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CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

October 30, 2005

Jay Haas

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

DAVE SENKO: Thanks for joining us. Maybe get us started. Talk a little bit about today and we'll get some questions.

JAY HAAS: Well, I thought it was obviously a little tougher today. The course setup, I thought some of the pins were a little tougher, and it seemed like I wasn't quite as sharp today overall, but it seemed like all my birdie chances were tough downhill, side hill, couldn't run at any putts.

I won't say I was tentative, but the greens seemed to pick up some speed overnight. With downhill, side hill putts, I didn't feel like I could be as aggressive.

I knew someone would probably make a run. Dana started off with three birdies, and it looked like he was the guy. And then Tom kept making birdies, and he was right ahead. I watched him make some putts in front and knew that and in the middle of the back nine I thought 17 was what I needed to get to. And I think birdieing 10 and 11, that got me to 16. And I felt like 17 was the number. And even after I made a couple of bogeys there, I still felt like I could do that. I can say I don't feel like I lost it, because Tom shot 64, but I felt like 68 or 69 was definitely a possibility today and that would have been enough.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your driving after the turn? You hooked a couple and pushed one right. Talk about that.

JAY HAAS: I had driven the ball pretty well on the front nine. 11, I was trying to hit one really hard and get it up there and pulled it.

12, I said, let's get this one in the fairway, and I put a quick swing on that one.

And 13, I hit that fairway once this week. I don't know what it is about that hole, it just didn't feel right.

So that whole stretch put some heat on my iron game. Poor putt first putted 12 led to bogey, and then not being able to get it up and around the green on 13, it would have been nice to have a 3 wood shot there to the green and 2 putt for birdie or chip somewhere.

But then I ended up I just didn't hit the putts. I missed about an eight or 9 footer at 12, and about the same length at 13, and about the same length at 14, and about a 12 footer at 15, and about a 7 footer at 17. Yesterday I made most of those, and today very few of them.

If I make my share, you know, what I had been doing all week, I think I could have held him off.

Q. Did you hit driver frequently today?

JAY HAAS: No. I hit 3 wood at 10, and I had done that a couple of days. No, I used 3 wood at 1 and 10. That's the only holes I didn't drive it.

Q. Did you find out about your son today?

JAY HAAS: Yes. I knew before I teed off. I watched a little bit on The Golf Channel before we teed off and saw that it didn't look real good. I'm disappointed about the day, but more disappointed for him. But at the same time he's got Tour School. He can go to that and it's not the end of the world. He still has a place to play next year on the Nationwide Tour.

Q. Did it affect your mindset?

JAY HAAS: Not really. I think I would have had a little more pep out there maybe at the start. But after Dana got off to that start, I realized I couldn't be moping around. The game was on.

Q. You've played enough golf and been in enough golf tournaments, this game is not like football or basketball where you say, Let's get going. You can only do so much out there. When a guy is (inaudible) you've done this people. You did it yesterday. What goes on in your mind?

JAY HAAS: Like you say, in other sports you can make him give up the ball in basketball, double team this guy, shut him down. You're just watching and realizing there's nothing to do.

Like I said, I felt someone would shoot 66. In that 8 under pack, I thought someone would shoot at least 6 iron, so I felt I needed to shoot 69, 68, someone in there. I wanted to obviously have a nice cushion coming down the stretch there and not have to worry about it. I kind of got it there at 10 and 11. But then the bogey at 12 and then kind of a poor chip at 14 went by there and missed that putt.

But yes, there's nothing you can do but watch and say hey. Yesterday it was my turn. It was the fourth quarter today and he made a come back.

Q. You mentioned the other day you played a lot of rounds with Tom in his prime. As much as we're in the moment today (Inaudible)?

JAY HAAS: He's a legend in his spare time, I guess. I don't know how many tournaments he played this year, but not very many. He won the British Senior and he could still be playing PGA Tour golf, I think, and doing quite well at that, if he had a mind to. Yes, it didn't look any different than it did 20 years ago, except he drives straighter now.

Q. At what point were you aware that he was the guy that was making it?

JAY HAAS: Probably at the turn. I watched him make a 25 footer for birdie, and I thought that maybe got him to 12 or 13, I wasn't real sure. Then I saw him make a putt at 9. I didn't know what that was for. But you could sense the crowd getting behind him.

Dana made a run early and made a couple of bogeys and that hurt him. I think he had the mindset of beating Hale today and keeping ahead of him on the Charles Schwab Cup points list. I didn't discount Dana, but I thought Tom was the guy, the way he was playing.

Q. 16 and 17, it looked like you gave yourself a good chance for eagle?

JAY HAAS: That was the best putt all day, really. I purposely waited. I realized he was putting on 17. It looked like we were both going to putt about the same time, and so I stalled a little bit and waited to hear what he did and realized he didn't make it. I felt like I had a good line there. Hit a beautiful 3 wood shot, one of the my better shots of the day.

As I came down the stretch I played better. In the middle of the round I wasn't real sharp, but toward the end I started hitting a lot better and gave myself some chances.

Yes, about six feet, eight feet from the hole, it looked like that putt was maybe going in. And then 17, I hit a beautiful 9 iron shot, probably seven feet. Today yesterday almost every putt I could see; today, all of them looked right center, left center, right edge, never a definitive line to it, and that was typical of that. I kind of put that on the right edge and maybe pushed it a hair and it didn't bring. If it got a little hint of a left turn there it might have curled in. But again, you've got to hit those and I didn't.

Q. If you had made that, would that have changed the whole dynamic?

JAY HAAS: It did. It felt like if I was going to make a 4 on the last hole and have a chance at a birdie if I drove it in the fairway. Tom just did what he had to do. A beautiful tee shot, it looked like, and an iron shot under the hole and holed the putt.

I hit two good shots there. I got tied up in the line so much, trying to get it on line and never gave it a thought that I would leave it short. I mis hit it a hair. In those situations I'm not thinking, Don't leave it short. Obviously I know that in the back of my mind, but when I hit too hard, it messes up the line. So I tried to putt the way I've putted all week. I mis hit it a touch, and as soon as I hit it, I knew it wasn't there.

Q. You dropped your head

JAY HAAS: Yes. I knew right away, and it was frustrating because it was right on line. With a little more speed it would have gone in.

Q. What went through your mind standing on your second shot on 18? You're looking up there, Watson drops a birdie putt.

JAY HAAS: In those situations, I always expect the worse, that he's going to make it. I figured he would, he putted well all day. It looked like the kind of putt he could run at. But I couldn't tell really how far he was.

I had a perfect yardage. I had 158. It was a good solid 8 iron shot for me. The flag was kind of in a good position to go for it. I didn't turn it over as much as I wanted to, but I hit a good crisp shot. I was trying to get to play that hole one more time. I figured if I made a 3, we would go to a playoff. Try to make two 3s in a row on that hole maybe and do something.

End of FastScripts.

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