The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
US Ryder Cup golfer Mark Hayes, 69
Mark Hayes, a professional golfer from Oklahoma, has died at the age of 69.
He was suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s disease and is survived by his wife Jana and sons Kelly and Ryan, as well as grandsons Parker and Clark.
Born in Stillwater, Mr Hayes played at Oklahoma State University, before turning professional in 1973.
He excelled at an early age and kept getting better and better.
He won multiple tournaments in his home state growing up and is considered one of the finest junior players Oklahoma has ever produced.
Known for wearing his signature bucket cap, Mr Hayes won three PGA tournaments in the United States in the 1970s and finished runner-up six times.
His premier tour victory came at the 1977 Tournament Players Championship. He also won four other professional titles, including the 1986 Tallahassee Open.
One of the finest moments of his career took place in Scotland in 1977, when he shot a record 63 in the second round of the Open on the Ailsa course at Turnberry.
Mr Hayes, who married Jana on New Year’s Eve in 1971, while he was on leave from the US Army, had a reputation as an early practitioner of strict diets and would not allow any junk food in the house, so much so that friends took to hiding brownies in his fridge for his wife.
Mr Hayes played on the victorious Ryder Cup team in 1979 and won his Sunday singles match against Antonio Garrido. He was supposed to be first alternate for the team and ended up replacing leading money-winner Tom Watson, who withdrew to be with his wife Linda for the birth of their first child.
All together, Mr Hayes won more than $2.1 million in official prize money, with 57 top 10 finishes and 150 top 25 finishes.
In the late 1980s, he began his own golf course design company and completed multiple projects throughout Oklahoma and neighbouring states and also had two projects in South Africa.