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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 28, 2006

Jay Haas

EDMOND, OKLAHOMA

KELLY ELBIN: Ladies and gentlemen, Jay Haas, the 2006 Senior PGA Champion. With a par on the third hole of sudden death playoff Jay captures the first Major championship of his career. Jay congratulations on the victory and the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy.

JAY HAAS: Thank you. It was you know, there were moments today where I thought I would be at the airport already by now and then there were some moments where I was felt like I had everything under control. And then some moments again I was in the car mad about missing whatever. And so to be here right now is unbelievably special.

I don't know. After bogeying 2 and 3 I was six behind. Wind blowing again, I just didn't see shooting anything in the 60s today after getting off to that start.

Heck, 1, 2 and 3 if you hit any kind of decent shots, those are some of the easy holes out here. So as I was two over, I did not feel very confident.

But at the same time I had hit a lot of good shots up to that point. The five birdies in a row were something that I think six in a row is the most I've ever done. And never in a Major tournament. Never right by the lead. I had some stretches and everything, but to do it on this golf course and to get in the hunt. I said on the 18th green I got the fresh tires way too soon in NASCAR speak, being from South Carolina.

But I looked up after No. 9 or 10 and I had like a two shot lead. And I went, oh my goodness, that's way too early to have a two shot lead. And but I hit a lot of good shots on the back nine.

I 3 putted No. 12.

And then birdied 18. I hit every green.

I missed No. 9, but after number 3, I hit I guess 14 out of 15 greens coming in and really didn't have many long putts. So I felt in control, I felt like it was my tournament, especially after Gil and Brad were over par there early.

But again to be sitting here I didn't think it was going to happen and at quite a few times during the day. But it sure is sweet.

KELLY ELBIN: Questions?

Q. I think you were 14 years old when your uncle won the Masters in '68. Can you tell me about, did that put a hunger in you as a young child that some day you wanted to be sitting here in front of every one as a winner of a Major?

JAY HAAS: You know, at that age I don't think I realized what it meant to him. And I said this many times, that golf wasn't on TV. You saw The Open, the Masters, the PGA, you know, maybe a six or eight events. And I was always wondering, I would watch two or three shots and I wanted to go out and play myself. So I remember him winning, I remember people being he go excited, but at the same time with the scorecard snafu there with Roberto and everything I know there were mixed emotions. I remember those things. But as I've gotten older and gone back there and seen his champion's locker, in the champion's room up there, and I've, as I've gotten older, obviously, I know what that meant to him at that time.

I tried my darndest to win a Major on the PGA TOUR and the PGA, the Masters, U. S. Open, British Open, whatever, but it didn't happen. But this is, I won't even say it's the next best thing, this is just like one of them to me. You know, it had a Major championship feel, the crowds were unbelievable this week. To do it like I did it, to make birdie on the last hole, to get to the playoff, and then make a nice putt, but I'm kind of rambling here. I'm sorry. But I did again, I didn't know, I didn't really realize kind of what it meant to him at the time. But as I've gotten older, as I but before then, to answer one part of your question, before then, I knew this was what I wanted to do. Whether it was to win Majors or not, but I just wanted to play professional golf, I loved it.

Q. Yesterday when you were in here you talked about how you felt like you maybe shot yourself out of the tournament. Was that a little reverse psychology you were playing on yourself or what?

JAY HAAS: No, I really felt like that I was disappointed, I didn't birdie 16, I bogeyed 18, with Gil making a bogey at 17, I guess he kind of, you know, let a couple more people in. But I really felt like, I wouldn't say I was out of it, but I felt like I needed a 66 or 67 to even have an outside chance. And no, it wasn't reverse psychology, I was just very upset yesterday. Bogeying that last hole. I hit two really good shots, an indifferent chip, but a six footer downhill, left it short. That kind of just, that was disappointing. But there were a lot of disappointments this week, but a lot of, got a lot of lucky breaks as I look back. The second shot on 16 this afternoon, barely getting over the creek there, that was a very fortunate break. So it all comes out, I guess. But I did play very well.

Q. You grabbed Brad there after his miss as you guys were walking off. Could you just kind of reflect on what was said there and I get the feeling like you know he may not be widely known to people but he's a pretty popular guy amongst you all on the Champions Tour.

JAY HAAS: Well, he S if you don't know, he's been nicknamed Doctor Dirt for his whole career just about. He used to come out and he looked like he slept in his clothes, you know his wrinkled pants and everything. And but he just grinned and smoked his cigar and would go fishing and just had the best time. And he had never won a Major either. So I can imagine how I would feel missing a makeable putt to continue on and all that. I don't know what to say in that situation. I was very fortunate that he did, I felt like I had to make a birdie to win the playoff. I didn't figure that he was going to give it to me by any means.

So I don't know what I said. I said I was sorry, you know, congratulations for, you know, great play and everything. But he said, hey, you know, he was a true sportsman about it. There was no hanging his head, no begrudging me or anything like that we just had a nice conversation right out side the press room here and he said how much I deserved it and all that stuff. But he deserves it just as much, he's been playing awfully well. He probably will get the next one.

KELLY ELBIN: This is also Jay's third straight win on the Champions Tour, which equals Loren Roberts start to for the 2006 season. Questions?

Q. Peter Jacobsen kept saying all week that a local would be the one that would win this thing and you're not a local, but you probably are the closest thing to it in having stayed with Bob Tway?

JAY HAAS: Yeah, Bob's been an unbelievable host this week. Curtis Strange and I stayed there and he cooked every night. We just come to the course and we go back to his house and we would eat and he cooked ribs last night, he's my man, I tell you what. Curtis and I said we're going to take him with us this year on the Champions Tour.

But he gave us a little bit of insight to the golf course. But, you know, when you're playing a course six months ago, a month ago, two weeks ago, it just doesn't play the same. The greens maybe get a little faster, the fairways a little shorter, things like that, but he kind of gave us an idea how to play some of the holes and where not to go. But he's great. And he's 47 years old. He looks like he's 35. I was shocked. I said the other day, well how old are you? He said 47. You know, he needs to produce a birth certificate. He's not going to be out here in three years. But he's, he was great.

Q. Which putt was better, the putt on the 72nd hole or the putt that won it for you?

JAY HAAS: Probably the one on the 72nd hole. It was a tougher putt. I didn't know I kind of wanted to see the leaderboard posted on the 17th hole, what Brad had and Gil had done on 17. Because I really didn't know how to approach it. I kind of wanted to hit a soft, die putt in there so I wouldn't have a long putt on my next one. But the wind was howling left to right and I played it out probably 12, 14 inches on a 10 to 12 foot putt. And I was glad to see Dana's putt. He was just behind me a, a little more left and you think he felt like he made it and it broke, didn't touch the hole. So I gave it a little bit more, I won't say I thought I won the tournament there, but I felt like it was going to take a hell of a hole to tie me. When Brad didn't birdie 17 or if Gil didn't either. But did Loren make a birdie there on the last hole too? No he didn't? No. Okay. But you know, the one on the in the playoff, I didn't think that was to win, I felt like that was to go to the next hole. And somebody in here a couple days ago asked me about my putt at Valhalla a couple years ago that I thought I needed to tie Hale and I just put a God awful stroke on it. And I said then, I hopefully if I get another chance with a putt like that, I'll do better. And so I kind of had a moment of talking to myself over that last putt, saying, you know, go down like a man here, don't when I have this thing up there. And you've been putting well all week and you've been putting well for a nice stretch here, just trust it, keep your head steady, hit the putt. And it was a fairly easy putt to read, so that went in.

Q. Actually, two questions. Is that the tallest biggest trophy you've ever won and secondly, now that you see how easy it is to win a Major, why didn't you do this sooner?

JAY HAAS: Yes, I believe it's definitely the heaviest. I don't know how you can pick that thing up one person.

That's pretty cool, just to see those names on there. The people who have won this event in the past is awfully neat to have my name on there.

And I don't know, I felt more comfortable this year playing, coming down the stretch. I've played some good holes. I've felt like I'm swinging really well. Bob Tivo'ed the rounds here this week so we have kind of just like a bunch of guys, we're sitting around feeding our fairways, watching golf, you know, and I really liked the way I was swinging. It looked like I was in control. I hit a lot of good shots yesterday on TV and Johnny Miller was very complimentary to me. He said that my stroke was mesmerizing. And I kept saying that to myself. Boy, if Johnny thinks my stroke is mesmerizing, it must be good.

(Laughter.)

But I just felt confident. Again, I've been playing well, I hit a lot of good shots. But I've had to be, would have had to have beaten a lot of good players in the past. And I don't know, I guess I didn't think I could do it as much as I do now.

Q. It looked like your last nine you didn't really miss a shot.

JAY HAAS: I really didn't. I hit a real poor first putt at No. 12, ran it by about 7 or 8 feet. But almost made that one coming back. But you're right, I felt I hit it in the center of the club face. My shot at, my drive and my 6 iron at 18 in regulation were two of the best shots I've hit in my life, I think. And to make that putt on top of it was again something I won't forget for a long time.

Q. On TV they said on 18 that that was only the second green side bunker you've been in all week. Is that correct?

JAY HAAS: Probably. I was in on 14 yesterday and I got up and down. Real quick running through my head, yeah, I don't think I was in any other ones.

Q. I guess the question is, that in this wind and these conditions, how did you manage that, at least not dribbling into a bunker or something like that?

JAY HAAS: Right. No, I tell you, I hit a lot of really, really solid shots from the fairways. I love these fairways. They got a nice cushion to them. I'm kind of a sweeper, a picker of the ball. I don't like to gouge down, especially once it gets up above the say an 8 iron, I like to kind of sweep it off the ground. And these fairways just, I just felt like I was going to hit good shots, good iron shots in there. I didn't all the time, but I was confident that I would do that but that is kind of amazing. I got them both up and down both times out of them. But that was.

Q. With this wind it's like incredible?

JAY HAAS: That's right. I remember nothing like what Tiger did a few years ago there at St. Andrews and didn't hit in the bunker. That's way better. But, yeah, you wouldn't I wouldn't have thought that at the start of the week that I would have been in plenty of bunkers.

Q. Friday and Saturday your play was really up and down, you bogeyed, birdie, bogey birdie, how much of that, how much that have do you attribute to being aggressive and getting yourself in trouble by being aggressive on the course or was it just pure elements?

JAY HAAS: A little bit of both, I think. But I think the way the greens are situated here, you almost have to be aggressive at the pin because you can't hardly shoot away from a pin.

On the 18th hole there, if you shoot away to the left there, if you got the correct club you're going to go long left. If you're short and you go at the pin you're short right. So you kind of have to be aggressive. You have to fire at it. Yesterday on 18 I was pretty aggressive there and knocked it over the green, made bogey.

But most of the bogeys yesterday anybody that was playing okay, most of the bogeys were probably the elements. It was just very, very difficult to play. Quite a bit windier than today. It's still blowing pretty good today, but it was manageable today. Yesterday was kind of a survival.

Q. When Brad was in here he said that while it would have been nice to win, he was happy for you that you won because he said you've always been a Major player, you deserved a Major. Can you just talk about what it's like to have one of your peers say that?

JAY HAAS: Well, and I'm not sure what he means by that. I think Brad's a heck of a player and I think he's gotten better, I think he will probably tell you the same thing, that's more one of the things that we said last night watching the golf on the replay was how good Brad was swinging. That club just sits up there so nice and it doesn't look like he's going to hit a bad shot or hit it off line. And I think that his putting let him down a little bit today. He did say, I heard him in the interview that he said he hit almost every putt like that today kind of a six or eight footer kind of short and to the left. Low left. He hit every one of them and he was disappointed in that. But to have him say that, that's pretty neat because I think Brad's a heck of a guy, he's a champ. He's a champ in life, he hasn't changed one bit from the first day I met him. Brad is Brad and he's somebody I can go fishing with.

Q. When you were in the bunker at 18 in the playoff can you see the top of the flag stick and assess the difficulty of the shot that you had?

JAY HAAS: I could just barely see it. And I was lying up there, there was another flag kind of a light blue flag, I don't know, Switzerland or Sweden or some other one out there, so I was kind of aiming at that. But I didn't have the best of lies. I have a 60 degree lob wedge and I have a 54 degree sand wedge or gap wedge and that was one I used, just because it was into the wind and I felt like I wanted my ball to run out just a little bit.

Now when I got down in there the lip is very steep and with the not such a great lie, I felt like I really had to concentrate on getting it up. I didn't hit a terrific shot, a little surprised that it got as close as it did. I felt like I needed a good bit more speed on it, but again, I felt like the 60 was going to go up and maybe check a little bit too much and then it was into the wind and I wanted to get it running back there.

But I tried to just think about practice shots. I practiced some in the bunker here. And just trying to think about what I did on those and try and get it up there somewhere to get some type of chance. Because I didn't think Brad's was a gimmie by any means, I thought he was going to make it, but I didn't think he was dead yet.

Q. You had one crazy shot on the back nine, a second shot at 16 there. Did you know that it actually bounced over the top of the pilings back into play and that?

JAY HAAS: Peter told me that.

Q. How fortunate were you there?

JAY HAAS: Yeah, well very fortunate. As I said, I got, you have to get lucky breaks to win tournaments. And that was a pretty glaring lucky break right there.

I had a pretty good lie in the rough. I was just trying to kind of pop a 5 wood out to the right somewhere and let the wind blow it back in. I felt like I won say it was an easy shot, but or I didn't hit a very good shot. I hit it a hair heavy and I kind of pulled it, the club kind of wrapped over a little bit and caught a couple leaves on the way by and then I didn't see it. And then right at the last second I saw it kind of just hop up there. But that was just 99 out of a hundred that goes into the creek and now I got to drop, you know, who knows where and probably going to make a bogey for sure.

So that was, going back to that I'll probably have a little tossing and turning tonight thinking about that one. But I don't think I got a great break at the first or second playoff hole, I guess. The ball hitting, kicking way back over to the right. But then again, I had a decent lie over there, cover been stymied or something. I guess it all comes out. But that was a pretty golden break there, definitely.

Q. In athletics people talk about this mythical zone like Michael Jordan scores 40 points he's in the zone. When you make five straight birdies were you in that zone?

JAY HAAS: I think so, sure. Hit a real nice shot at four, maybe 15, 14 feet, maybe, maybe. Made that one. Five I hit a sand wedge to about 12 feet. Real nice putt there.

6, hit a 9 iron to four feet. Made that one.

And then kind of I will say the next couple of holes were kind of in the zone. I hit a really nice 3 wood, an 8 iron to maybe 10, 12 feet behind the hole. And I just, I thought I was going to make that one. I just knew I was going to make that one.

And then the shot at 8 was probably very much zone like. An 8 iron, I mean there's no room back there. And I hit it, pulled it a little bit, but still hit a really good shot and kind of like, you know, I'm watching the NBA playoffs where guys turn around and three pointers, swish it. You know, just Chevy Chase. You know. One of those. It just went right at the hole and about four and a half feet and made that one. And then just, you know, I thought I was going to birdie nine too. That's the way I felt. It was almost a shock that I cam up short on there. So, yeah, I would say that was the zone for me.

Q. You touched on the second ago, the tee shot on No. 1 the second playoff hole. It looked like it was a good break, actually, that it went as far right as it did and kind of gave you a better angle back to that pin?

JAY HAAS: Right. Yeah, I this morning my first hole I kind of hit a toe little bit over there to the left and had to chip down and ended up making a really good par. Getting up and down from about 95 yards or something like that.

So I did not want to go there. I wanted to give myself a chance. And that was one thing that Bob had told us, you know, you just cannot play from the left. You got to go, if you miss it you can maybe somehow get a chance on the right side there. And then when I went down there and I didn't see anyone huddled around or anything I'm saying well where is this ball? And they said and I heard someone say, in the rough at 18. So I was thinking, well, maybe I can get it up over the trees then. But I was fortunate there. Probably, yeah, that probably was a good break to have a decent enough lie to get over the trees over the creek, over the like and down there and couldn't have left it any better there on the up slope there, pretty easy pitch shot.

KELLY ELBIN: This was the 12th championship or 12th playoff in th Senior PGA Championship and tied for third among holes played in a sudden death playoff.

Q. You've won a number of times you've been close to Majors a couple of times. Would you describe your emotion of winning your first Major? I mean is it a relief, is it a thrill or?

JAY HAAS: All of the above. I think all of the emotions you can imagine, Jimmy Roberts on 18, he said, Jay, after all this time, finally a Major championship can champion and it kind of hit me then. I really wasn't thinking in those terms that I had been falling back so many times. I guess I don't think too much of the past about what I haven't done. But, yeah, I it kind of hit me there. And it was on TV and I wanted to say we did it Jan, and couldn't get that out, nothing would come out. And I was getting ready to tear up, so it was a pretty emotional time for me there and just realizing I guess I wasn't expecting it. I was expecting to go to the next tee and I think when Brad missed it was, I don't know, I didn't know what to do or where to go, who to look at, anything like that. So a little relief, but definitely just bliss, joy. I don't know.

Q. Have you talked to either your boys yet or have you talked to anybody?

JAY HAAS: I just talked to Jan before I came in here and she said she talked to all of the kids and Bill was actually in an airport somewhere and he had to leave to go to the airport she said when I made the putt on the 72nd hole. So I think he felt like I was going to win. And then he calls back and no, we're in a playoff and then by the time he got to the airport he was able to find a TV, I guess, and watch the maybe the second playoff hole and then hopefully the third before he took off. But, yeah, that's a pretty neat thing to have your family behind you and to talk about it and I'm sure we'll have some nice conversations tonight on the phone, but that's who I play for. Jan and the kids. That's, obviously, for me and the joy and the excitement of being in the hunt and all that stuff, but it's such a thrill to be successful for them and to share that with my family.

Q. Which airport was that?

JAY HAAS: You think he was in Nashville, actually. He was, my daughter lives in Nashville right now and he was over there. After playing at Memphis. He missed the cut in Memphis and went over there with her.

KELLY ELBIN: Jay Haas, for the 2006 senior PGA Champion.

JAY HAAS: Thank you, gentlemen.

End of FastScripts.

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