Hayes grabs 1-shot lead at Disney World
J.P. Hayes is feeling much better about his health than the last time he played a PGA Tour event at Walt Disney World.
And thanks to a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Disney, his prospects for keeping his tour card are looking good, too.
Hayes turned a sloppy hole into a birdie on the par-5 10th at Magnolia, then ran off 4 more birdies in wet and windy conditions to build a 1-shot lead in the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla..
Hayes is No. 123 on the money list with a $16,599 cushion. This is the final event of the PGA Tour season, and the way the fall series has gone, no one feels safe. Already, nine players have cracked into the top 125.
"I wouldn't say I was worried about it," Hayes said. "I'd really like to finish in the top 125. Everybody would like to perform better and play less, like Tiger. Unfortunately, not all of us can."
Cameron Beckman, who secured his card last week, played with a sore back but virtually no stress and raced out to a bogey-free 66 in the morning on the longer, tougher Magnolia course. He was joined by Scott Verplank and Ryuji Imada, who played the Palm Course.
Justin Leonard, Woody Austin and Tim Clark, three guys who have no worries about next year, were in a large group at 65 with a couple of guys still sweating it out -- Dicky Pride, who is at No. 159, and Tag Ridings, who at No. 210 can only keep his card with a victory.
Such concerns now seem but small details to someone like Hayes, 42, who was far more worried about his heart earlier this season.
He was playing the PODS Championship in Tampa in March when he felt heart palpitations, then dropped to his knees with a light head while walking down the first fairway of the final round.
He was taken to the hospital overnight, wondering if he had suffered a stroke. After seven days of tests at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, doctors diagnosed and treated him for vaso-vagal syncope, in which his blood pressure drops when it should be rising. He has since returned to the tour.
Nationwide Tour Championship: Michael Letzig, No. 26 on the Nationwide Tour money list, opened with an eye-popping course-record 11-under 60 for a 3-shot lead at the Nationwide Tour Championship at Lakeside, Calif.
Gary Christian and Tjaart van der Walt opened with 63, James Driscoll shot a 64, and Jim McGovern, B.J. Staten and Martin Laird had 65s at Barona Creek Golf Club.
The top 25 players on the Nationwide Tour money list following this event will earn PGA Tour cards for the 2008 season.
Volvo Masters: England's Justin Rose had a hole-in-one in his 1-under 70 in the first round of the Volvo Masters at Sotogrande, Spain, and was 1 stroke ahead of Ireland's Padraig Harrington in the Order of Merit race for the European Tour's season money title.
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell was the tournament leader, shooting a 68 in swirling wind. Ireland's Paul McGinley, the 2005 winner at Valderrama was a stroke back.
Rose, who trails Harrington by $948, aced the third hole with a 6-iron.