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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2006

Jay Haas

EDMOND, OKLAHOMA

KELLY ELBIN: Jay Haas, ladies and gentlemen, playing in his third Senior PGA Championship. Jay was second in the Senior PGA Championship in 2004 at Valhalla Golf Course in Kentucky. Jay, some thoughts on the state of your game coming into this Major championship.

JAY HAAS: Well, I'm playing pretty well. Obviously I had a couple good weeks, three and four weeks ago. I won a couple events. And I played well in Charlotte at the PGA tournament the following week, so I've had a couple weeks off though, a little rusty. And I really didn't know much about this course. I played in '88, but it just didn't come back to me as much as some courses did.

I know they have changed a few of the greens, they resurfaced a few of them and everything, but yesterday when I got here the wind was blowing 25 to 30 the whole day and I thought it was the hardest course I had ever played.

But I played a little bit better today and the wind died a little bit. So it's a little more playable without so much wind. But it's probably one of the most difficult senior courses I've ever seen. Greens are very small, distance control is such a key here because there's quite a few cross wind shots and it's just, you're going to see a lot of chipping, pitching around the greens. There's not going to be a lot of greens in regulation this week.

KELLY ELBIN: Questions?

Q. Do you like that difficulty level for a Senior Major Championship and do you think maybe that's the way to go to kind of really put a focus on the Senior Majors, which are really kind of the flag ships of this event or this TOUR?

JAY HAAS: Right. And I think that's the way it's gone most of my career. In the PGA TOUR events, the U. S. Open, the PGA Championship, they have always been the toughest places, the toughest courses, set up the most difficult. I think that's definitely the way to go. I think it separates this tournament from the rest of the events and I think that's a good thing. I think we need that, we need the Majors and the Major feel to it. I think this definitely does have that. I think they have, if they're talking about coming back here in the future for a PGA event, I think that it's definitely it has not been outdated as some courses have 20 years later the courses that are too short. But I don't see that happening here. As we think some of these holes are very long, we look back and there are two more tees behind us, you know, so they can stretch it out, but I think the thing that makes it the most difficult, number one, the wind. If the wind blows, you're going to see some high scores, but even if it doesn't, the greens are just fairly small and especially where the ones that are big, they're almost sectioned where you just have to be in that one little area to have a decent chance for a par or birdie.

But, yeah, I think it's a good thing that this is a tough place. And I would like to think that plays into my hands, but if I don't play well and I miss the cut last year at Laurel Valley and I love that place, so if I don't play well, I'm not going to like it too good.

Q. You said that it didn't come back to you like memories of '88, how much of a guessing game is it when go to a Major championship site trying to figure out where to hit it safe, where not to hit it.

JAY HAAS: Right. Well, I just don't think you can learn any course in two, three, four practice rounds. I think that to have a home course advantage you got to have 30, 40 rounds around the place. So that's not going to happen. Nobody's going to do that. It all depend on how you're playing. If you can if I'm hitting the ball well, whoever it might be, if they're hitting the ball well, you can score no matter what the place is like. But, that being said, there's some places that you definitely don't want to go. And a lot of them are obvious, but Bob Tway, Curtis and I are staying with Bob Tway, and he went around with us the first 12 holes yesterday and just kind of mentioned a few different things, some of the lines off of the tees, the tee shots that we need to take. But also about where to miss it. And some of those are not so obvious. A hole like number 3, the par 5, normally you don't think a whole lot about your tee shot on a par 5 if you can't reach it. But there, if you drive it in the rough you might end up with a four or 5 iron shot for your third shot to, a very small green. So the tee shot there is very much a key. You just cannot miss it to the left there off the tee. But it doesn't really appear that way when you're standing there. So if you don't know the course, there are certainly some places that will fool you and be difficult to deal with. But that's kind of part of our job. We do that most every week, we come to a place that we're not as familiar with, but again, if you, if the guys play well, they're are going to be some good scores, if you don't play well, obviously there are going to be some high ones.

Q. What's been the hardest part about letting go from the PGA TOUR to come play out here and have you completely let go or are you still going to keep your hand in?

JAY HAAS: Not completely let go. I'm playing next week at the Memorial tournament. Which is my favorite course out there, other than the Major tournaments. I'm going to try to qualify for the U. S. Open up there. So that was one of the reasons. And Bill, my son Bill is playing there also. So I think that's been the main reason that I've played this year is to just be with Bill, play practice rounds with him and just watch him a little bit. But, yeah, I've pretty much closed that chapter and I'm going to play, I'm in the PGA Championship later this year, I'm going to play there. But other than that, this one, or I mean Memorial and the PGA will be the only two tournaments I play. And Bill and I have done that. It never gets old and I wish I was 42 instead of 52 and still being able to do that week in and week out with him. But he's a big boy and he's, and he can do it without me, I'm sure. He would probably just as soon do it without me, so. But that doesn't mean I'm going to leave him alone.

Q. Two things: First of all, a lot of guys on the PGA TOUR talk about how they wait for 50 to come along so they can get out on the Champions Tour. For you that kind of just happened because you were playing so well on the TOUR and like they said, it was kind of hard to leave. Can you just talk about what the transition was like for you and you obviously carried that great play over to the Champions Tour.

JAY HAAS: Right. I guess I didn't know how I was supposed to feel or how I should feel going into 50 and at 45 or 46 I played some of my worst golf ever. So to play really well at 48, 49, 50, was, I didn't see that coming, I suppose.

I didn't think I should play as poorly at 45, but I wasn't sure I should play as well as I did at 50. So it was just hard to let go. That's all I ever knew. That competition, those courses, those guys that I was competing against. That was what I had known. And so it was just hard to turn my back on it. And playing well. I guess to me being in contention at Harbortown or the U. S. Open, something like that, the PGA Championship, that was an unbelievable charge. And I didn't know if I would get that same feeling. Now since I've played Champions Tour golf and won a couple events, I, it's the same to me. If you're coming down the stretch with a chance to win the tournament, it's, it doesn't seem to be any different to me than it was 20 years ago. So it's still golf, it's still low score wins, and you're competing against some quality people. But it was, it's tough to say that's over. But I'm okay with it now. I'm ready to move on.

Q. This course can be a grind on you and particularly if the wind comes up when you're struggling, it's four days and it's not the easiest course to walk. What type of factor is conditioning in this event where you can't ride?

JAY HAAS: Well, I don't ride to start with, so it's the same to me, that part of it. I think just any time you play a very difficult course it's a grind on you mentally. Whether it's you're constantly just trying to make pars, if the wind blows, like you say, it can be an unbelievably difficult golf course.

Again, it's just another week, if you're playing well, it seems to, things go, it's easier, just the whole deal is easier. If you're playing poorly or trying to just keep it together, chipping for pars all day long, that just wears on you. But again, I'm not a rider on the Champions Tour, I think we should not have that. So to me it's the true competition and it's, you know, nobody gets to sit out there and relax or whatever. But it's just tough. This is a tough golf course, a tough field, but walking to me is just what I do anyway. So that part of it is not any more difficult.

Q. No one over the age of 48 has won a Major on the Regular TOUR. I've had guys tell me today that they think that's not going to happen, had guys tell me they think it will happen in the next five years. In fact Mike Reid even said he thinks you're a guy that's capable of doing it. Do you have a strong opinion that, yes, that can happen or no, we're talking about fantasy?

JAY HAAS: Well, I don't think it's fantasy, but it's certainly not a probability. When the guys get over 50, like myself, I'm going to play maybe five, six PGA TOUR events this year. I don't know. I just don't think the guys, once we get to a certain age, I think except for with a few exceptions, we might lose our, I won't say passion for the game, but just the want to, to go out there and hit another bucket of balls after this or go to the range, the chipping green, the putting green, stay out therefore an extra hour or two. But again, you'll get a guy like Tom Watson, to me if he dedicated himself again, if he was healthy, I still think he could win. I think Hale could still win. Even at 60 I think that you think about Sam Snead, I mean he was kind of a freak, he was an unbelievable athlete, his body lasted a long time, but there really wasn't a Champions Tour for him to go to. Now if there was into the Champions Tour for Tom Watson to go to or Tom Kite or Hale Irwin, I think you would still see guys in their 50s, you would see more guys winning on the PGA TOUR, if there was no other option for us. But again, I don't think it's fantasy, but probably not as probable as some people might think. But how about Fred Funk last year winning TPC? Against probably the strongest field of the year, besides the PGA Championship I think it is now without question the second strongest field, if you go just on Money List and World Ranking thing. So Freddie comes out here, he's going to have the same thing that I did I think. He has a five year exemption now I guess on the PGA TOUR, so whose to say he couldn't win next year? When he turns 50. Or this year even. So.

Q. Just speaking for your confidence, you talked about your mid to late 40s how you struggled a lot until you really turned it on before turning 50. I saw an interview with your son Bill a couple weeks ago and he joked that after you missed the cut at the Heritage you said, oh, that's all right, I'll just go out and win on the Champions Tour. And you did that. Except, can you just talk about how maybe your confidence changes from what it was when you were playing poorly and now obviously you're playing so well.

JAY HAAS: Well, the way that went, we had the Nick Watney over to the house there at Hilton Head and I saw Nick at Greensboro last year and I had shot maybe one or two over and thought I missed the cut by one. And ended up missing it by three and I said you know what, these guys are just too good, I'm awful, I can't do this any more, I'm out of my league. You know, I'm just unbelievably negative feeling. And I went the next week and won at Hickory. So Nick sees me and I said, Nick, I can't do this any more and all the stuff and he goes, yeah, you're going to win, because it was the same conversation I had with many him at Greensboro, he said, you're probably just going to go out and win two in a row. That's where that story came from. I didn't say that I was going to go win two in a row.

I don't know, I guess I just, I get to the PGA TOUR events and I feel like I cannot make any mistakes. I feel like I have to play almost perfectly to be a threat. To even make the cut I really have to play well.

I come out here and where there is no cuts normally and I guess I don't feel like I can coast by any means, but I still feel like I can, I will be, if I play well, I don't have to play perfectly maybe, at least to make the cut or to be in the hunt. I don't know, it's just a little bit different mindset. I don't know what it is. It's just I feel like I'm outclassed a lot of times if I don't play well at a PGA event, PGA TOUR event, I'm down the road. No questions asked. So it's just different. Guys are a lot, a little bit better and the courses are a little long longer, greens a little faster, you know, just pitches coming in at 95 instead of 85.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Loren Roberts and how he's been doing so well since he joined the Champions Tour. Can you talk about him a little bit?

JAY HAAS: Yeah, I think Loren's game, obviously he's played well on the PGA TOUR also right before he came out. He was still a threat, he still played very well. Won Milwaukee maybe just a few years ago. His game is, has blossomed in the last 10 years, I think. And he's built for this type of golf too. He's not the longest hitter, but very rarely strays off the fairway and he's a wonderful putter. And I know that about three or four years before I turned 50 I was watching senior golf on TV and most of the time I was watching Hale win the tournament, and the reason I felt like he was winning mostly is because he was holing the putts. The guys who won Champions Tour golf tournaments were making the putts. And that's why I felt like I needed my most work at that stage, when I was 45, 46. And so I worked pretty hard on it. But I think that to a man every one recognizes Loren as probably one of our best putters out here, one of the top two or three putters out here. So if he's on at all with his long game, he's going to be very difficult to beat. This course, I think you really have to keep the ball in the fairway, that was one thing that Bob Tway told us, you know, just work on your driving, try to keep the ball in play, because the greens are not receptive when you're hitting balls out of the rough here. So Loren will definitely be difficult here and the greens are very undulated, you watch him putt and he just he looks like he's trying to make every one of them, whether it's three feet or 30 feet. And he usually does.

Q. So how has life been at the Tway residence these few days?

JAY HAAS: Very nice. Bob cooked us some killer ribs last night and actually his wife Tammy is taking Kevin to an AJGA event, they're leaving, I think they left recently or are getting ready to leave, so hopefully it wasn't Bob's going to feed us a little bit, as the week goes on, but we shot some baskets last night. He's got a half court indoor half court basketball goal which most every one should have, don't you think?

(Laughter.) But, no, it's been a blast. It's been very easy and takes us about a minute and a half to get over here, so it's pretty nice.

Q. I was teammates with Casey Wittenburg at Oklahoma State and he left school after a year and has really struggled. But your son Bill stayed four years and he's had a lot easier transition would you talk about a kind of what you said to him about life on TOUR?

JAY HAAS: Yeah, I suppose, you know, I didn't compare him with anyone or say look at this guy or look at that guy, I just said, both my wife and I just thought that if he could do it, he should stay in school, he should get his degree. And he did. And to me if you're going to have a career out here, I mean I have been out 30 years now. This is my 30th year of playing. And if you miss a year on the front end, it's almost, big deal, you know, there is plenty of time. And I just, from my benefit, you know, I was a decent player in college, but I didn't think I was ready at all. Until it was time to go to the Q School and even when I got out here my first couple years. I was a deer in the headlights. Most kids are, I think. I think Tiger maybe skewed that a little bit, but he was just a freak. Him and you look at Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw, Tiger, a few guys that have come out and done okay they're first few years but generally speaking we all need more seasoning, I think. But I don't think we ever talked, Bill never said, I want to turn pro. He never said, what do you think about me turning pro, dad. He loved school. So that was a good thing. But I don't, the competition, college competition is wonderful. And I know there's people that say Michelle Wie should be doing playing more LPGA events or she should have done this, that, I mean, you know, that's just individual. She's an unbelievable player. Some people say, well, she should win at a certain level and then worry about going to the next level and all that. But I guess I don't feel that way, I just think that you need to be ready more mentally than physically. There's some college players that are wonderful players, but this is week in, week out, daily grind, that's what the guys, I don't think, are ready for.

Q. There have been a number of players the last couple of days who have said they have not been able to identify any let up holes out here. Is there such a thing as a let up hole out here?

JAY HAAS: Well, Bob Tway said that in '88 they asked him what are the birdie holes and he said well No. 16's a birdie hole and the rest of them you just try to hang on. And that's kind of it. If you hit good shots, you can make birdies and everything. But there's not, there doesn't seem to be a stretch of holes where you go, okay, now I can kind of, I might get a couple here during this stretch. Obviously you're going to make some birdies every where, but there are not any gimmies out there by any means. If you don't hit good, quality shots, you're going to be making bogeys left and rate out there. So I think most everyone's correct. And especially yesterday. If you had the guys come in yesterday and they played at all, man, I thought I was a 10 handicapper yesterday, I was bad. Today was a little bit better, so I feel a little more confident going into tomorrow. But if the wind kicks up some, this is going to be all we want. And they can hopefully jockey the tees up a little bit on certain holes. Number 18 you can hardly get to the fairway yesterday. Curtis I was playing with him and he hit driver 3 wood in there. And Gary, you know how long he is. I mean, you know, he's Curtis Strange.

Q. He's not as magically long as you, but

JAY HAAS: No, that's true.

(Laughter.) But it's difficult. And I don't think there's even, even if the wind doesn't blow, it's not going to be a shoe in. Bob said maybe only five or six people broke par in '88. You got any record on that?

Q. Par was 284. There were roughly 25 players. Who were at par or better.

JAY HAAS: Par or better.

Q. Excuse me, 16 players broke par.

JAY HAAS: 16 broke par. Well, that's, with no wind. He said it was just perfect every day, so.

KELLY ELBIN: Jay Haas, thank you very much.

JAY HAAS: All right. Thank y'all very much.

End of FastScripts.

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