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BOB HOPE CLASSIC

January 25, 2010

Bill Haas

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

DOUG MILNE: We would leak to welcome the 2010 Bob Hope Classic Champion, Bill Haas, to the interview room. Congratulations. A spectacular 9-under, 64 today to get the job done. Obviously, it's been along week. With the win, you pick up 500 FedExCup points and move into a tie for first.
Just a few comments to start us off on the day and how it feels to get that win and have your dad here and everything.
BILL HAAS: It's pretty special. Didn't know my dad was here. My dad and my brother and his uncle, my Uncle Bob Goalby was out there, all of which I thought maybe they would. They knew they flew back from Hawaii last night, I thought maybe if I was in contention they might show up, but didn't see them until the end there.
Yeah, I don't know, a monkey off my back? A little bit. I've been wanting to win, I wanted to win the first tournament I played. But I understand it's a process. It's not easy to win out here. Every player is so good. I would have been happy with 4- or 5-under today, but that would have gotten lapped.
I'm very fortunate, and I don't take it for granted. I got to still work hard. And next week, I'll be grinding away in the practice round, and everybody starts at even next week.
So it's special, but I don't know if it's a monkey off my back. I know how hard it was to win. And I'm grateful.
DOUG MILNE: We'll go ahead and open it up for a few questions.

Q. Of the leaders, you were the one who played the 18th hole the best.
BILL HAAS: Thank you.

Q. On in two and 2-putt. Could you talk about the approach shot in there and did you know exactly what the situation was?
BILL HAAS: I was nervous. My fingers were getting cold almost. I was shaking. It was the most nervous I've ever been. I've been nervous over three-footers to finish fifth, but it was different knowing that if I executed this shot, it could mean the difference or winning or finishing fifth. If I hit in the water or bail, I'm not going to win.
So could have laid up, knew all I needed was birdie, but I felt like I would have been hitting my long irons, they have been pretty good. I took one extra club in case I mishit it. Hit it pretty flush, but maybe a little on the toe, and that maybe allowed it to curve in there a little bit more. And it was nice to see it in the air. I knew it wasn't going to be short. It was pretty nice.
But then the putt, the 2-putt, I don't care how close I was, that putter, I putted it down there to a foot, and it looked like it was about six feet. So I was nervous until it went in.

Q. What was the yardage and club on the approach shot?
BILL HAAS: I think I had 214 hole, which is a perfect 4-iron for me. But the there's a little bit into the wind. And as I said, I wasn't coming up short, which is water. So I hit the 3-iron. Easily could have gone over or bailed out, and fortunately I think the wind held it up a little bit, and it hit right into the hill, behind the hill and slowed it down.

Q. Did anything go through your mind as you hit that last putt? As you're looking at the ball, looking at the hole, did you try to keep your mind blank or could you help it?
BILL HAAS: Kind of blank, and I'm telling you right now, it was all kind of a blur. But it was, Don't miss, maybe, uhm, I don't know, You can't miss this. This is so, you know, so short, so straight, it was a foot, you know, just I've done that hundreds of thousands of times - well, not that many, but thousands of times - from a foot, you just tap it in. That's all it was. I was ready to go. And then Bubba is like, No, you got to wait, you got to wait.
And so I wasn't going. I was ready to tap in and be done with it. And then I was shaking over there waiting while they putted out. But it was pretty special.

Q. What did your dad say to you when you first saw him?
BILL HAAS: He said, Way to go.
I got a hug from him. That was nice.

Q. Do you remember where you first saw your dad, which hole it was?
BILL HAAS: I didn't see him. I thought maybe I saw him from behind on 18, but he was a hundred yards up. There was somebody walking with my girlfriend, so I figured that was him. But I couldn't tell. I didn't know for sure. And honestly it didn't even register. I knew I had to hit a good tee shot. I was pretty focused. So I didn't see him.

Q. What's your brother's name?
BILL HAAS: Jay. He's a "Jr."

Q. Could you talk about, you shot 64, and you needed to shoot 64 to win by one. There was a lot of slicing and dicing on the back nine there with everybody making birdies. Talk about knowing that you had to keep making birdies and on some of those even short but tough holes?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, honestly, I looked up, I was 5-under through eight, and I looked up and I was maybe one ahead of six guys that were within two. And I thought I should be further ahead.
But I made a great par save at 10. Hit a terrible iron over the green and chipped it to about eight feet, and I made that for par, and that was huge.
I missed a short one at 11, but if I miss that one, and 10, and then miss a short one on 11, then all of a sudden, I might be thinking, you know, Let's try to top 20.
All of a sudden, it starts getting bad shouts, but even on that miss on 11, I still felt good with the putter and was swinging good.
And it was nice seeing everybody make birdies. I mean I had to do it. And I think Tim birdied 15 and 17, and then I didn't birdie 11, the easiest par-5. And then didn't birdie 16, which both guys my group did, and Tim did in front of me. I don't know. Everybody was making birdies. So it wasn't something, par was not good. So it was -- I don't know what I was thinking, other than just keep hitting shots.

Q. Did you see Tim Clark lay up on 18, and did you see him miss the putt? And did you think Watson's eagle chip might go in? Did you have a vantage point on that?
BILL HAAS: I didn't have a -- I didn't want to watch. But I told my caddie, I said, He's going to chip it in. So we just got to either play -- 2-putts for the playoff or make this to win. And then it was a very good chip. You could just tell it rolled just by the hole. I did know Tim had finished at 29. They told me in the fairway that those guys are at 29, you need birdie to win -- the birdie, not to win, because we didn't know what Bubba was doing. But after seeing Bubba miss his chip, it was somewhat relaxing to only have two putts to win, but it wasn't the easiest putt by any means.

Q. You played this tournament with your dad one year, or at the same year. Your dad only reached 29-under here. So you got that on him.
BILL HAAS: Nice.

Q. You talked a little bit yesterday about winning either here or San Diego or maybe Hawaii, where Bob Goalby had won. Now does that mean anything or will that mean something maybe 22 years down the road?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, I don't know. My dad said earlier, he's like, Any win is a good win. And I don't think he -- it would not bother him if I won one that he had won. And I mean it's neat, definitely neat. Down the road, 22 years from now, we can look back and both our names will be on that list. That's pretty cool.
But I'm happy winning any one of them. I don't know if it's -- I don't think it makes me feel any better that's he's won here. He's won nine times. He's won 27 times on the Senior Tour, it seems like. So he's won, and I got one.
I got a long career ahead, and he's got 600 cuts. He's got a lot -- I'm not trying do compare myself to him, he's almost unreachable. So it's just trying to do my thing and continue to improve. And this is a big step for me.

Q. Could you conceivably have won without getting that tip from Billy Harmon on Monday?
BILL HAAS: Not a chance. I played terrible last week. When I came out and saw him before I went last week, and I was really rusty, I think I played twice in the off-season. Didn't touch a club. It was cold and snowy and windy and nasty at home. In South Carolina as it was all in the East. I think Florida got some sleet and snow maybe up in Jacksonville.
But I just hadn't played. And last week was breaking the rust off, and I had a couple tips I was working on, and they weren't working. And if you asked my playing partners last week if I would be here right now, they would have laughed at you. I played terrible.
And then I was on the range and Monday with my dad before he went to Hawaii with Billy Harmon, with my Uncle Bob, and my brother, and we -- I think they were listening to me and tired of listening to me complain about how bad I was hitting it, and Billy kind of gave me one little tip, said, Turn your right foot out and immediately it was a little different. And that's what I went with this week.

Q. Winning this tournament, you're coming off your first victory and following in your father's footsteps at the same time. Talk about that.
BILL HAAS: Yeah, I mean, it's special. I said a little earlier, whether or not my dad had won here or not, this is, I don't know if it -- I don't know if it makes me feel that much better about winning, just because he's won here, but I will be able to look back forever now and both of our names will be on this trophy, or on the list of winners here. And that is special.
But just to do well under pressure, come out and play well, and then when it mattered at the end, to me, that's like the first time I ever done it. I've complained so many times that under pressure, I've not been able to do it, and today I did it. So that's the best feeling.

Q. How about your father, did he have any advice going into the final round?
BILL HAAS: I got a text from him last night, and it just said, Hit when you're ready and never before. And that was it.

Q. How about this week with the rain delays and the long format, are you proud of yourself for getting through like this?
BILL HAAS: Absolutely. Patience isn't one of my key virtues. It's something I'm still trying to learn. This week we were forced to be patient. Who knows? Maybe the rainout was good for me. It obviously was. It worked out for me the best.
But the last three days was perfect weather. It was like playing in a dome, which is what we expect out here in the desert.

Q. What's been the hardest thing -- now that you have won, what do you think was the hardest thing to learn about how to win and will you, does that carry over?
BILL HAAS: The hardest thing? I don't know. Just winning is hard. I don't know. I've given it my best go here for 100-something events, and I have come up short every time. So maybe the patience thing, slowing down. I'm a quick player. Sometimes I get ahead of myself. Even walking, talking, everything, I get going fast. And trying to learn to slow down and you watch the best players, and they don't hit until they're ready to go. And some people call that slow play, but other people call it prepared. And I think that's more what it is.

Q. Will you wear pink on the final round from now on?
BILL HAAS: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of white and pink. I don't know. No specific reason I wore it. It was actually a re-wear, I wore it when I was practicing out here two weeks ago and haven't washed it. So don't hug me.
(Laughter.)
DOUG MILNE: Lastly, if you just wouldn't mind running us through your birdies today. And then just hitting us with some yardage and clubs.
BILL HAAS: First hole started there, I missed the green with just a 9-iron, and made a great up-and-down there with the kind of a tricky, 4-footer to start the day. If I wasn't nervous enough there, you go on the first hole. Then I made a good save.
2, I knocked it on in two, par-5, good 2-putt for birdie. Pretty easy.
3, wasn't a pin I could shoot at really, so I went to the left and made a good 2-putt there. We'll just do birdies here.
Actually the next hole, the fourth hole, I popped up a 3-wood, and it barely carried the water on the left, and I had an 8-iron in there, where most guys were probably hitting pitching wedge or sand wedge. But I hit it a foot. So that was nice.
Next hole is a par hole, the par-3. I hit it -- there's an American flag behind the green that I was aiming at, and I hit it right at it. I had about 25 feet there and made that.
Next hole is a par-5, hit a 2-iron up just short of the green and chipped that up there about five feet and I made that.
8, there's a hole that in our group, Alex, he drove it right next to the green. He put the tees up and you could drive it, but I laid up and wedged it to about 10 feet probably and made that.
10, I said that was a good par save there.
14, that was huge, because I didn't birdie 11. It was an easiest par-5 probably on the course there at 11. And then everybody's laying up on 14. I hit a pitching wedge about 20 feet, and it was down the hill, curling left-to-right. And that might have been the key birdie on the back nine.
Obviously, 17, 18, and birdieing the last two was key, but if I didn't birdie 14 there, I wouldn't have had that chance. I hit a 9-iron about 8 feet on 17, and made it, and then 2-putted on 18.
DOUG MILNE: Okay, Bill congratulations. Best of luck this week.
BILL HAAS: Thanks, everybody.

End of FastScripts

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