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CHEVRON WORLD CHALLENGENovember 29, 2011Bill HaasTHOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Bill Haas into the interview room here at the Chevron World Challenge. Bill, first of all, just get you to look back on a great year, the win in Atlanta and winning the FedExCup. Just talk a little bit about the season as a whole. BILL HAAS: Yeah, the season as a whole obviously was culminated at the end to an unbelievable finish, but you know, I was pleased with it up until then, was pleased with the way I'd been playing, but unfortunately I had some bad closing tournaments, some ‑‑ lost a couple of playoffs and then the previous week in Chicago had a chance and then really played a poor Back 9 on Sunday. And so that was going to leave a bad taste in my mouth at the end of the year until Atlanta with an unbelievable finish there, and the way the points all worked out for me to win the FedExCup has been pretty amazing. And then the Presidents Cup was a (inaudible). THE MODERATOR: You just got off the golf course. Talk a little bit about being at Sherwood and here at the Chevron for the first time. BILL HAAS: Yeah. I played a Pro‑Am maybe five years ago, and I watched my dad play the event, and I remember he was saying this should be one of your goals is to get here one day. So a great feeling to be inside the ropes and playing this event, and hopefully I can make it back here in the future. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Questions? Q. Bill, you had a little time now to think about the Presidents Cup and Australia. Any reflections kind of on the week and your visit there? BILL HAAS: Yeah. The visit there was great. I played the Australian Open the week before, and Royal Melbourne was fantastic. You know, we don't all just say that because we have to. That place is truly one of the best courses in the world. And as far as how I played, I played ‑‑ if you'd told me how I would have played before, I would have been happy. I was pleased with how I did. My record doesn't quite show it. I went 1, 3 and 1, but I felt like I played a little bit better golf than that. But it's just the way it went. I went to 18 holes every match and just kind of fought and lost on 18 a couple times, but had great partners, enjoyed playing with Matt Kucher and Nick Watney, Hunter Mahan. It was a dream come true to play with those guys and play in that sort of event. Q. Bill, it's been over two months now since you won the TOUR Championship and then the next season is still over a month away yet. Doesn't really seem like there's much of an off season in golf. I wonder if you could talk about that and just the opportunities that you've had playing around the world and now here this week. BILL HAAS: Right. Yeah, I was talking about that the other day that it seems the better you play the less off season you have. You get in the Presidents Cup and going to play in Australia and China and playing this event. These are all good problems to have. If I could play these every year, I don't know if I care to have an off season. These are pretty special tournaments to be in. And in years prior, hey, you could have a few months off if you wanted it. But after this I'm actually going on my honeymoon next week. Hadn't done that. We got married in June and still haven't gone, and we're doing that next week and then have basically three weeks until Maui, so that'll be a great time to be home with the family for those few ‑‑ it's not even three weeks, I don't think, but to be home for that will be a lot of fun. And Maui is another tournament that wouldn't normally be on the schedule unless you win stuff, so it's a good problem to have and looking forward to that start of the year. Q. Where are you going on your honeymoon? BILL HAAS: Going to Costa Rica next weekend. Q. You mentioned your dad and playing in this event, and you guys have done a lot of similar things together, broken a lot of records for father‑son type of things, but I'm wondering how much interaction you have with your ‑‑ how often do you just sit down and talk with your dad about what's going on and how much you've drawn from him and his experiences out here on TOUR and just that whole having a dad that's gone through it. BILL HAAS: Yeah. I don't know how much reflecting we do, only because he knows that I'm still pretty young and there's a lot to be motivated for in the future, and he's always taught me good or bad, break the rearview mirror off, that you got another tournament this week and that's all you need to focus on. But this has all been ‑‑ I've said a bunch of times, but the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup happen to other people. It doesn't happen to you. And the way it all happened has been unbelievable, and I try to just look back on it and realize how fortunate I was and try to build on that and try to get better and maybe win it a different way in the future, win it being No. 1 going into it and win as opposed to being 25th and win. I don't know. You gotta find motivation somewhere and not just say, awe, this has been great and that's it; and it has been, I'm not saying that, just trying to stay motivated, and there's a lot I need to improve on. And I saw that at the Presidents Cup, playing with these guys and seeing how much there's a lot I need to do to get on some of these guys' levels, and that's fun to see, actually. It's not necessarily demoralizing. It's more just if I work hard, maybe I can get to this guy's level, which is a lot of fun to see. Q. Kind of jumping off that last point you just made, one, were you surprised at all at the kind of year you had, and certainly winning the 10 million dollars, or I guess 11 million dollars? And then how different are you as a player through your approach or whatever it is to say three or four years ago? I guess the last point you made, how much of a lesson did you learn being around those guys at the Presidents Cup as opposed to maybe three or four years ago would you maybe not have learned that? BILL HAAS: I do think I can play with those guys. I think I'm ‑‑ I think I can compete with all those guys on their team and on our team, but I also know that I have to play my best to even be near them, and if I'm not up to form, if I don't play, if I don't practice, if I just settle, there's no way I can play at that level. Three or four years ago, I don't know how much better I am now than three or four years ago physically. Maybe mentally I'm a little better or maybe I've just gotten more comfortable at certain courses. You can't gain experience without experiencing something. You can't just say I want to be ‑‑ I want to have what my dad has at age 50, because he's played it. At age 50 maybe I'll have that, but until then you have to learn it by doing it, and I think I'm doing that. I think I'm playing enough golf events that I'm getting better at just managing maybe myself and my game a little better. But I don't think a whole lot's changed. Q. Was there a point when you assessed how comfortable you are and sort of playing well? Was there a point where something changed and you noticed you were at a different level? BILL HAAS: I guess you could go back to my first win. I think when I got my first win in 2010 at the Hope at the beginning of the year, I remember saying this is something I want to do more. I've done it once. You can do it again. Maybe that feeling come there a little bit, but then it took me to the end of the year to win again, and then it took me a whole another year. It's just very difficult to do that, and I've shown multiple times to get close and not be able to close it. I had three or four bad Sundays last year, or this year that I wish I could get back, and certain players don't have those. They get in the position and they win; your Tigers, your Phils, those guys. But I'm still trying to learn that. I think once I do, maybe if I get in more positions to win, maybe I could win more golf tournaments. Q. This is such a tiny field. Is it the easiest golf tournament to win because it's such a tiny field or is it still somewhat of a challenge because it's an elite field, and then what are your goals this week? BILL HAAS: My goal most weeks is just to approach and do the best that I have that week. If I'm on the range and it doesn't feel great, I need to get the best I can out of what I have. And if it does feel good, hopefully that week I can compete on Sunday. This week you do have less guys to beat, but you have ‑‑ of all those guys to beat, those guys don't play every week. So even though you got 100 guys maybe in other fields, out of that 100 you may not have this elite of a field. So I think it's equally as tough to win this week as any other tournament. This is my first one. So I can't really tell you, first 18‑man field event. So I can't tell you my experience on that, but I would think it's going to take the same type of score as it would 144‑man field. Q. (Inaudible). BILL HAAS: I think I just said it was my first 18‑field event. Q. In college? BILL HAAS: In college you usually play 12, 15 teams with five players. So that's 60 to 75 players field events probably in ‑‑ no, I don't think so. But all‑American event my sophomore year of college, there was at least 30 there. So no, this would be probably the smallest. Q. How is the kind of money that you won with the FedExCup change‑‑ do you feel more secure? Obviously you've won tournaments before, but do you feel more secure? Are you able to buy a house that you couldn't before? How has that changed? BILL HAAS: I don't think anything, honestly. We had already planned, we're about to break ground on a house. We had the plans. We were going to do it whether I won that or not. And we hadn't changed the plan since. I don't need a big house. I don't need anything extravagant. Hopefully that amount of money I can build on that and that'll set up my family for the future, kids. Trying to do it the smart way, and I haven't bought anything fun since. I have all these ideas, but I'm going to try not to make a dumb, quick purchase I guess. Q. I know some of that FedExCup money is deferred, but whatever the number was, I think it may have been 9 million, did you actually see that hit your account, and could you kind of grasp it when you did? How does that work? Do they take taxes out immediately? Could you even wrap your arms around that figure? BILL HAAS: Yes. I can't wrap my arms around that figure. It's not something that you ever plan on anything happening. It's an attempt at winning the lottery. I know you work for it and you have that goal set in mind the whole year was to win the FedExCup, but it's still such a big lump. I never saw it. I don't really check my account like that. I never saw 9 million the next day, but I've asked my managers and all that, I said, when does it happen?  They said it already has, so I don't know. And I don't know how ‑‑ did I get taxed on it yet, I don't know. I know a lot of it goes to that. So I think of it that way. It's not 9. I think of it in a way that it's a lot less than that and be smart with your money. Q. You had an interesting group today, and I know you had Gretzky and Lynn Swann in your group. Can you tell me a little bit about what it was like out there, and is that a thrill for you to get to play with other athletes that were top in their fields? BILL HAAS: Absolutely it was a thrill. I mean it was great to listen ‑‑ we were talking ‑‑ I was asking Lynn Swann about ‑‑ you can see him jumping over a car in the end zone, which is pretty cool. I mean it's amazing. He ‑‑ I guess like we have hole‑in‑one cars they used to‑‑ I don't know if they do it anymore, but they used to put a car in the end zone, like a sponsor, or past the end zone, but he said Bradshaw overthrew him and he tried to get to it, but couldn't get to it, and he was about to smoke a car, and he jumped over it, I guess. And then was a great one. I mean that's pretty neat. Had a great year. We had a lot of players in hockey had great years. He's a great one of his sport, and it was definitely times today I was watching him hit good golf. He's the best at his sport to ever play. You know, and you don't want to pick his brain about golf, (sic) because I know how that is. When you're off the golf course, you don't like to talk about golf, and he probably doesn't like to talk about hockey. And he seems to like to talk about golf, so when we were on the golf course, that's kind of what the main conversations were all about. But they're all great guys. They might have fibbed on their handicaps a little bit, because I think they shot like 23‑ under, and I think I helped them on one hole, but it seems like they had a lot of fun. THE MODERATOR: All right. Anything else? Bill, we appreciate your time. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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