THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 31, 2001

Jay Haas

JAY HAAS: I think the conditions surprised me. I guess we were all expecting rain today and maybe softer conditions, especially after the early practice days. But the course has dried out amazingly well. The greens, especially, they were about as quick as I've seen these greens in the last 10 or 12 years. I don't remember many years in the past that the greens have been any quicker than they are right now, and I'm sure the wind doesn't appear to be dying any, so I'm sure the greens are going to be even drier late in the day. I'm real pleased to have played early today. The wind was swirling. I thought it changed directions on us during the round; it picked up. My caddy said, "It's like Amen Corner on every shot, just about." It's swirling, you don't know if it is into you, quartering, downwind. It's so important to have the right club in your hand on these holes. Even if you miss a green, you can't afford to be long on some or short on the other. That's what made club selection pretty difficult. I guess my experience here, I've played as many rounds here probably as anybody, and that helped me out quite a bit today. I got off to a real good start hitting-wise and hit a lot of good shots. Probably one of my better shots of the day was at No. 4. I think it is playing 213 today. It was playing downwind; the pin is way in the back, I hit a 5-iron, went all the way over the green in the back bunker. Normally, it is a 4-iron shot for me so to hit a 5-iron over the green, I was pretty surprised about that. I hit a good bunker shot but it went about 12 feet. I made that putt and after playing the first few holes even and hitting a good shot there to make that putt, that got me pumped up and kept me going. I made a birdie at the next hole, sand wedge to about five feet. Hit a lot of good shots, a lot of greens and made some nice saves.

JAY HAAS: Pars the rest of the way. 11, I laid up with a 3-iron. Laid up with a sand wedge to seven, eight feet, I guess. 9-iron at 12. Pushed it a little bit. I was aiming at this big tree in the back of the green and pushed it right of the flag and got it to four feet and made it. I admit that; I did push it. Hit a good drive and a 5-iron to about 18 feet at the next hole and made the putt. The type of putt, the first few times you have it, you just can't believe that it is a straight putt. It is kind of going down that hill, and most of the time -- the younger guys, and myself, miss it out to the right, but I trusted it today and made the putt. Next hole, I hit my only real poor shot of the day. I hit a 3-wood off the tree, way right into the trees, and had to chip out in the fairway, and hit a sand wedge to maybe 20 feet and 2-putted. 15, I hit a 5-wood to about 15 feet and was a little too aggressive with a putt and missed it. Went by about three feet and made it for a birdie. A real nice 2-putt at 18. I was up on the top shelf to the left and really was concerned about keeping it on the green there. I had to putt in the fringe a little bit and putted by about eight feet, I guess, and made that one. So I made a lot of putts to just -- didn't miss any of short putts, and then had quite a few in the three to eight-foot range, and I made most of those, if not all of those. So, that was pretty much the key to the day for me.

JAY HAAS: I hit a 3-wood, not a great 3-wood, but I hit a 7-iron on the green 20 feet, 2-putted.

JAY HAAS: The wind is gusting today, but you don't feel it until the ball is up in the air. My ball came up quite a bit short. When we were on the next tee, we watched the guys on the fairway, and all guys were short . Kenny Perry hit into the water, and he looked at his caddy when it went in the water after he hit and he was surprised; it wasn't a bad shot. I think the wind is just right in there; it's a swirl and you can't feel it. It's a tough hole, anyway. I mean it's a tough drive today into the wind. This afternoon is probably a driver shot off the tee. This morning it was more of a 3-wood shot for us. I'm sure the guys are trying to get down there a little bit further and have a little longer shot into the green than we normally have. Usually, it's a pitching wedge or a 9-iron at the most. I could probably hit a 6-iron this morning into the green.

JAY HAAS: I just answered that question outside. It just fits my eye, I guess. When I get up on the tee, I just feel like I'm going to hit it in the fairway, and when I hit that shot, I feel like I'm going to put it on the green. I love playing off these fairways. They are probably as good as anybody -- the conditions this year are probably as good as I've ever seen it here, and this is probably my 24th time here. I can't recall the fairways in the shape they are in. The greens are perfect, not a mark on them . I don't know, and again, built on good play in the past. My first three years here -- my first four years, probably three out of the first four, I finished in the Top-10, and since then, I just love coming here. I won the NCAA here, the Scarlet Course. I don't know, maybe it is something in the water that gets me pumped up?

JAY HAAS: That was in 1975. Now, my son is playing in the NCAA, so that's pretty wild.

JAY HAAS: My oldest is at Augusta State. He was registered this year and he will be next year. He'll be doing quite well. It will be his third full year next year. My youngest is at Wake Forest, and he's playing this week, doing quite well. He had a good spring season. I just got the listing here. They have not teed off yet today. I'm anxious to hear how they did this afternoon. It's fun watching them -- whew, long time; it didn't take long to go 25 years.

JAY HAAS: I was in the 126 to 150. So I thought I would get into enough tournaments to keep me busy and get some exemptions, such as I got here, to play 22 events or something like that. I felt like I could have used my Top-50 lifetime one-year-free pass, but I thought I was going to try to hold that for even next year or the year after. I guess my thinking was if I got in 22 events, if I played well, I would get back in the 125, and that was my -- you know, that's my goal this year is to play well enough to do that. And if I don't, I don't. At 27, I would be panicked, but at 47, I'm a little bit more laid back about it.

JAY HAAS: That's probably the only drawback, or one of the many drawbacks to playing poorly is that you can't schedule and you have to wait for the exemptions, to hear from the tournaments. You know, the last minute you might get in one. Last week, I got in on my number, as they say. So that's the hard part is not knowing when and where you might play. And for years, you know, I just made my schedule, so that's a little bit of a cold slap in the face. But, that's the nature of the game, and I've always been one to say if you don't like it, you play better, and I'm trying to do that. If I don't, I don't. But that's -- there's no excuses. There's no defense out here. Nobody saying I can't play. I guess if I was on a baseball team, I would have been cut a few years ago. I'm still able to play.

JAY HAAS: Probably five weeks. Plenty of time.

JAY HAAS: I guess. I don't know how their exemptions work here, but I had written for a sponsor's spot. I don't know how many they do that. Like at Colonial, they have 12 sponsor's exemptions, and the Invitational have a little bit different, normally just eight spots. It's tough because I'm in the veteran-member category, with Fuzzy and Peter Jacobsen, Curtis Strange, guys who have played a long time, guys who you would like to have in your field, and they -- Fuzzy, I would pick Fuzzy 100 times out of 100 over me. So I feel fortunate when I do get invited.

JAY HAAS: Hopefully. I felt like I could be competitive here. Played well last week. First time all year that I felt like I was capable of shooting something under par. Going out real confident before I played the round, and I was this week, too. I felt good about it. Putted very well. I give Stan Utley (ph) -- he's on the BUY.COM TOUR. Had a little talk with him about my putting and he gave me some tips, and I've been working on those. So he's got me straightened out, I believe. That's probably the real key.

JAY HAAS: Honest to gosh, I think I have probably eight Top-10s here, the record book says, and most of those have been on the fringes of being called in here, and probably six out of the eight, I've shot a 67 or 68 the last day and moved up -- moved into the Top-10. I know one year I was kind of -- maybe in the Top-12 the whole time, you know, Top-15, the whole week, but never was in that position to be called in here. Honestly, I think this is -- I've been in this room before at maybe a player meeting or something, but not sitting up here with the microphone in front of me.

JAY HAAS: I would not say that. I don't know. I guess "in contention," to me, is in the Top-10, and with a run of birdies here or there; you know, you're right there. But, yeah, I guess I've never come down the last six holes with a real chance to win here.

JAY HAAS: No, I haven't.

JAY HAAS: No. He's already told me I'm a pig. (Laughter.) We talked a little bit. Curtis, I think, will do just an outstanding job because he is very thorough, and I think that's all he's thought about for the last year is what he's going to do, how he's going to do it, and I think he will be so prepared when he gets there that there will be no question about pairings and things like that. I think that's a huge key, because we've talked about in the past, you go there and you have this idea that so and so, these guys are going to play together. And you watch them in practice and one of them is not playing great and then you break that team up and put this guy in there and that messes up another team -- it's kind of a pot luck. If those guys play well that week, they will win and if they don't they won't. It's as simple as that. I don't think anymore it's going to be like the Lakers and the Clippers. They are going to win nine out of ten times, probably, and that's really down to it. But in this thing, it's a toss-up. Who is whoever is making the putts and hitting the shots at that time. We talk a little bit and I say, "Hey, this guy looks like he's playing well and that guy is playing good." But he's not missing a trick. He's watching it all.

JAY HAAS: I guess I've never really seen the gamesmanship thing that a lot of people have talked about. The crowds, yes, it's a shame that that's the way it gets. There's more people -- maybe not just golf, true golf fans that are coming to the Ryder Cup. You know, when you go to a basketball game, you boo the guy that you don't want and all that stuff, so that's hard to shake that mentality maybe and you get a couple boos and it gets a little rowdy. Yes, I guess in a perfect situation, you would say, yes, everybody will clap for all the good shots and don't say anything on the bad ones. But, really, when a player misses a putt, the other guy wins, the other guy is going to win the hole. You're not clapping for the miss; you're clapping for the guy that already got the par or birdie and won the hole so that can be mistaken for poor sportsmanship.

JAY HAAS: Maybe ten years ago, I could not have seen him doing it that well, but I think he can do it right now. He's probably got a couple people around him that he can vent to when he needs to. But I think he'll do fine with the press and with the other players. Curtis, there's no tougher competitor than Curtis Strange. He'll want to beat you as bad as anyone out here. But when it is all said and done, he's got no hard feelings when it is all over.

JAY HAAS: In college?

JAY HAAS: Well, when we got -- when Curtis and Bob Byman came in, they were the same age, both great players in the junior ranks and when we got them on our team, it elevated us into the upper echelon and we won two NCAAs when they were there. You know, it was a great time. Curtis, I always say, was a spectacular golfer in college. He hit it a long way. He was capable of shooting 64s and 65s, and we had not seen that in college golf at the time. Shoot maybe 68 or 69, and that was a good round, but nobody had the talent to go real low, but Curtis seemed to do that quite often. That's a huge help when you have a guy that is shooting 6- or 7-under for you on one round and really takes your team to another level. But Curtis was wild. He was -- I don't know if he'll tell you that, but he was a pretty wild guy in college, like we all were, I guess. Young punks, we were. We had a great time. It was a wonderful four years for me.