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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 13, 2019

Bill Haas

Silvis, Illinois

DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Bill Haas, making your seventh start here in the John Deere Classic. Great round today, bogey free, 7-under 64. Just a few comments on today. Is this something you kind of felt like you were building up towards?

BILL HAAS: Maybe so. I've been working hard and just not -- certainly not seeing many mid-60 rounds in the last year or even the last two years. Just maybe seeing some form coming in, but really just been working hard. The game is not easy. It's been beating me most weeks, and just hopefully if I keep working hard and keep trying, days like this will happen.

Hopefully I'll have a good day tomorrow. I feel pretty good about it, and just stay in the moment and be positive and you never know what will happen tomorrow.

Q. This was your lowest round of the year, right?
BILL HAAS: No, you're right. Like I was saying, there hasn't been many rounds like this in the last year or even the last two years. Can't really pinpoint on one thing. My body feels pretty good. Doesn't feel like I'm 21 anymore, but at the same time, I'm hoping I have at least 10 more years in me or more to play this game at a high level. I'm not saying I'm done. I've been trying not to say that to myself. I feel like I've been making enough cuts and that kind of thing, but I'm just not shooting enough rounds like today, which in order to compete on a Sunday, you've got to shoot 65s and 64s at some point during the week. Today was a nice day.

Q. Is it difficult to not have those feelings coming out of college? Do these young guys feel a little older than they are?
BILL HAAS: You know, for sure. I don't look at them and say, these guys are so much younger than me. They are, 21 years old, 16 years younger than me. There's a lot that goes on in 16 years. But at the same time, you've seen a lot of guys compete at a very high level for a long time. We're starting to see maybe the trend is younger is better, and the average age on TOUR I know for a fact has gone down since when I was a rookie. Experience doesn't seem to hold as much weight, I guess.

But at the same time, if I play well, and I think I hit it far enough, I would love to hit it -- Matthew Wolff, watching him hit it is so impressive, and these young guys, the way they rip the ball, I wish I could do that. But I just don't know if I have that in me. Even if I got in the gym every day, I don't know if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm just going to have to play my game and hopefully it's enough. At least one more time before I'm done.

Q. Is there something different this week than past weeks? Do you feel different in any way?
BILL HAAS: Not really. You know, Minnesota last week, I made the cut and shot even on Saturday and MDF'd, and I really felt the same as -- I felt like I played as nice there as I did these three rounds, I just maybe didn't make as many putts or shot myself in the foot a couple times being aggressive and missed a green or short-sided myself. But this week so far, I've made some nice saves. Today at 12 I made a 15- or 18-footer for par that kind of kept my round going, and I birdied four of the next five right after that.

If I miss that, who knows what happens, and hopefully I would have done the same thing, but I think you need certain things like that to happen to have good rounds.

Q. I know you go into every tournament and every round focusing on what you can control, but how pivotal is that tomorrow specifically with the leaderboard looking like it is, just locking in on what you can control?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, I mean, you certainly can't leaderboard watch all day because I think you're even through 3, you might look up and you're in 15th all of a sudden, or worse. You just have to stay patient and know that you can birdie any hole out here if you hit good quality shots. Coming down the stretch, that's when anything can happen, and hopefully you put yourself in that position where you're within one or two with two or three to go. That's all you can ask for, and the person that handles those last three holes is your winner.

Q. As you get older and the landscape of the PGA TOUR changes, getting younger and younger, have your expectations of yourself changed over the years?
BILL HAAS: Maybe so. I mean, I think that's the hardest part about struggling out here is my expectations is better than that, to play better and compete week in and week out. I felt like I had a run there where I certainly wasn't a top player in the world, but I felt like I could compete any week that I played okay, I could be there on Sunday. I just haven't seen that for a couple years really. And I just hope that's not the trend. I hope this has been a down time and I'm on my way up. I'm working hard, and I've got a young family, I'm doing my best at that, and then also doing my best at this. Those are my two most important things right now.

Q. It's been 17 months since the accident. Just putting yourself in position, what would a win mean tomorrow as far as moving on from that?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it would be moving on from that. I don't know that anybody goes through a tough enough experience, I don't know if it ever leaves you, but at the same time I'm just trying to be the best that I can be. I'm somewhat lucky to be here in a way, and that doesn't make it easier, but at the same time, you've just got to do your best and be okay with that, whether the results are good or bad.

But yeah, a win for anyone out here is amazing. I've been fortunate enough to do it a couple times, and when you do do it, it's such an unbelievable feeling to beat the best players in the world. It would mean a lot. Whether that happened or not, just any win out here is very special, and tomorrow I'm sure I'll have the anxiety going a little bit, but at the same time I'm going to be aggressive when I can be and do my best.

Q. What will you draw upon tomorrow? And how long have you been wearing the glasses?
BILL HAAS: I started at LA wearing the glasses. I've worn them for about eight years, just after I get done playing. But when I had some time off the end of last year I wore them all the time, and I just got to where I liked wearing them, and I don't know if my eyes have gotten worse or what. But I just enjoy seeing better. And they're kind of a pain. I need to get LASIK or contacts, but contacts don't feel right, and it doesn't bother me to play in them, other than days like today when it's hot and sweaty, it's tough to play in them for sure.

And what I'll draw on, I just think I have to stay confident. It's hard to win for anybody, and somebody is going to shoot a good score tomorrow, and you've got to tell yourself, might as well be me, I've done it before, and you have to say that. Even though I haven't come recently, I have done it before, so why not this week and be as confident as I can be.

Q. How is the course playing and how is that going to relate to everybody plays it tomorrow? Are you going to have to be a little bit careful on some shots, or can you be aggressive and keep the pedal to the metal?
BILL HAAS: You know, I'm not sure. Right now the ball is running in the fairway pretty nicely, but the greens are still soft, so you're seeing some shorter clubs in with soft greens, so that's the reason you're seeing a lot of birdies.

But if we get a storm, it kind of has the potential of maybe a storm later today. If the fairways soften up it'll make the course play a little longer. You won't be aggressive maybe if you've got a 7-iron in your hand versus a pitching wedge.

But I don't care the situation; if you're in the middle of the fairway with a wedge in your hand, most guys are going to be pretty aggressive. If that's the case tomorrow, then if a guy is driving the ball well, then I think you'll see that person be pretty aggressive. That's the goal. It starts off the tee, hit a good drive and then go from there.

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