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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 26, 2006

Jay Haas

EDMOND, OKLAHOMA

KELLY ELBIN: Jay Haas, ladies and gentlemen, in with a 1 under par 70 today. Currently in fourth place alone in the second round. At 4 under, 138. Jay, some thoughts on your play today.

JAY HAAS: Well, it was a little bit more difficult today with the extra wind we're getting ready do get crashed in on here.

It was just harder to get distance control, get the ball close to the hole. It didn't seem like I hit the ball pretty solidly today, hit a lot of fairways, but just didn't get my irons as close, didn't have as many opportunities today.

My touch on the greens just wasn't there today. I faced a lot of second putts, three four, five, six feet. Missed a couple of them. And a little disappointed with my putting, but overall, I like my position and I am doing a lot of good things. So hopefully today was my round where I didn't feel comfortable with the putting and maybe on the weekend it will feel better. But again, it was, as you can hear, it's just a little windier than it was yesterday and that makes it, it makes a big difference.

KELLY ELBIN: Would you go through your scorecard, please.

JAY HAAS: Started on the back and hit two beautiful shots, a 9 iron to about three feet and made a birdie.

Then hit a 5 iron out of the fairway bunker on 11 to about 20 feet behind the hole and I made that. So I was off and running felt like it was going to be an unbelievable day.

Then 14 I hit a 7 iron, just went through the green, I putted it down to about five feet short and I missed that, went by about three feet and missed that. So I made six from five feet off the back of the green, really that was disappointing there.

I 3 putted 16. Hit a 4 iron to about 25 feet.

No. 1, hit a pitching wedge to about five feet.

Then 5 was pretty dumb. I laid up too short or too close to the green in the rough, pitched it to the back of the green, 60 feet or so and 3 putted. So that was very disappointing there.

But made a nice save at 6 and 7. Made two nice saves there. A couple nice putts. So all in all, I'm not disappointed. Still right there.

KELLY ELBIN: Questions?

Q. 10 and 11 look like they have been very good to you. You birdied both those. Any particular reason the way the holes layout. You birdied them the first two days?

JAY HAAS: I hit two really good drives and two nine irons into number 10. I made about a 10 footer and three footer.

But 11 I feel like I'm way ahead of the field on that hole. I think that's one of our hardest holes out here. I hit probably my best shot of the day, a 5 iron out of the fairway bunker and cut it around this tree to about 20 feet and made the putt.

Yesterday I hit a 3 iron in there and 15 feet, I guess. And it just was lucky at the time, I guess. Hit good shots and made some nice putts there. But that's, I feel like I'm stealing one when I birdie that hole. No. 11 especially.

Q. Could you just talk a little bit about the leaderboard. You look up there and you see Peter and Gil and guys that, Hall of Fame type guys. Just talk a little bit about the leader board and what it looks like for the weekend?

JAY HAAS: It's not unexpected. Gil, as I was coming here this week, I felt like he would definitely be a factor. He's a great player, has been for a long time and just if the wind blew, just the times I've played with him in the past, I think he's a wonderful wind player. He hits the ball right on the button every time. And he knows how to play. I understand that he doesn't play this golf course all that much, but still, he's home, he has played it, and he knows the course, I'm sure better than 99 percent of us out here.

Peter, when he's healthy, he hits the ball as well as anyone out here. And if he putts well, he's tough to beat. So I don't look for those guys to back up very much.

Brad's been playing beautiful golf this year, we think he's finally figured out that he's a pretty darn good player. And again, any of these guys, if they putt well, their ball striking is still very good. And Tom, playing with him the last couple days, he bogeyed the last hole, but made a nice come back again. I think if he doesn't get too far behind to have to catch up so much that he's going to be a factor. Both days he's kind of given a few away and he missed some short putts early on today, but in this wind, this is right up his alley. So I still think that he, you know, you look at Loren, right there. And Jose Rivero, obviously he played a good round today. Any of those guys up there are still very much in contention. But you think you got to look to Peter, Gil, and Tom Watson as the guys that are going to be there at the end. You got to try to beat those guys.

Q. You talked earlier today about the wind or earlier this week about the wind. Can you talk about the prospect of this weekend and do you feel more comfortable in it now?

JAY HAAS: I don't think I ever feel comfortable in the wind. I think that's part of my putting problems. I think that I kind of have a long, slow stroke. So when the wind is blowing it tend to blow my putter all around a little bit. So I'm the not crazy about putting in the wind. But I hit the ball very well. I hit it very solidly off the tee. Hitting a lot of good iron shots. I love playing off these fairways. They got a lot of cushion to them. So if I can continue to hit greens and things like that, I think the wind, not saying it won't bother me, but it won't as sometimes when I'm not playing well, it can really affect me. But it is what it is. Hopefully it won't be ridiculously hard. I know the forecast is for maybe a little bit stronger winds, but today it wasn't so bad and I'm learning the course as we go, learning where to take advantage of the helping wind and then try to hang on when the wind's into us. And it's not quite as bad as it sounds like. It's not quite as bad as the walls knocking down here, but it's blowing pretty good out there.

Q. Compared to yesterday, when the winds were laying down, and today, were there any holes that you really had to change your club selection today versus yesterday or how you went after a hole today versus yesterday?

JAY HAAS: Our back side, my front nine today, it seemed relatively the same. I hit, number 15 I hit a 3 wood off the tee yesterday, I hit a driver off the tee. The wind was maybe a little bit, it had quartered a little bit differently.

But overall not a glaring amount. It was straight down wind on the par 3, number four and five the par 5 almost straight down wind there.

And I wanted to go for 5, and as I turned around, as it turned out I wish I would have, I wish I would have made six going for it, as opposed to six laying up. But I just don't know the hole that well. Up there, what's up there by the green and things like that.

So it was a little stronger today and from just a little bit different direction, but overall it wasn't that much different it wasn't a glaring difference in club selection, no.

Q. Can you talk about those last two shots that Tom had on 16.

JAY HAAS: Oh, yeah. Well, he got a little unlucky with a bad lie on his tee shot. And Tom doesn't back off too much. And he hit a knuckle ball sort of it sort of fell out of the sky and I think he was getting ready to drop his ball way back on the bank and someone said, well the ball is up here. I never did go down and look at it, but Scott Simpson had seen it and said that it was sitting up pretty well, but he still had to stand in the water. Yesterday when we were on the 5th tee, we saw a snake swimming across the pond right behind the tee, I mean it was big. So I said to him, we were on that same tee and I said, I bet you had that thought in your mind when you were going in that creek. He said, well, he stepped on a stick or a log or something and it popped out of the water when he jumped in there. He said his heart about jumped in his throat. But you know, it was a he got a nice break, I think, to be able to play the shot. But still it was a great shot to get on the green and then you kind of just knew he was going to make the putt. And I was rooting for him. I wanted him too. That's the kind of stuff that every one loves to see. But he, I heard people say that's the Tom of old and that's kind of what it was.

KELLY ELBIN: Jay Haas, thank you very much.

JAY HAAS: Thank y'all very much.

End of FastScripts.

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