Where are they now: Hayes enjoying life as architect

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Editor's note: Many of the winners of THE PLAYERS Championship are still competing on the PGA TOUR or Champions Tour. PGATOUR.COM's Lauren Deason caught up with several, though, who have moved on to different pursuits.

Mark Hayes
1977 PLAYERS Champion

Winds gusting to 40 mph blew over a scoreboard and knocked Joe Inman out cold at THE PLAYERS Championship in 1977.

According to a report in the Washington Post that Friday, Ben Crenshaw joked in the locker room after particularly tough conditions, "Your attention, please. We have Jim Colbert in the interview area. Jim, tell us about your 88."

Mark Hayes survived "Black Friday" and shot a 74. He continued to plod along during the weekend, never expecting a victory and just trying to make par. On Sunday, though, when Tom Watson hit shots high in those windy conditions into more bunkers than greens, Hayes' strategy paid off with a victory.

Hayes was the first player to win THE PLAYERS after it moved to Jacksonville, Fla. But he didn't win at TPC Sawgrass -- the tournament's current home was not built until 1980. Instead, Hayes' win occurred at Sawgrass Country Club amidst some of the toughest conditions in the event's history on a course that was modified the next year to eliminate the dangerous bunkers around the greens.

The victory gave him a 10-year exemption on the PGA TOUR but Hayes never won again. He began devoting his time and concentration to his children and his golf course design business, which meant that he had less time to focus on golf.

"I really did not perform up to par after that point and I think I never was consistent enough to be considered a real good player out there. I had some swing flaws and things in my game," Hayes said. "I consider the field at (THE PLAYERS) to be as strong as or stronger than any the rest of the year so I was proud to win it. If I were to have backed it up with more wins, it would have been a lot more worthwhile."

He now lives in Edmond, Okla., and continues to work as a golf course architect. Hayes actually enjoys renovations as much as he does building his own courses.

"It's real steady and it's something I'll be able to do when I'm 80," Hayes said. "The golf industry needs people to renovate golf courses more than they need people to build golf courses because we have too many golf courses. Probably 75 percent of what I've done in the last five years has been in renovations."