PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Go figure, on the day where the fog and weather came rolling in, Jonathan Byrd played like a fog had finally lifted for him.

Two years ago, it was a hip injury. Last year, it was a variety of things that derailed him. But on a Friday that started out with blue skies and sunshine, but ended overcast and cool, Byrd shot a 7-under 65 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am to move into a tie for second place, four shots behind leader Mike Weir.

“My game is good right now,” Byrd said. “I played really solid last week [a tie for seventh at the FBR Open] and I’ve been playing better and better as the year is going on. I’m just having a lot of fun playing golf right now, more so than last year.”

Last year was a year that Byrd would rather forget. He didn’t play very well. His confidence lagged. And off the course, his life wasn’t much better. Add those together and suddenly the sport loved become nothing more than just a job.

“I struggled last year and didn’t play very well. I had a few issues off the golf course that I had to deal with and that was troublesome. But most of all, I wasn’t real confident last year,” Byrd said. “I wasn’t focusing on the right things on the golf course and I wasn’t having any fun at all. That’s a bad combination pretty much.”

So little by little, Byrd worked on getting things in order. He started by getting his body in shape by working with a trainer. Then he started working on his mind by enlisting the help of sports psychologist Morris Pickens.

“He’s helped me with what I need to work on, what I need to focus on. Everyone is different, but it’s working,” Byrd said. He refused to elaborate on what specifically he’s working on other than the fact it’s “mainly just golf. I have had people ask me questions what we work on and my textbook answer is ‘I will tell you at the TOUR Championship.”

But being of sound mind and body does nothing if the swing isn’t working. Fortunately, this was the least of Byrd’s problems. Even throughout all the struggles, Byrd said his swing still looked pretty. The few adjustments made to that were nothing compared to the complete overhaul in his bag.

“I made the decision I just want to find the best stuff I can play with,” said Byrd, whose contract with Hogan expired and has since switched to Mizuno irons, Titleist balls and a Callaway driver. “I thought Mizuno was the best, Callaway was the best and Titleist was the best. I’m just playing the best stuff and it shows because I’m playing a lot better.”

Oh, and Byrd is making one more addition -- he’s expecting his first child.

“A lot of good stuff is going on right now,” he said. “It’s easy right now. Other than trying to get comfortable with being a dad soon, I still feel like a kid.”

A kid with a different outlook on life these days.

“Whenever you get like I was last year, you kind of lose perspective a little bit. I could be playing worse than I played last year and I’m still blessed. You can’t run away from that,” Byrd said. “My objective this year is to throw the results out the window. The results you see with scores and everything else are not my results for this year. I’m working on other things and it’s coming down shot by shot.

“If I do those things well, then I will play well.”

He proved just that on Friday.