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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6, 2011

Bill Haas

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

MARK STEVENS: Welcome to Bill Haas. Bill, you're currently in the lead after the second round at 10-under. If you want to talk about your round today and then we'll get some questions.
BILL HAAS: Okay. I got off to a nice start again, just kind of was making some -- I made a really good save on No. 3 to stay at even, and then 4 I hit a close one and missed, which would have been nice, because that's a tough hole. But then birdied 5 and had some good looks at getting better, but parred all the way until our rain delay and went back out on 14 and birdied 14 and 15 right after the rain delay and bogeyed 17.
Hit a nice shot into 17, just pushed it a little bit, which is easy to do on that hole, and it rolled down the slope. I hit a poor chip, but it was a tricky chip that could have run away from you pretty easy. Just missed the putt.

Q. What is it about this place that seems to amp you up a little bit more when you get here?
BILL HAAS: I don't know, I think this is one tournament that I always look forward to. A month out, I'm like, I can't wait to get to that tournament. It just has a good feel about it. I've got a lot of good friends here, a lot of Deacon fans here, which I'm hearing "Go Deacs" out there a lot, which is nice. Came up here as a kid. My dad is a member here, and we used to come up here and practice a little bit every now and then.
But it's just probably our best event outside of majors. I've said that before. I think every player enjoys it, and I'm biased by growing up and coming here a lot. But it's also -- just because it's a good TOUR stop, I like coming here.

Q. When you go really low in a round, the challenge is always to come out the next day and not have it affect you. How did that work today in terms of trying to stay even keel?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, I mean, it is. It's hard to shoot 64-64-64. I mean, it's just -- the ball doesn't go in the hole that much. But I just basically wanted to try to hit it like I hit it yesterday and give myself chances, which I felt like I did today pretty well. Driving the ball is key on this course. If you get it in the fairway then you can hit the greens. The greens are somewhat receptive right now, especially after that rain. But they'll suck the water out of them. I know they have that SubAir around here, and they'll get firm this afternoon with the sun, and it'll definitely get a little tougher.

Q. Did you talk with your dad last night?
BILL HAAS: We talked a little bit. I was on the way back from the Wells Fargo dinner last night, and I called him and he was having dinner. He's staying with Nick Price and Jeff Sluman somewhere, and they were laughing about something. I didn't really get a chance to talk to them too much because they were cooking dinner or something. He just said, good playing, and I think he's playing well, so we kind of were going back and forth on that. We didn't get a chance to talk a whole lot, so I'm sure today we'll have a longer conversation.

Q. You mentioned this kind of being almost like a home game. Given your father's influence on this tournament before it got started, how significant would a win here be for you?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, I've said this would probably be -- outside of the majors, this would be my number one tournament to win, just because of the people involved with the tournament. When I walk in the clubhouse, everybody I see I know. It's just the feelings I would have on Sunday night hanging around with all those guys would probably be unlike any other tournament. I don't think that adds any extra pressure because it's just there's the pressure of winning any tournament that will be on me on the weekend. But to put myself in that situation to where I even have that chance to even talk about it is nice.

Q. Down with the TV guys you were talking about past times playing with Phil. Assuming that were to happen, can you kind of recount your history with him and how you guys play together?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, we've played probably four or five times this year. I haven't -- twice I think in San Diego, final group; maybe Phoenix the first two rounds. Maybe just the one time in the final grouping. But he's really good. It's one of those things where if you're playing with him, if you want to do well you've got to get used to playing with guys like that. I think if I play with him, it'll only want me to elevate myself to prove to myself that I can play with him. I don't expect to beat him day in and day out, but also I do expect to be able to beat him if I play my best.

Q. You've got a pretty good following here because you're from around here, but he's got a following wherever he goes. Do you have to kind of tune out his fans?
BILL HAAS: Well, luckily his name is very similar to my name (laughter), and so whenever somebody says, "let's go Phil" -- I told him that, I've jokingly said, "I just pretend they're saying 'let's go Bill' out there. He's fun to play with. He's supportive of a good shot, which that's all you want is a guy to be pulling for good shots for you and just have a good day of golf.

Q. Who would have the bigger following out here?
BILL HAAS: He would. I mean, he's the man. I'm okay with that. But I definitely have a good -- a lot of family and friends will be out there, which is nice.

Q. With the way the first two days have gone, is the game plan the same going to Saturday and Sunday knowing that you're going out late, knowing that you'll be among the leaders if not outright? Do you approach it the same way?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, I think you have to. I'll basically approach it as the first hole I've got to hit a cut off that tee, and there's nothing else you can affect other than that shot and then go from there. These guys in the afternoon, looks like we're going to have good weather. I think Jonathan Byrd and Lucas, those guys are on 6- and 5-under, they could easily get it to 9-, 10-, 11-under this afternoon. So it'll be a good leaderboard. It'll be one of those things where I can't just expect to shoot even on the weekend and do any good.
I don't know, obviously if I can shoot 10-under on the weekend I like my chances, but that's hard to do. It's hard to replicate what you do on Thursday and Friday because the course always gets tougher.

Q. Would you go over your card?
BILL HAAS: I birdied 5, birdied 14 and 15 and bogeyed 17. No real long par saves or anything. I might have hit my irons better today than I did yesterday. Maybe not a couple as close, but never put myself in that many tough situations. And 17 I hit one of my best 5-irons of the week and made 4 there. That's where this place is tough. If you really strike it well, you can score, but it can also -- you can go the other way, too.

Q. What's so hard about that chip, 17?
BILL HAAS: Just the green is pretty slick and you're down in the swale, and so I kind of wanted to bump it into it because I thought flying it into the green I didn't think I could spin it enough, so the grain is kind of growing into you, so if the ball hits it, it just stops, so you almost have to land it in the perfect place where it pops up on the green and then trickles down. It's very doable, but I just didn't hit it that -- it wasn't like I hit a perfect chip and it just didn't work out. I just didn't hit it hard enough really.

Q. Otherwise a pretty boring 70?
BILL HAAS: Yeah, I almost putted -- I think if I had it do it over again I might putt it, just because it's maybe a little more of a consistent result.

Q. Speaking of putting, I know yesterday you talked about the experiment with the long putter and that sort of thing. Would you kind of redo that, just a little bit of how you came to that point where you were -- a lot of people think when you go to the long putter it's viewed as an act of desperation. You didn't seem to be doing that.
BILL HAAS: Mine was more just I saw a lot of people playing well with it. A friend of mine, Webb Simpson, has played really well with it, Brendan Steele won with it, Martin Laird won with it. I just basically said, there might be something to it, I'll try it. I wasn't putting great at the time, and I really did it because it was Hilton Head, almost the flattest greens on TOUR, and I thought this is the time to ever try it is on these greens, so that was the reason I did it.
I liked it, but it wasn't something that I think I would stick with.

Q. Something you might go back to again?
BILL HAAS: Maybe, but I think -- I lose feel with the belly putter, and I feel like around these greens with as much slope as they have in these greens I think feel is more important than necessarily the perfect line. Good speed is more important.

Q. As you look back on Torrey on Sunday and the round you had there, was that just a bad round of golf, or was there any part of you that got caught up in it's Phil's hometown --
BILL HAAS: No, it honestly didn't feel like that bad of a round of golf. I shot 3-over, I think, but it was a tough day. Every day at Torrey is tough, but it was one of those days where it was kind of windy and chilly and I was 2-over after 4 maybe, got off to a tough start, and then I fought it back, and I think I got it back to even and was right -- not in the tournament to win but I was in the tournament to maybe top 5. And I hit a terrible iron at 16 and I plugged it in the right bunker and I made double, and then I bogeyed the next hole getting aggressive, I flew it over the green. So really you take those two away, I'd be talking about how I played a pretty good round of golf. It really wasn't that far off that day, it just didn't end up well.
MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Bill. Good luck this weekend.

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