In weather conditions so ferocious that one competitor shot 91 and 47 others posted second-round scores in the 80s, it was only fitting that one of the PGA TOUR’s quietest and calmest players, Mark Hayes, stepped into the spotlight to win the 1977 PLAYERS Championship. “That was him, such a quiet star,â€� said Doug Tewell, who grew up in Oklahoma with Hayes, traveled the PGA TOUR with him, and considered him one of his closest friends. “I asked him once how he didn’t show his nerves, how he kept so calm, and he told me, pointing to his gut, ‘You’ve got to keep (the nerves) in here and not let them percolate to your hands.’ â€� Hayes, whose win at the 1977 PLAYERS was the last of three PGA TOUR wins in a solid 19-year career, died Monday at the age of 69 in Edmond, Oklahoma. Hayes’ death was confirmed by his oldest brother, Larry Hayes, the General Manager at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. He was 69 and had been ill for more than a year. “He had a great career and was a big influence on me,â€� said Tewell, a four-time PGA TOUR winner who was inducted along with Hayes into the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame in October 2017. Tewell told John Rhode of the golfoklahoma.org website that Hayes was the junior golfer everyone was chasing back in the 1960s, but no one, not even Tewell, could catch him. “Yet, we were friends. I’m not even sure we really knew we were rivals.â€� Having been a star player for famed Oklahoma State golf coach Labron Harris, Hayes made it onto the PGA TOUR and had four top 10s in 34 starts during his rookie year, 1974. In 1976 he won twice, at the Byron Nelson Golf Classic and Pensacola Open, but besides his notable bucket hat, what put Hayes in the spotlight was the first PLAYERS Championship to be played in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Mark Hayes won three times on the PGA TOUR, which includes his win at the 1977 PLAYERS Championship. (Michael O’Bryon/PGA TOUR) More than the brutal second-round conditions at Sawgrass Country Club, what then PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman vividly remembers was the way Hayes sealed his win. “He hit his (approach) shot over the green on the last hole, into a bunker,â€� said Beman, “and he hit absolutely one of the best bunker shots I’ve ever seen.â€� Trying to hold off Mike McCullough, Hayes stood over his ball, which had run through a flat bunker to the back but stayed on the downslope up against the rough. Calmly, as was his nature, Hayes, choked down on a mid-iron and played a shot-maker’s shot, a bump-and-run through the sand. The ball hopped across a small strip of rough down to about 4 or 5 feet and with a round of 72, Hayes finished at 9-over 289 to win by two over McCullough, who had started the fourth round tied with Tom Watson, one ahead of Hayes. And just where did Tewell find Hayes, to finally offer congratulations? “He was in his work shop at home, changing his shafts in his irons,â€� said Tewell. “I said, ‘Are you nuts? You just won THE PLAYERS Championship.’ But that was Mark. He was a perfectionist.â€� There’s a special place in Beman’s heart for Hayes, for the 1977 PLAYERS was the first to be played where the PGA TOUR is headquartered. “The conditions were tough,â€� said Beman of 40-mph winds that caused havoc in Round 2 and produced the highest aggregate score by a winner in the 45 years of THE PLAYERS. “But he was calm, and he played well.â€� Later in 1977, Hayes had a memorable second-round 63 at Turnberry – then an Open Championship record – to get within two of Roger Maltbie’s lead. But he closed 72-73 as that championship morphed into Watson’s unforgettable “Duel in the Sunâ€� win over Jack Nicklaus. Hayes likely would have qualified for the 1977 Ryder Cup, only rules at the time mandated that players had to have five years of service, which precluded his selection. But when Watson withdrew from the 1979 team, Hayes replaced him and was part of the Americans’ 17-11 win over the first European Team at The Greenbrier. Hayes lost both his team matches, but won, 1 up, in singles over Spain’s Antonio Garrido. Though he never won again after the 1977 PLAYERS, Hayes had a productive career. He was easily within the top 125 on the money list for 14 straight years. By 1993 he was a part-time player on the PGA TOUR and focused on his golf course design and construction business. Hayes returned to play two seasons on the PGA TOUR Champions, 2000 and 2001, but was more committed to his business ventures. “He was just a good man, who provided well for his family (wife Jana, sons Ryan and Kelly) and was a dear friend,â€� said Tewell. “I’m going to miss him dearly.â€� Besides his wife and two sons, Hayes is survived by a grandchild.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – A month ago, Brittany Lincicome happened to be paired with Michelle Wie at the LPGA event in Arkansas. So she tried to pick Wie’s brain about what it was like to play in a PGA TOUR event – which the Hawaiian did eight times as a teenager and Lincicome will do at this week’s Barbasol Championship. Not a lot of good that did her. “She wasn’t very helpful,â€� Lincicome said with a chuckle. “(She) said she couldn’t remember it was so long ago.â€� Ten years, to be exact. When Lincicome steps to the 10th tee at 9:59 a.m. ET on Thursday, she’ll become the sixth woman to play in a TOUR event, joining Wie, who was the last, Annika Sorenstam, Suzy Whaley, Shirley Spork and Babe Didrikson Zaharias. And Lincicome, who is playing with Sam Ryder and Conrad Shindler, plans to soak it all in. “To be playing in the practice round today, hitting on the driving range, it’s kind of surreal,â€� Lincicome said. “I just can’t stop smiling. … I can’t wait until Thursday.â€� Lincicome has won eight times on the LPGA Tour and played in six Solheim Cups. She narrowly missed getting her ninth victory on Sunday, too, when a birdie putt did a 340-degree spin out of the hole and Lincicome ended up losing on the first hole of sudden death. Even with such impressive credentials, Lincicome knows she’ll be nervous. But, hey, Juli Inkster always told her if she wasn’t she wouldn’t be human. “Obviously I’ve heard many times I would be first LPGA or female person to make the cut in a men’s event,â€� Lincicome said. “(I’m) trying to block that all out and just go out and play and have fun and play my own game and not be too tense or uptight about it.

“I think if I can do that and take a few slow breaths and not pass out on the first hole, I’ll be OK.â€� Lincicome, who represents Barbasol’s parent company, Perio, Inc., is one of the LPGA’s biggest hitters. When she was a kid, she remembers working as a standard bearer at the JC Penney Classic, and one of teams she got to see up close and personal was John Daly and Laura Davies. “That’s probably why I like hitting it far now,â€� she said. Lincicome’s average driving distance, measured on two holes each week, is 269.520 yards, which ranks her 10th on the LPGA. That’s just 6 yards out of No. 1 – but outside the top 200 on the PGA TOUR. So Lincicome — who joked that it felt like the Monday qualifier she played with on Tuesday, Dominico Geminiani, was “outdriving me by 100 yards, it felt likeâ€� — knows she’ll be at a disadvantage. Champions Trace, which hosts the Barbasol Championship, measures more than 778 yards longer than the course the LPGA played last week. Even so, in the nine holes Lincicome and Geminiani played on Tuesday, she had one hybrid to a green and otherwise, her longest club was a 5-iron. “It’s really not that bad, and 5-iron is one of my favorite clubs, so that’s OK,â€� Lincicome said with characteristic positivity.

“But, yeah, just the par-5s, won’t be able to get to the par-5s. Have to lay it up to my favorite number, make birdie, and take advantage of those holes for sure. Keep it in the fairway.â€� Geminiani, who saw Lincicome several times when he was working at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota, Florida, which is about 50 minutes from her Gulfport home, came away impressed with her game. “I think she’ll be just fine,â€� he said. “A lot of the holes are doglegs. She’s been playing really well, too.â€� Lincicome said she was “speechlessâ€� when she got the invitation to play in the Barbasol Championship. And she has felt nothing but good vibes in the two months since the announcement was made – she hasn’t even had to block anyone on social media, Lincicome said with a grin — as well as during her first day at Keene Trace Golf Club. “All the guys on the putting green, in the lunchroom, everyone has been super supportive, which is great,â€� Lincicome said. “They’re all like, it’s great that you’re here. Thanks for coming. “I was like, thanks for having me, you know.â€� Lincicome, who played on the boys team at her high school, expects to learn things this week that will make her a better player when she returns to normalcy on the LPGA Tour. And as for what the men might learn from her? “Probably more like not so much the golf, but like what kind of snacks do I have in my bag, how many fish have I caught recently.â€� Lincicome said. “Maybe lighten up a little bit on the course. When I hit a bad shot I try to still be chatty and not too uptight about it.

“I don’t know, maybe they can learn that.â€� Lincicome saw a familiar face in her gallery on Tuesday. She met a father and his daughter at the U.S. Women’s Open and they planned to come to the Barbasol Championship but the young girl was ill. Instead, her father brought the photo they took with Lincicome for her to sign. “Playing in this event is just great for stuff like that,â€� she said. “If I can inspire one child to pick up the game of golf and want to play, I feel like my job as a pro has been succeeded. “To influence any child is pretty cool to be in the position we are, so any time I see kids I always try to give them a ball or a glove or make sure I sign their autograph. That might be that one autograph that will bring them back next time, and that’s a pretty cool feeling.â€�

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