AP – (March 2006) Well the 2006 Harvest Classic is in the books and the winner by landslide is J.P. Hayes.  J.P. followed up his 62 on the Palmer course with a 66 on the Saddlebrook course.  After switching to the long putter J.P. could not be stopped. 

Brother Tom tried to keep pace with J.P. firing a 74 but could not hold off brother J.P.  Tom was interviewed after the round and attributed his lack of a championship round to his playing partner Mike Ganther.  Mike Ganther chipped in for birdie on hole 11 and decided to take the next few holes off to regain his composure.

The afternoon was spent in an 18 hole scramble which ended in a two way tie at 12 under par on the Palmer course.  After the 18 hole tie both teams went back to the tee of the 18th hole par 3 and end up both tying under complete darkness.

Another great Harvest Classic has come to a close.  A special thanks goes out to the Hayes brothers for sponsoring a great event.  An extra special thanks goes to Vern Shukoski for organizing a great event.

Until next year.

AP – (March 2006) Friday was a grueling day of golf for the Harvest Classic participants. Only the strong survive this intense day of competition as was the case today. The morning round was played at the Saddlebrook course at 8:00 a.m. The rounds of the morning belonged to Jim and Kevin Hayes both scoring 5 points over their quota.

After a quick lunch the tournament continued on the Palmer course at 1:30. After a quick team photo the players regained their composure and teed it up for the second 18. This is where things really started to heat up.

Round 1 leader Tom Hayes birdied holes six, seven, and eight to shoot a one under front nine. He continued on with his hot streak and finished one under for his second 18 holes of the day.

Vern Shukoski played out of his mind on the front nine, shooting a one over 37. Coming up one bloody mary short, he shot 45 on the back and scored 5 ponts over his quota, putting him tied for 4th place going into the final round.

The real story of the afternoon belongs to J.P. Hayes. Coming off a 68 on his first 18 holes, J.P. decided to switch to the long putter on his return to the Palmer course. The move proved to be an excellent call as he shot a second round 62, pouring in 9 birdies. Tom and J.P. battled for the entire round for control of the leaderboard, but J.P. proved just too much for Tom to handle.

The fourth and final round of the Harvest Classic will tee up at 8:37 tomorrow morning with the pairings determined by finishing position today. Needless to say the author of Hayesvision.com will be teeing up first, seeing as his is only 26 points off the lead.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the final results of the 2006 Harvest Golf Classic.

AP – (March 2006)Round one is officially in the books for the 2006 Harvest Classic. The Harvest crew put up some impressive numbers on the Palmer course, which is the more difficult of the two courses played. Tom Hayes had the low round of the day with a 71, which earned him 7 points and a solo spot at the top of the leaderboard.

Mike “Sandbagger” Ganther decided to earn a few points and turn up his game in round one. The 20-handicaper was heard musing at the post-round meeting that, “I think 20 is probably the max we ought to let guys take as their handicap… Anything more than that is unfair.”

Speaking of guys with mega-handicaps, Patrick “Feed The Fish” Toney stirred up a Harvest hornets nest of controversy by scoring two more bogeys than he was supposed to. The smart money says he’ll be back in the basement where he belongs in less than 24 hours. (Patrick set a new Harvest record for water balls on a single hole when he dunked three in a row on number 10. Patrick, please stop – you’re going to scare the fish away!)

What can we say about poor Bob “He’s Got Game” Hayes? When asked how he scored a 100, he replied, “I was draining putts left and right!” He may be down 14 points to his quota after day one, but it is possible he is just setting the table for the greatest comeback in tournament history.

Tomorrow’s 36 holes are sure to stir up the Harvest Classic leaderboard. Stay tune to Hayesvision.com for your updates.

(Some excerpts written by Patrick Toney)

AP – (March 2006) The practice round for the 2006 Harvest Classic is in the books. Eleven of the twelve players showed up to TPC Tampa Bay and attempted to show the course who was boss. It took about two or three holes for all the players to realize the the course would be the boss today. As was the situation in 2005, TPC Tampa Bay was just coming off a Champions Tour event the weekend prior. Needless to say the greens were more than the Harvest participants bargained for.

One shining star did seem to shine today, Vern Shukoski. The garbage cans full of practice balls have seemed to put Vern in the drivers seat coming into his biggest tournament of the year. As you can see in the photo above, Vern means business. He mysteriously transformed from a 12 handicap to a 15 just in time for the tournament. He also brought a seemingly homemade driver that is still being inspected by tournament officials. The action on Vern is off the charts on the online sports books. Hayesvision.com tried to contact Vern in the press tent after his round but he simply denied comment and said he needed to mentally prepare for tomorrows round. Stay tuned for updates tomorrow.

AP – (February 2006) With the Harvest Classic just 2 weeks away, many are asking, where is Bobby? Generally known to be the “wise guy” of the five brothers, the e-mail chatter has not been graced with his presence this year. After last year’s promise of the first repeat in Harvest Classic history, Bobby wasn’t able to bring his A-game and ended up finishing tied for 6th place.

The question on everyone’s mind is can Bobby return to glory at Saddlebrook this year? We can only speculate that Bobby’s limited trash talking this year means that he is on the range until sundown working on his game.

Bobby’s lack of trash talking was more than made up for by brother Don (Kenny), who has been spewing trash like Old Faithful. Some say his Sunday round in ‘05 left a little to be desired. That could have been because he played the entire round wearing a Kenny nametag that he purchased from a server at breakfast that morning. Kenny, who is a female, was quoted as saying, “I have never seen so many intoxicated people at breakfast before! Remind me to put in for vacation next year at this time.”

But even with all of the trash talking, you can’t argue with the polls that favor a Don Hayes victory in ‘06. The jury is still out on how much he had to bribe friends to cast the Don Hayes vote, but I am sure it wasn’t cheap.

Stay tuned for more updates, here at Hayesvision.com!

AP – (February 2006) The news wires are exploding with information. Most of the banter is of course trash talking by the eldest brother (I will leave the jokes to you), Tom Hayes.

Tom was quoted as saying the following: “Also, it sounds like Don will have to leave a wedge behind and use a white cane as his 14th club.”, “JP is an unknown at this point. Despite a storied career (a fairly short story at that) he has been off the radar for some time. As his physical health deteriorates with age and the pressures of raising two kids sets in the prospect of him winning any money seems remote. However, a good showing at AT&T and Tucson could set him up for a solid 4th or 5th place finish at this year’s Harvest!”

All we know is he better bring a game to follow all the trash he has been talking. It is rumored that the FAA contacted Tom to ask him to put a flashing light on the top of his putter, due to the increase in air traffic. One thing is for sure, it is going to be a heated tournament!

AP – (February 2006) You can always tell when the Harvest Classic is just around the corner because the chatter picks up over e-mail. Rumor has it that there has been so much chatter about the 2006 HIG Classic that President Bush has assigned a team to tap into it. Ah…. yes that chatter can only mean one thing, the Harvest Classic is only a month away.

According to the Associated Press, JP Hayes has carved a chunk out of his busy life to play in what he calls “the little tournament.” This comment of course disturbed fellow brother Donald Hayes, who proclaimed “My game has not only peaked but it is well over the top!” Some could interpret that comment as his game is on the slide, but I will leave that up to you.

Although JP seemed confident in his statement about this “little tournament”, he was found hitting balls until all hours of the night whispering under his breath “I will not sleep until the HIG trophy is back in my possession!”

You can follow along with this year’s action on Hayesvision.com with up to the minute (ok maybe up to the day) scoring and commentary live from Saddlebrook. If you have any suggestions or comments for this year’s Harvest Classic coverage, your ideas are always welcome at patrickhayes76@yahoo.com.

1/06 – The mental preparation has begun for the 2006 Harvest Classic. This years Classic will again return to Saddlebrook Golf Resort in Wesley Chapel, Florida. Will there be a repeat this year for one Kent Dickson, or will the champion hail from the frozen tundra? It is anyone’s guess but one thing that is for certain, they will all be chasing the coveted Harvest Classic Trophy.

Many of the participants over the years have been in it for the money, some for the fame, but all have wanted their names engraved for all eternity with some of the greats like; Jim Hayes, Jeff Riester, Mike Ganther just to name a few. It all comes down to who can put together three solid rounds of golf, many unfortunately, just can’t hang.

This years Harvest Classic will be held March 2-5, 2006. The Vegas odds are still undecided, but there is talk of big money on Vern Shukoski to run away with the title this year. Vern has been seen chipping garbage cans full of balls before the sun comes up. Time of course will tell, but it is hard to argue with Vegas.

You can follow along with this year’s action on Hayesvision.com with up to the minute (ok maybe up to the day) scoring and commentary live from Saddlebrook. If you have any suggestions or comments for this year’s Harvest Classic coverage, your ideas are always welcome at patrickhayes76@yahoo.com.