears up all doubts about his standing for next week. After that, well, there's no reason to change his mindset.

"Honestly, I want to play next week more than -- just as much as anybody else," he said. "It's really important to get in the TOUR Championship. It's a tournament I've never played in. I've never made the Top 30, and I'm competitive right now. I want to be there. I want to have a chance to win this tournament and next week. I want to be there."

He keeps this up, and he will be there.