J.P. Hayes is the buzz

In addition to all of the talk surrounding the LPGA Tour this week, there's one other topic that's generating a lot of interest--the J.P. Hayes disqualification at Q School.

In case you missed it on ESPN Radio, The Golf Channel or any other media outlets (I think Gary D'Amato was the first to write about it), longtime PGA Tour player J.P. Hayes disqualified himself from the second stage of Q School by playing with a non-conforming ball for one hole. D'Amato provides this synopsis:

Hayes, 43, inadvertently used a non-conforming golf ball -- that is, a ball not on the list approved for competition by the United States Golf Association -- for one hole during the first round of a second-stage qualifier in McKinney, Texas, last week.

He called an official over after he marked his ball on his 12th hole and realized he had violated the one-ball rule. Players must finish a tournament round with the same model golf ball with which they started. Somehow, a Titleist prototype ball had found its way into Hayes' bag; his caddie flipped it to him on the 12th tee and Hayes put it into play without realizing the mistake.

The penalty for violating the one-ball rule is two strokes. Hayes shot a 74 with the penalty and added a 71 the next day. But after the second round, it occurred to him that the wrong ball he had played on one hole the day before was potentially a non-conforming ball. It was so new that it hadn't been approved by the USGA.

Hayes called tournament officials that night and they called Titleist the next day. His worst fear was confirmed. The ball was non-conforming and because he had used it -- albeit for one hole -- he was disqualified.

"I had no choice but to take my medicine," Hayes said. "It was very difficult. It's been a very difficult few days."

For a sport that sometimes gets a bad rap because of the English barrier, John Daly's frivolities and Rory Sabbatini's antics, this is a refreshing change--a player taking responsibility.  As Mike Lopresti of the USA Today put it:

We interrupt the concerns about cheating, corner-cutting and rule-skirting, to bring a nomination to the floor.

J.P. Hayes, for sportsman of the year.