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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 29, 2009Jay HaasCARMEL, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Jay Haas to the interview room. Jay's playing in his sixth Senior Open where he has finished in the top ten five times. He's the 2006 Bob Jones award winner, which is the USGA's highest honor. He has nine PGA victories and 12 Champion Tours victories. You played a practice round a couple months ago. Knowing you wouldn't have a lot of time to prepare coming from the Senior British, What kind of advantage do you think that gives. JAY HAAS: No real advantage. I didn't play here in '91, so I didn't know anything about the golf course. Had a bad stretch in '89 and '90, so I didn't qualify that year. I just felt like coming back from the British I wouldn't feel like playing a lot of golf, so I played nine holes yesterday afternoon, 18 this morning. So I feel like, you know, maybe I'm on the same page now as the rest of the guys. I don't think I am ahead of them by any means, but it was nice to see the course and not feel like I was coming in blind this week and trying to learn it all in one day. Q. You talk about some of the guys who maybe played the other British also, and that stretch where you guys have a bunch of majors jammed into a short time. How does that wear on you? JAY HAAS: You know, I think that it's -- obviously, we all have experience out here. So I don't think it should affect us adversely. If you are not playing well, you maybe like to have some time off in between and try to figure things out. But if you are playing well, it couldn't be any better. So, you know, you look to guys like Loren and Bernhard and Greg, you know, played well last week. Freddy Funk, you know, guys that are in good form, I think you got to look to those guys that will be tough here. But as far as, you know, wearing us out or anything like that, I think we all know by now how to attack it, how to get our rest, things like that. I don't think we're a -- you won't see the range completely crowded at six tonight. I think you could shoot a gun off out there it probably wouldn't hit anybody, at least you won't hit me. Q. Jay, you know, Tom Watson's run at the British Open of course was a big story, maybe the biggest story of the summer in golf. But, really, Champion's Tour players have been more competitive in regular events, not just this year, and certainly Norman last year, but even back when you turned 50 you were very competitive. I'm wondering what you can attribute those efforts to. Are they just individual occurrences per player or is there an overall -- JAY HAAS: I'd say each case is a little bit different. But generally speaking, I think guys are taking better care of themselves. I think that's -- you know on the horizon is that 50 and over tour that was not available to us when we first started out here. It was not an option. You know, you just played till you were in your mid-40s and your game started to suck then you'd figure something else out to do. But, you know, with that being out there, you kind of say, you know, if I can take care of myself and be somewhat competitive, I've got another ten years, you know, to play competitive golf. I think that's number one. Number two, the equipment I think has helped the older player immensely. The fact that we're now playing with 45 to 46-inch drivers, graphite shafts, big heads from steel and wood head, 42.5-inch drivers it's just unbelievable where the equipment has come to and allows us to continue to hit the ball farther than we ever hit it in our careers. So I think that's one of the big reasons. The third one, I think this goes to somebody like Hale or Tom, the passion, you know, the "want to." When there's a big brass ring out there, those guys seem to shine. Tom doesn't play as much as the rest of us, but when he does play, he comes out ready to play, and it's meaningful to him. Hale the same way. Hale every week, you know, was meaningful. I mean, 45 wins is pretty incredible. But I think just haves that passion, that desire, continuing to stoke those fires, I think, is a huge reason for it. But, you know, some guys do it better than others. But you look to Tom, you know, his statistics in the Majors last three or four years are probably as good as anybody that's out here. It just gets him fired up, you know. Feels like these are the one that's he wants to win. Q. So you've got 27 holes in, practicewise, so how does this course, the birth place of John Daly suit your game? JAY HAAS: You know, you can kind of see some of the holes where he would shine, certainly number 14. That big dog leg left. And there's no one in the field from the back tee I don't think that can hit it where he hit it that year. You know, to me, I don't know that I have a favorite type of course. I think when I play well and putt well, those are my favorite courses that week. I don't know that there's any kind of blueprint for success for me other than just playing well. But I do like the golf course. It's in great condition. You know, I grew up in the Midwest. I grew up in southern Illinois, so I kind of feel somewhat at home here. The weather's kind of what I expect in July and August. So, you know, I don't have any problems in that regard. The grasses are similar. The putting is similar. It's just a matter of me playing my best. Q. Just to follow up, you know, is it just strictly a big hitter's ballpark? I mean Daly won here. We talked to other guys who said, man, it's 7300 yards, it's long. I mean, is it just a matter of hitting it long? JAY HAAS: I don't think length is ever a disadvantage, I'll say that. But to me the course is playing fairly fast. The ball is running out. There's no mud on the ball or anything like that, you know, it's taking a pretty good jump in the fairways when you do hit a good one. So I don't think that the length part of it is a huge issue. But, you know, go back to my first comment, I would certainly like to be 10 or 15, 20 yards longer. It would never hurt. And, you know, everything else being equal, if a guy's got that extra 20, it can only help him. Q. If length isn't the issue what would be? JAY HAAS: There's a pretty good bit of rough out on all parts of the golf course. They've done it nice. They graduated the three different cuts. So it's as fair as you want it, you know, you can advance the ball. You can get it on the green and everything. But it's going be a premium on driving the ball in the fairway. Some are more generous than others. But it's not single-file tight except for 2 or 3 holes. I think the greens are pretty subtle and pretty difficult. I have not kind of gotten a handle on them just yet. And I haven't paid attention so much to break and things like that but more speed just the last couple days here. But, as far as overreading them, undereading them, I've had a little bit of issue on breaks so far. So hopefully I can figure that out a little bit. But I think there's no question that the guy who wins or guys that finish in the top five had a good putting week. I think that's a barometer that we all kind of adhere to. THE MODERATOR: Jay, thank you for your time. End of FastScripts |
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