Tryba was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. When he was four years old, he lost the sight in his left eye as the result of a freak accident. "I was standing in my yard on a windy day watching a big branch fall out of a tree. It got on me quick and hit me in the eye." All he could do was learn to adjust to his vision handicap. "I really had no big adjustments to make," he said. "If there is such a thing as a lucky accident, I guess that was it. If it had happened when I was a teenager or in my 20s, I may have had some problems. I see things a little different than everybody else. Sometimes it makes it difficult to do things, but I've never used it as a crutch."[citation needed]
Early in his career, Tryba had three victories on the Ben Hogan Tour, the name of the PGA Tour's developmental tour at the time. In the late 1990s, he won twice on the PGA Tour. His best finish in a major is T-31 at the 1999 PGA Championship.[2] He has featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings. The last cut he made on the PGA Tour was in 2005.
United States