Mark Hayes (golfer) Mark Hayes (golfer) Mark Stephen Hayes (July 12, 1949 – July 17, 2018) was an American professional golfer. He had three victories on the PGA Tour in the 1970s, including the 1977 Tournament Players Championship. He played in the 1979 Ryder Cup as a late replacement for Tom Watson. Born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Hayes played collegiately at Oklahoma State University, where he was a two-time All-American. He won the Sunnehanna Amateur in 1972. Hayes won three times on the PGA Tour: the Byron Nelson Golf Classic and Pensacola Open in 1976 and the Tournament Players Championship in 1977. He also
The Open Championship early postwar years The Open was dominated by golfers from the Commonwealth, with South African Bobby Locke and Australian Peter Thomson winning the Claret Jug in eight of the 11 championships from 1948 and 1958 between them. During this period, The Open often had a schedule conflict with the match-play PGA Championship, which meant that Ben Hogan, the best American golfer at this time, competed in The Open just once, in 1953 at Carnoustie, a tournament he won. Another South African, Gary Player was Champion in 1959. This was at the beginning of the "Big Three" era in professional golf,