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BUICK OPEN


August 8, 2002


Jay Haas


GRAND BLANC, MICHIGAN

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Jay Haas, thank you for joining us. First round 67, 5-under par. Why don't you talk about your round and how things are going.

JAY HAAS: Well, it was obviously an early morning, seven o'clock tee time. I made a nice par at one and hit a good shot at 3 to make birdie. Just kind of got off to a good start and that got me on top of it a little bit.

Being first, the greens were just like carpets and they were just perfect.

I played well all day. Hit a lot of good shots. I played terrible yesterday and made a little adjustment with my grip on the range last night and it seemed to pay off for me.

I guess I was a little surprised after yesterday's round. I was pretty bad. I'm sure my amateurs will look at this and say, "He must have skipped two holes or something."

It's funny, I either seem to do this, have a good day here, or do so-so and miss the cut. So hopefully I'll continue with a good round tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Q. It's no surprise, everybody is going low, happens here every year.

JAY HAAS: I think that it will be more spread out this year. I looked around different leaderboards crossing holes and I saw a lot of black numbers, too, and usually somebody by now is 7-, 8- , 9-under. They may go lower than 6, than they are right now, but I think the course is playing a little harder than I've seen it in the past. It's not as fast now from tee-to-green, but the greens are really quick. You've got to really be careful with them.

I think with the weather like it is now, cool nights, they will be able to keep them quick all week. If you don't get rain, it will start to firm up and it will be harder and harder to get the ball closer to the hole.

But you're right. I don't understand it. I play this course and I see guys shooting 63s like it's nothing, and I don't think it's that easy.

Q. You've had some really good rounds this year, you've played really well in spots. How do you know when you're going to play well? What is it that allows to you play well?

JAY HAAS: You know I think I'm a good player, I think I've been a good player for a long time. Some people might say, he's playing great for his age and all that, but I don't really look at it that way. I still feel like I'm competitive, and if I can do this today, why can't I do it tomorrow, that's the feeling I have. And I think I have to have that or else I'll get run over out here. I can't think: I'm working for the Senior Tour, I only have a year and a half left. I can't think that way, or else I might as well not even show up.

You know, hit it and chase it, and today, it went in.

Q. You are planning to go on the Senior Tour?

JAY HAAS: Yes. When the time comes, I will be there.

People say, "I bet you can't wait for the Senior Tour." I think I'll do well out there. I feel good about my game right now, but who knows what's going to happen in a year and a half. If I stay healthy, I think I'll be successful there. Most of the guys who have done well on the Senior Tour have been competitive out here when they left this tour.

But I can't think, you know, I need to work on this because this is what I'm going to have to do in a year and a half. These guys are so good out here that I have to use all of my experience and tricks up my sleeve. I feel like the 38-year-old junk ball pitcher who can't throw it over 80 but still gets people out.

I just have to be -- I have to think now, for me. But again, I want to play out there, for sure.

Q. That's a good thing, isn't it, to kind of keep you going and playing at your best?

JAY HAAS: It has been for me. It has been. If all I was thinking about was two years down the road, a year and a half down the road, I probably would be playing 15 events and I would probably end up with 23, 24 events this year, which is not as many as I used to play, but still a few for some of the best players.

I enjoy playing. I enjoyed being out here and that's all I do. I don't have any -- I don't have any golf course building business or anything like that. So I'm off half the year. It's pretty easy job, really.

Birdies were at No. 3. I hit a 5-iron to about three feet.

6 was really what kind of turned my round to the good or kept it going. I hit a 6-iron out of the fairway bunker, had a terrible lie in a fairway bunker hit it to, oh, probably 18 feet and made that putt.

7, I hit a sand wedge to about 15 feet. Made that.

10, I hit a 7-iron just back edge 25 feet and I made that one.

12, I hit a sand wedge to about 15 feet.

Then I bogeyed 15, missed about a 6-foot putt, 7-foot putt there.

16, I hit a real nice pitch with a sand wedge to about eight feet and made that.

Q. What happened on 15?

JAY HAAS: 15, I always think that's the toughest hole out here. I hit a good drive, but just misjudged the second shot and hit it out. I hit a good chip but just missed the putt.

I think day-in, day-out you usually get a cross-wind of some sort. It's a hard fairway to hit, of perched up in the air green. I think it's a pretty hard hole under the circumstances.

Q. How low this week, do you suppose, based on what you've seen?

JAY HAAS: Everybody seems like they go about five shots better than I think a lot of times. Somebody will probably shoot 7-under today, but you can't quite go by that. But I would think 18, 19. Or more, right.

If there's no rain, I think anybody would take 20 right now. That sounds unbelievable -- I'll take 20, sure you would. (Laughs).

I just don't think it's quite as easy as it has been in the past. There's a little bit of rough. They have had some rain here in the last couple of weeks, so a little bit of rough up. So it's not just the easy one that they have had here in the past. And the greens being a little firmer, I think that makes a difference, too.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts....

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