home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK CLASSIC PRESENTED BY WAL-MART


November 1, 2007


J.P. Hayes


LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: J.P. Hayes, thank you for joining us. After a 7 under 65 on the Magnolia course, you're currently the leader. Some opening comments? A good day for you and hopefully the start of a good week.
J.P. HAYES: Yeah, I played great. Hit the ball real solid. Hit a lot of greens. Made a lot of 15, 20-foot putts, so it was a lot of fun.

Q. Were you at all worried about your position on the money list? Or did you get a good enough look you think you're okay or what?
J.P. HAYES: Yeah, you'd probably know better than I do. But I wouldn't say worried about it. I'd watch it like everybody, you know. I would really much like to finish in the top 125. But if I don't, you know, I'm still going to play a pretty fair share of tournaments. Probably closer to what I usually play. Normally, rather than a year like this, I think I played 29 tournaments this year, and it's ridiculous.

Q. What did you come out of place for?
J.P. HAYES: No, I was 126 to 150 last year, and I played in 18 tournaments. Made enough to finish 120, top 125. But I think everybody would like to perform better and play less like Tiger does, you know. But unfortunately not all of us can do that.
But anyway, to answer your question, I'm not worried about it, but I do look at it.

Q. You played a significant amount in the fall. I didn't memorize it?
J.P. HAYES: I played this is my sixth in a row, so I've played the last six tournaments of the year.

Q. And missing the cut last week?
J.P. HAYES: Uh-huh.

Q. And after Viking was a halfway decent week, it looked like?
J.P. HAYES: Yeah, I played pretty good there after three weeks off or whatever we had off. I didn't play the last two FedEx Cups, and I skipped Turning Stone. So three weeks off, I played pretty good.

Q. You've just kind of been the same as you said a minute ago?
J.P. HAYES: My?

Q. Your game?
J.P. HAYES: My game. Yeah, you know, I've seen times where I'm really optimistic about how I'm playing. And there were times last week I missed the cut, but a lot of things can go into that. And you really don't get a feel for what a player's doing just by looking at his score.
I felt pretty confident leading last week, though pretty disappointed. But I hit the ball great the last nine holes. I needed to make a lot of birdies to make the cut, and I almost did it, so I got a little confidence out of that.

Q. Looking back at this area of Florida, you seemed to be in much better shape than the last time we saw you in these parts. Can you talk about what ever transpired from that, what they found out and how soon you felt like you were back to normal?
J.P. HAYES: Yeah, you're talking about the Tampa tournament, and I couldn't finish the tournament. I have a condition called Vaso-vagal syncope.
Basically what it is is a condition where my blood pressure would drop. I'm simplifying it, but my blood pressure will drop at a time where it should be picking up.
So when I'm walking down the first fairway in Tampa and my blood pressure is not sufficient enough to give me that level feeling or whatever, that I needed.
So anyway, I went to the Mayo Clinic and had a bunch of tests done, and finally got an answer. It was something that I had been searching for for several months, and spent a lot of time in hospitals doing tests. Nobody had given me a good answer for why I felt that way. Finally went to the best of the best, and they told me what it was.
I've had instances since then of it, but, you know, I know what it is and how to treat it, so.

Q. What are the manifestations of it? How does it feel like, or what happened in Tampa? Is it take a knee time?
J.P. HAYES: I felt like I was going to pass out. I had experienced some heart palpitations. Not a fast heart, but a really slow heart, and that was all week. So all week I felt pretty weak and pretty tired and concerned about what was going on.
But that morning it was just an overwhelming light-headedness. I felt like I'm going to go down right here and that's going to be it.
I still didn't get an answer for it. So I don't know if I'm having a stroke or heart attack or what I'm having. So that doesn't help either.

Q. What are the symptoms?
J.P. HAYES: I just pay attention to my fluid intake. And I combine that with electrolytes and salt tablets. My sodium level gets very low, and the electrolytes get very low. Therefore the more water I drink, I further dilute that situation and it does more harm.
In an effort to drink more fluids and get more hydrated, I can make the situation worse if my electrolyte level isn't sufficient.

Q. Looking back, is that something you've had for years and years?
J.P. HAYES: No. No, I just think it's for whatever reason, it chose this time to happen. That's not unusual. But I don't think I've had it my whole life.

Q. Electrolytes are from Gatorade and such?
J.P. HAYES: But I can't drink enough Gatorade to replace what I've lost and what I need it's more of a pill form. It's a pill or tablet. You know, the Gatorade, five of those would make you feel pretty bloated.

Q. And a can of Pringles?
J.P. HAYES: Yeah.

Q. How long did you spend in that hospital in Tampa and how scared were you?
J.P. HAYES: I was concerned, you know, at first. But it wasn't the first time I had gone to the hospital for it. So I wasn't -- they convinced me that I wasn't having a heart attack. I wasn't having a stroke. I wasn't in any imminent danger. But I was still without an answer for it. So I was concerned about what it might be.
I spent one night there. Flew home late Monday. Back to El Paso, spent a day at home, and spent seven days at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.

Q. Has this caused your perspective on golf to change at all and the way you approach it?
J.P. HAYES: Maybe initially. It's changed my appreciation for the quality of health, all that kind of stuff. I've always had a pretty good perspective on golf, I think.
I played with a kid today who is here because of the Children's Hospital System and has undergone 12 operations since he's been a kid. It's a miracle that he's playing golf today. So I look at that and I think, wow, that's the important stuff in life.
But at first, you know, I was happy to be out here kind of stuff. Then it was like I've got to go play.

Q. You said the guy that was playing with today?
J.P. HAYES: He was my partner today. He was invited to play. He had gone through the Miracle Network System, I guess you could call it. He's from Toronto. But he had undergone, literally, a dozen surgeries in his lifetime for his situation. Pretty impressive. He's a good player, too.

Q. Talk about the back nine a little bit?
J.P. HAYES: Yeah, I got off to -- well, on 10 I hit almost a good drive. I was in the bunker, and then I hit a poor recovery shot out of it and left myself a 6-iron in. Which was a hole I would probably try to hit it in two, so I was a little disappointed initially. Then I made probably a 25-foot putt there for the birdie, so all that's with good.
After that I really hit quality shots the whole way around except for one tee shot on 16. I kind of got away with it and made par. Other than that, I hit everything right, exactly how I wanted to.

Q. What club did you hit best?
J.P. HAYES: I hit my driver well. All my iron shots were solid. Obviously, I made a lot of putts. I made eight birdies. So I made my share of putts.

Q. Were you over the last couple months outside the top 125 or inside the whole time?
J.P. HAYES: I've been in it all year long. Well, I mean I had a good tournament at the Players Championship, and ever since then I've been comfortably in. It's just slowly been eroding.
My hat's off to the guys that have stepped up and played well the last six or seven weeks. Everyone's shown a lot of heart this year, but unfortunately it's eating away at my comfort.

Q. Is it hard to keep your tunnel vision in the shot-per-shot and day-by-day? Or do you just not think of your position overall?
J.P. HAYES: On the money list?

Q. Yeah, on the money list, and the top 125 and all?
J.P. HAYES: Yeah, I really am more concerned with -- I'm in a great position to win another golf tournament. And I try to starting out, that's what I'm concerned with. Yeah, I do think about it. I would be lying if I said I don't think about the money list at all. But I think that will take care of itself.

Q. Still getting any love back from the cheese state? Or is it all Stricker all the time? Do they remember you?
J.P. HAYES: It's probably proportionately where it should be, you know. He is on top of the golf world in Wisconsin, and he gets most of the love. He lives there. Joey lives there, too. But, no, everyone's good to me up there. I have a lot of family and friends that still live there.

Q. You're in El Paso now, right?
J.P. HAYES: Yeah.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
J.P. HAYES: Rich moved to Austin. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, Austin five or six years ago. Got rid of him. We kicked him out.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you.

End of FastScripts
About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297