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LIBERTY MUTUAL LEGENDS OF GOLFApril 22, 2007Jay HaasSAVANNAH, GEORGIA PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay, Jay Haas, successfully depends his Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf title. Jay, an exciting day out there. You were four back with eight to play and rallied and won in the first playoff in stroke play, the first since 1998. Congratulations on your eighth win on the Champions Tour in your career. JAY HAAS: Thanks, Phil. I certainly didn't think I would be sitting here at this time. I thought I would be in the car about a hundred miles down the road by now. You know, I didn't play that badly today, but just a lot of guys were doing some good things and I couldn't get a putt in the hole early on. I didn't have a lot of opportunities. But you know, even in the middle of the back nine, I thought 10-under was going to be a playoff and 11 was maybe an outright win. I thought if I could birdie -- I birdied 14 and I thought I needed two more after that. And I had a nice chance at 16 and a nice one at 17, and I really thought that I needed one of those to get to the playoff. You know, just so happened, 18 was really playing difficult today as it usually does. 17 was not a bargain, and nobody was doing anything. But I'm just really fortunate that none of the guys did more than they did, and it just all seemed to happen so quickly. It's probably hit one of the greatest shots I ever hit -- I always say it's the putt -- not always, but since I made the putt last year at the PGA Seniors at Oak Tree on the 72nd hole, which turned out to get me into a playoff, since then, I've said that's the best shot I've ever hit. But this comes close to it, the bunker shot that I hit. It was a difficult shot under the circumstances. Had a decent lie, but kind of one of those I thought, well, you know what, if you pull this shot off, you're going to have a decent putt. And if you don't, you're down the road and you're going to finish at the best second. So it came out pretty much like I thought it needed to and continued to roll down there. I'm glad it wasn't any longer than it was. Just fortunate that, again, Tom -- I missed the green. Tom hits the green on last hole and looks like he's got the upper hand. Hit a really good pitch then, too, from the right back of the green there. Didn't think Tom's putt was a bargain by any means, but I thought he would 2-putt. I thought I needed to make mine to go to the next playoff hole. And when he missed, I kind of got nervous again because now I had this putt to win. But it just seems like it all happened so quickly. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Jay, just go through the card if you could, first, nothing really happened on the front nine except for the bogey at 3. JAY HAAS: I hit a bad 5-wood on 3, popped it up 25 feet on the left and missed that. I had a few opportunities to make birdies but just didn't hit them on the front nine. Then 11, I hit a really nice chip from just left of the green and out of some pretty high rough and hit it down to a foot and a half and birdied there. Got a real break at 13. I hit my 3-wood to the right and had about a hundred yards and I had a good lie and it kind of trickled down that hill and made about a 15-foot putt there for birdie. I thought when I made that one that I had an outside chance, and prior to that, I was really, you know, just didn't think I was in the mix. Then I don't know where this drive came from. Tommy, my caddie, said it was 288, I don't know if he said to the hole or to the front -- probably to the hole, 280 to the front. And it was into the wind and I had not been driving it that great for that long and it just came off like magic. Couldn't have hit a bucketload any better; one out of a bucket wouldn't have been any better than this one was. Rolled up on the front edge, and I actually rolled it up when Brad and Mark were putting. Hope I didn't upset them. Haven't seen them since then. Brad didn't make the putt -- yeah, and he would not be upset. He's not the kind of guy that would be upset at that. But I 2-putted that, not a great first putt, but I did 2-putt that one, for my last birdie. Then again, I had a good chance at 16, maybe 12 feet and 17 was about 15 feet. I thought those were important putts. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay. You pick up 395 Charles Schwab Cup points, and with the next two tournaments coming up being ones you won last year, you have a nice advantage here. JAY HAAS: Can I take my results from last year on the next two? PHIL STAMBAUGH: Not yet. JAY HAAS: I remember last year hitting here, and this is a huge purse for us, and at the time I was coming here, I was maybe just into the Top-10 and this jumped me up to second I think after this week. I knew that this was a big tournament. Didn't do great at the Ginn. Didn't get any points there. Didn't play great at Valencia. So you know, I needed this, needed a good finish, and to win is great in that regard. The Charles Schwab Cup, that's important to me, and this helps my lead in that. Q. The tee shot on the 54th hole that got you in the right bunker, the lie you had there, you hit the lip to get in the green-side bunker? JAY HAAS: Well, the bunkers here are pretty difficult. There's a lot of sand in them. It's kind of fluffy and the ball sits down. My tee shot, I missed it left yesterday. It was in the fairway on Friday and missed it kind of over -- the wind's left-to-right, it a pretty tough drive. I have been feeling more comfortable hitting the cut off the tee, and yesterday I said, "Well, don't overcut it." So I hung on and pulled it in the left rough. I said, "Don't do that, the right rough looks a lot better. Just overcut it a little bit." I didn't think it was going to get to the bunker. I thought that rough short of the bunker wasn't that thick. I just didn't think that would be a bad spot to be. Then when I got up there, I was just trying not to hit it heavy. I thought even a thin, bladed shot would run up there somewhere, and I just got ahead of it. When I dug my feet in, I sunk in this much and I really felt like I had to choke up on the club. It was not a good shot by any means. I should have done better in that. But it did, as it came out in it nicked the grass just it in front of me, but it was going in the bunker the whole time. That's where it was headed. But I had a decent lie there. The downslope, I felt like the ball, my bunker shot was going to get to the hole; if I could just kind of do what I was supposed to do and hit the correct shot, it was going to roll to the hole. The distance was not a huge factor. The crown of the green, though, where I was hitting across, if I pulled it a little bit it was almost going to run to the left, and if I pushed it a little bit it was going to run down past where Wayne's ball was. So that was a key getting that one on-line. When I looked up, it was where I thought it needed to be. Then I got the crazy idea that it might go in, but I was glad it was as close as it was. But that was -- it doesn't get much better than that for me in that situation. Q. That drive you hit on 4, was that as hard as you can hit one? JAY HAAS: Pretty much so. And that's not an easy drive. You don't want to hang it out to the right there, but I think I was in the position that I just said, you know what, I can't lay up here. I've got to go and I've got to try to force a birdie. I had been trying, most of my misses I think this year, I tend to get the club kind of shut at the top. And I kind of just said, you know what, just open this thing up or feel like you're more open and cover it coming down in there. I looked up and it was just boring right through the wind and drawing a little bit. Again, it was a pretty sight for me at that time. Q. What was your biggest difficulty on the greens today? JAY HAAS: You know, my pace wasn't really good early on. I had a real makeable putt at the first hole, probably eight feet, seven feet, straight up the hill. I just pulled it a little bit. It was a good putt but didn't go in. I looked at the leaderboard and I saw Hale, I think he birdied the first two, and Wayne was a foot and a half; he was going to make a birdie. A couple of other guys had made birdies. Nick Price was 5-under through seven or something like that. I felt like the scores were going to be really good today. So when I missed that putt, I just, you know, something clicked that just said, you know what, you can't be giving those shots away. You've got to make those. But then I wasn't all that close. I didn't have a bunch of 6- and 8-footers after that. I just -- but my pace was not great. On No. 8, I had a makeable, what I think, 20 feet up the hill and I ran that by five feet. I don't know, that's a fine line. The cup's not very big and it doesn't take much to get off-line and hit the edges. 9, I hit a really nice putt from maybe 15 feet. Thought I made that one. But then No. 12, probably hit one of the best shots of the week. I hit a 4-iron there from 200 yards to about seven or eight feet and I missed that one. I really thought that was going to cost me. Because 12, a long hole, I don't think there would be many birdies on that hole. And I felt like it was almost a shot-and-a-half pickup on that hole, and almost a mental thing almost that I could birdie that hole when nobody else was. When I didn't birdie that one, I was pretty frustrated. Q. Do you think on this tour, maybe at least from time to time, like you said, you really thought the lead was going to be a certain number. Do you think maybe there's a little more backing up from time to time out here just for whatever reason? JAY HAAS: You know, I won't say that. I think we all know at this stage in our career how neat it is to win and how important it is and time is running out and all that stuff. Maybe there's more pressure on us to win when the time comes and when we do have an opportunity to do that. No, you know, I won't go as far as to say that. It just happened today. And you can go to the records probably, the 18th hole has to be in the top five or ten at least of toughest holes we play all year. It was not easy to play today because of the crosswind and things like that. And 17 is no bargain, either. But it's just kind of the way the courses set up that you see a few bogeys on the finish. Q. And the one-handed wedge at 16? JAY HAAS: You know, I had a really tight lie, and the ball was above my feet a little bit and I was just making sure that I got the ball first and I kind of, you know, I hit down and it was actually great contact and everything. But the club just dug into the soil there and kind of tore my hand off of it. It looked like I hit it heavy because I did take a big chunk of turf and everything. But I hit it dead-flush and it went as far as my normal sand wedge would go and gap wedge. But it did kind of look odd, I'm sure. It probably looked like I hit a terrible shot there, but it was actually okay. Q. And the drive at 18 in the playoff where you were 20 yards behind Kite? JAY HAAS: You know, to be honest with you, Tommy, my caddie and I, both said -- we were giving Tom a courtesy look as we say when we know that we're the long ball. And I knew that that was my ball way out there because I hammered that drive. And Tom, I knew, hit a good one. But it just looked like mine was riding the wind and everything. And I look and I said, well, I don't see an orange dot on that thing and he's got an orange mark on his. So I had to kind of act like I knew that that was mine, you know. (Laughter). But we'll have a good chuckle about that next week, I'm sure. But anyway, then I looked and on the left side of my ball there was a huge chunk of mud, and I look back within a yard or so there was a sprinkler or irrigation head and my ball was pitched right there and picked it up. Actually didn't look like it but I hit a really solid, hard 7-iron on that second shot, and with the mud on the ball, just shot it to the right. I knew it was going to shoot to the right. Usually it seems like the ball goes the opposite way that the mud it and it was on the inside of the ball there. But I just couldn't aim left of the green, you know, and it just shoot off there. I was pretty fortunate actually where the ball ended up, it was not bad. It was a nice lie, chipping back up into the hill a little bit there. You know, on Tuesday or Wednesday, probably you're going to get that up-and-down eight out of ten times, but in that situation, that was a quality shot, too. That was one of my better ones. Q. What's next for you? Are you playing the Wachovia this year? JAY HAAS: I am not playing Wachovia. I want to say it's in two weeks and that's the week of Austin and I'm defending my championship there. I'm going to miss it. I love playing there. I'm a member of Quail Hollow and love to see all of the people there. But not going to be able to make it this year. Q. The sandshot was 92 feet according to the computer, how do you practice that length shot? JAY HAAS: Well, the distance itself, maybe not, but the distance you have to carry it, you know, I probably only carried it 30 yards -- I may be only carried 13 yards maybe, 12 yards, I don't know. I've been working -- my bunker stats are terrible this year. I'm probably not even 30 percent, way down the list. I don't know if it shows what my yearly stats are on that. But I've been working at home on different lengths of shots, things like that. We have a nice practice bunker at home and I said to Tommy before I hit the shot, I was walking in the bunker, "I've been working on this, let's see what I can do." Tried to shorten my swing a little bit. I tend to get long in the bunker and unless I have an easy lie and bunker shot, they haven't been really good. Earlier this year at Boca I got a lesson from Gary Player and Tom Kite; and two better bunker players there are not. I kind of worked on a lot of the things that both of them said to me. Q. (About bunker play.) JAY HAAS: Yeah, kind of. And I was talking to Hale Irwin a couple of days ago on the putting green about his putting on Friday afternoon and he beat me, too, it's a vicious circle. Q. You mentioned a lot of guys got off to good starts, how frustrating did it get knowing the conditions out there, and you were not taking advantage of that, and how did you not let the frustration hold you back on the back nine? JAY HAAS: I think there's some days that they just don't go in and everything doesn't go your way and the putts don't fall and all that stuff. Try to realize that guys were not so far ahead. Somebody wasn't at 12-under and I was at 6; I had a chance. I had to make things happen, so I had to make some birdies. But you know, it was very frustrating but gosh, there's -- I've learned to maybe accept that ordeal with that a little bit better than I would have 20 years ago. I just thought that there were some birdie holes out there, if I could make them, and hopefully the guys wouldn't continue to get farther and farther away. But I think all of us out here who have seen it all, done it all, been frustrated, been the guy making the putts, been the guy watching the other guy make the putts. So we try not to panic too much. That was kind of my mind-set, don't panic and hopefully something will happen. Q. Would you assess your Champions Tour career as better than your regular TOUR career? JAY HAAS: Well, I've certainly been more consistent and my win percentage is light years ahead of where it was on the PGA TOUR. You know, I don't know, I guess I haven't really thought about that. You know, my game has aged well, I guess. I've been relatively healthy and it's allowed me to continue to play. Q. Has it helped working with Stan Utley with the putter, but also the regular ball-striking? JAY HAAS: I think my ball-striking, I'm a little more consistent maybe. I won't say I'm better, but I'm more consistent, maybe I kind of know what's going to happen a little bit more. I think without question I'm a better putter than I ever was. And that's kind of frustrating thinking about, you know, that if I would have changed my putting style 25 years ago instead of five years ago. But it is what it is, and I'm not disappointed in my PGA TOUR career. I always said I was never satisfied; I don't think any of us are satisfied. I am tonight, but, you know, if I don't win the next tournament, then I won't be satisfied. I don't think any of us are if we don't win. But disappointed, no. Or I don't think that I'm -- you know, people have said, are you a better player now. And I read that with a lot of Champions Tour players; 'the best golf I've ever played in my life.' Well, I don't think that's true. I always said that -- I'm not a different player, that much different than when I was 48 than I am when I'm 53 now. I don't think I'm better. But at 48, I didn't win tournaments on the PGA TOUR. And I guess I always said that you know, I had not won a tournament since '93 on the PGA TOUR and when I was playing well, I could win tournaments on the PGA TOUR and I didn't do that. I had a couple of chances, not great chances, but had some opportunities. But, I don't know, again, my game has aged well and I feel like it not going to go on forever, so I'd better get it. Q. Going to name the back nine here after you? JAY HAAS: It was pretty good, I don't know. I was 3-under again today and 8-under through the week. Last year I was 13 or something like that. PHIL STAMBAUGH: Jay, congratulations. JAY HAAS: Thank you all very much for being here. End of FastScripts |
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