J.P. Hayes, the golfer who recently disqualified himself at the PGA Tour qualifying tournament for playing a non-conforming golf ball, has accepted a sponsor’s exemption to compete at the 2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
Peter Ripa, Colonial tournament director, said Tuesday that Hayes’ gesture _ which cost him his PGA Tour card for the 2009 season _ speaks to “everything that’s right about golf.” Ripa called Hayes, an El Paso resident, a golfer “you want to have in your field” for the May 25-31 event in Fort Worth.
Hayes, 43, joins Rickie Fowler, the 2008 Ben Hogan Award winner, and Matt Bettencourt, the money leader on the 2008 Nationwide Tour, as golfers who have received sponsor’s exemptions to the 2009 Colonial.
_ Jimmy Burch
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