| Rye,
N.Y. 14th June 1998 -
J.P.Hayes birdied the first playoff hole today to beat Jim Furyk
and earn his first PGA Tour victory at a tournament shortened to 54 holes because
of rain. "I
can't describe it and I don't think it's even hit me," Hayes said. "It's
an incredible feeling of satisfaction that I could play like that under the circumstances."
Hayes said the
first-prize money of $324,000 at the Buick Classic was nice -- he had only made
$368,610 in five years on tour -- but nothing like the two-year exemption for
PGA Tour events and the guarantee that he will not have to qualify to play on
tour in 1999. "This
will be the first year in eight or nine years I am not going to fill out an application
for qualifying school," he said. Asked
about his plans for next week, Hayes he would go home to El Paso, Texas, and mow
the lawn. He failed to qualify for the U.S. Open but plans to watch it on television.
The 32-year-old
Hayes has bounced back and forth from the PGA Tour to the Nike Tour since 1991,
depending how he has done on each tour and in qualifying school. Hayes
said he surprised himself not so much by winning but by controlling his emotions
doing it. "I
was calm," he said. "I thought in that situation I'd be throwing up
all over myself." Just
the same, Hayes probably got a little queasy on the last hole of regulation. Trailing
by one stroke, Furyk knocked the ball within 10 feet on the par-5 18th with his
second shot. Hayes
was in a greenside bunker in two. He hit within two feet and, after Furyk made
eagle to momentarily take the lead, Hayes tapped in for birdie to force the playoff.
Both golfers
started the day tied for the lead at nine under and both shot 3-under-par 68s
to finish at 201. No other golfer made a serious move. Tom
Lehman finished third at 9-under 204, thanks to six birdies in a final-round 65,
the best score of the day. Bruce Fleisher was fourth at 205 after shooting a closing
69. Furyk drove
into the left rough on the playoff hole -- the 18th -- and when he tried to duplicate
the sensational 241-yard 3-wood he had hit to the green minutes earlier, he hooked
the ball left into even deeper rough. His wedge was on the back edge of the green,
40 feet from the cup and he missed his birdie attempt by three feet. Hayes,
meanwhile, was on the fringe in two, hit his first putt within six feet and knocked
the second one into the center of the cup. The
tournament was cut to 54 holes because heavy rain and lightning prevented Friday's
second round from being completed until this morning. Hayes had to play five holes
in the morning and come back for the closing round in the afternoon. Playing
in the final group, Hayes and Furyk were by turns brilliant and shaky during the
closing round. Hayes made birdies on Nos. 5, 6 and 7 to go 13 under and take his
biggest lead of the day at three shots. Furyk's birdie on 10 narrowed Hayes' margin
to two strokes. On
14, the pressure started to get to both players when they each three-putted. Furyk
got within a stroke on 15 by drilling a 4-iron to two feet for a birdie, but both
players missed putts of less than eight feet on the par-3 16th for two more bogeys.
The loss continued
Furyk's frustrating, but lucrative, string of near misses. In
his last three tournaments, Furyk has finished second at the Colonial, fourth
at the Memorial and second here and won $548,000. Furyk set a record in 1997 for
most prize money ever earned -- $1.6 million -- without winning a tournament.
"I am real
disappointed," Furyk said. "When you lose in a playoff and you have
a chance to win, second isn't good enough." Of
another second-place finish, his fifth since 1997, Furyk said, "It beats
the alternative. It beats playing poorly." First-round
leader Kevin Sutherland was only a stroke back as the final round started, but
fell out of contention with double bogeys on Nos. 8 and 14. He also had a three-foot
putt for par rim out on No. 12. He
shot a 71 and finished at 6-under 207 along with Bob Tway. DIVOTS:
"J.P." is short for John Patrick. ... Hayes' previous best finish was
tying for sixth at the Anheuser Busch Golf Classic in 1992. ... Players hitting
the fairways were allowed to lift, clean and place their ball within one club
length because of the mushy fairways. ... This was the third tournament of 1998
to be shortened to 54 holes because of rain following the AT&T Pebble Beach
National Pro-Am and the Buick Invitational. Players will return to Pebble Beach
on Aug. 17 to play the final round of that tournament. ... Hayes joined Jesper
Parnevik, Lee Westwood and Trevor Dodds as the first-time winners on the PGA Tour
this year. | 
