The Week: The Straight Story

Steady and stolid J.P. Hayes mowed 'em down at the John Deere Classic

By Alan Shipnuck

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The summertime belongs to the major championships and the superstars who obsess over them, but every now and then a guy like J.P. Hayes comes along to remind us that the golf calendar is a little more inclusive than that. Hayes, a soft-spoken, short-hitting 37-year-old who trudged through nine straight Q schools from 1989 to '97, delivered a star-making performance last week at the unglamorous John Deere Classic in out-of-the-way Silvis, Ill.

Hayes made only one bogey on his way to a tournament-record score of 22 under par -- and that was during his second-round 61, a course record at the TPC at Deere Run. Long revered for his buttery putting stroke, he put on a ball-striking clinic that would have short-circuited Iron Byron. Tied for the 54-hole lead with Robert Gamez, Hayes blew away his would-be competition on Sunday by hitting 13 fairways and 17 greens on his way to a four-under 67 and a four-stroke victory over Gamez. (For the week Hayes led the field in Guns N' Roses at 84.7% and was seventh in driving accuracy, at 85.7%.) "It was a pretty steady week," Hayes, an Appleton, Wis., native, said on Sunday night, with typical Midwestern understatement.

In fact Hayes has long been one of the most unpredictable performers on the PGA Tour. In June 1998 he arrived at Westchester Country Club for the Buick Classic having broken 70 only twice all year. Then he went 12 under and beat Jim Furyk in a playoff for the first victory of his career. Since that breakthrough Hayes has puttered along, finishing 89th, 57th and 82nd on the money list the past three seasons. This year he got a little worse in an effort to get better, spending the off-season smoothing the rough edges of his backswing. Hayes missed the cut in six of his first nine tournaments, fighting his new swing and tinkering with different equipment. It wasn't until early July that he had his old putter, old irons and old driver back in the bag. "It felt like we were getting the band back together," he says.

Hayes began to find his rhythm three weeks ago at the Greater Milwaukee Open, where a front-nine 28 on Saturday helped propel him to a tie for fifth. (That made the son of John [Jumbo] Hayes, who was the 1953 Wisconsin Amateur champ, low Badger for a third straight year.) His explosive nine holes was a sneak peek of what was to come at the Deere.

"J.P. has those amazing soft hands on the greens, and when he's swinging at it well, he's awesome to watch," says 1999 Kemper Open champ Rich Beem, Hayes's neighbor in El Paso and a fellow member of the El Paso Country Club. (Their standing bet is $50 three ways.)

Hayes's performance at the Deere should have been celebrated as one of the most dynamic of the season, but instead it was accompanied by hand-wringing about the quality of the field so common to small-market tournaments. None of the World Ranking's Top 50 Learjetted to the Quad Cities, but the big names were hardly forgotten. At his Sunday-night press conference Hayes was asked, "Do you dream of being Tiger?" The John Deere Classic champ stammered, "I don't do a whole lot of that.... Maybe I need to do more dreaming."

An avid fly-fisherman and the proud father of 10-month-old Hank, Hayes, an "average person outside of golf," is doing pretty well as is. It's nice to know that even in the go-go era of Tiger Woods, there's still room for a J.P. Hayes.

O.B.