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 The last time the 42-year-old Wisconsin native came to these parts for a golf tournament, he had no idea what was happening.
It was the final round of the PODS Championship outside Tampa, about an hour away down Interstate 4. What felt like heart palpitations turned more serious when Hayes felt so lightheaded he thought he was going to pass out. He dropped to a knee walking down the first fairway, and before long had his shirt off and an oxygen mask strapped to his face as he waited for the ambulance.
"All week I felt pretty weak and pretty tired, and pretty concerned about what was going on," he said.
After a night in the hospital, then seven days of testing at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, he finally got his answer. Hayes said he suffers from vaso-vagal syncope, which in his simple terms meant his blood pressure would drop when it should be rising.
He now treats it by taking the right kind of fluids, combining that with electrolytes and salt tablets. It changed his perspective on golf, although he always had a calm outlook, anyway.
"At first, I was happy to be out here," he said. "Then it was like,
'I've got to go play.'"
His work isn't over, even though Hayes has a $15,999 cushion in the final PGA Tour event of the year. The way the Fall Series has gone, no one feels safe with nine players already moving into the top 125 over the last six weeks.
Hayes started the Fall Series at No. 113 and already has fallen 10 spots.
"Everyone has shown a lot of heart," he said. "Unfortunately, it's eating away at my comfort."
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. 2 10 can only keep his card with a victory.
Such concerns now seem but small details to someone like Hayes.
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Perspective came in another package during the pro-am portion of his tournament when he was paired in the first round with Zak Russell, a 19-year-old from Toronto who was born two months premature with a bad connection between the trachea and esophagus, meaning it could allow food or stomach acid into his lungs.
Russell has gone through 14 surgeries, and has survived to sport a good game in golf, snowboarding and football.
"You look at that and say, 'Wow!' Hayes said. "That's the important stuff in life."
Tadd Fujikawa, the 16-year-old from Hawaii playing on a sponsor's exemption, birdied three straight holes early in his round before a couple of three-putts slowed his momentum. He settled for a 71, leaving him a chance to make his first cut as a pro. With the Magic Kingdom across the street, he picked the perfect metaphor for his round.
"It was a roller-coaster out there," he said.
It has been that way for most players in the Fall Series, many of whom are trying to secure their positions inside the top 125 for next year, with a few of them
-- Leonard, for one -- hopeful of cracking the top 30 to get into the Masters.
Beckman has already gone through the drill.
He was 149th in the FedEx Cup standings, missing the playoffs by a mere 153 points. That gave him a four-week vacation, enough time for him to take stock of his position and realize he'd better to get to work. He had seven weeks to avoid another trip to Q-school.
"I got ready to go," he said. "I knew my position coming into the Fall Series. I don't want to go to tour school. And with the FedEx Cup, you don't want to be in the tour school."
No need to worry now. Beckman tied for third in Las Vegas to get on the cusp of that magic No. 125, then broke through last week in south Florida with a tie for fifth that moved him up to No. 118, essentially securing his card for next year.
"Compared to the stress level I've had the last six weeks, this was nothing," Beckman said. "I felt like I was playing a practice round."
[Associated Press; By DOUG FERGUSON]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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