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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KITCHENAIDMay 22, 2014Jay HaasBENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN KELLY ELBIN: Two‑time Senior PGA champion Jay Haas, in with a 2‑under par of the in the opening round of the 75th Senior PGA Championship Presented By KitchenAid. Jay, four birdies in the middle of the round and in a row, couple bumps in the road on 16 and 17. Nice 2‑putt on 18. Interesting opening round here at Harbor Shores. JAY HAAS: It was. I didn't know what to expect, a little cool out there, the course is in really good shape, but I think this is a pretty hard golf course. I played pretty well a couple years ago and I think I was, I don't know, 29th or something like that. I certainly didn't show anybody anything two years ago. The middle of the round was certainly the key. Birdieing 9, 10, 11, 12, all with some pretty good shots. 11 was maybe 15, 16 feet. But other than that, they were pretty close putts. Disappointed with my finish, obviously, but a nice putt at 18 for a 2‑putt. I did that a lot today. I made almost every 5‑, 6‑, 8‑footer that I had. That's the reason I'm sitting here. My short putting was good, my long putting was not so good. KELLY ELBIN: We have you for 28 putts for the round. Would you go through, the birdies and bogeys. JAY HAAS: Hit an 8‑iron to about a foot and a half at the first hole. Bogeyed 6. I drove it in the fairway bunker and had to wedge it out and hit it on 30 feet, 2‑putted. 9, I hit a lob wedge to about six feet. Made that. 10, I hit a gap wedge to about two feet. 11 a 9‑iron about 15, 16 feet there. 12, I hit a 9‑iron to about seven or eight feet there. Bogeyed 16. I drove it in the right rough, couldn't reach the green, and hit my third shot to about 12 feet and missed it. 17, I hit a poor tee shot short of the green, an even poorer chip to about 25 feet and 2‑putted. KELLY ELBIN: Could you talk about 18. Did you considerate all chipping that ball based on where it was? JAY HAAS: Sort of. But I felt like my worst putt was going to be much better than my worst chip at that stage. I had just, off of a perfect lie in front of the green on 17, hit a shot that wasn't too stellar. So I wasn't, didn't think I could clip it right off of the green there with a wedge. I felt like I could get it four or five feet with a decent putt and make it possibly if I really‑‑ if I hit the first putt just a little bit firmer through the fringe there, it would have gone down pretty close. But I was glad to get that last one in for sure. KELLY ELBIN: Open it up for questions. Q. Can you just talk about the conditions out there. It seemed like there wasn't much wind to start the round. Did it pick up towards the end? JAY HAAS: It picked up just a little bit, but not like it can around here. I think we were all pretty concerned with, saw the long range forecast was going to be in the high 50s today, and we could see it being cloudy and misty rain and be a nightmare and 75 would have been a great score. We were pretty fortunate that the wind did not blow a great deal. Out on water it did. Number 7, the tee was back there today, I was a little surprised that it was back that far. I hit my best drive of the day probably and a 4‑iron. Yesterday or two days ago in the pro‑am I hit a driver and an 8‑iron. So it was certainly coming off the water a little bit right then. That was early and kind of cool. So there's a little bit of wind, but not nothing that we can't handle, I guess. It didn't really affect it a great deal. Q. As we were watching the monitor we saw some really good shots and we saw some people getting in some awkward places. What are the key challenges, what are the defenses that are going to make this a tough test? JAY HAAS: I think one of the key challenges is if you don't hit the correct distance on your second shot into the green or whatever approach shot into the green, you can get into some places you can't hardly get up‑and‑down from. I was trying to avoid that say at 16, in the right rough, I could have gotten it in the bunker say or even right of the bunker, but with the pin right up against that bunker in the front, I didn't figure I had an opportunity to do that. So I wedged it down and then wedged it to 12 feet. Which is about what I would have expected, had I challenged it. Now if it was the last day and I was one or two behind or last hole and I needed to run it up that gap, I probably would have tried it. It wasn't that bad. But overall‑‑ I played with Peter Jacobsen and he didn't play great today, but just seemed like every time he missed a shot it was, he was chipping over a mound, over a bunker, or something. So you have to be pretty precise. There are sections in these greens and they're very small sections usually. Very rarely do you get a putt that's kind of a 30‑footer with just one break to it. It's usually got one or two kind of up and over and around and I think that's the real challenge here. The greens are somewhat firm, but not impossible firm. I don't see them getting too out of control as the week goes on. KELLY ELBIN: That decision to lay up at 16 was strategic today, as opposed to down the stretch. JAY HAAS: Yeah, down the stretch, like I said, if I would have been behind say and just needed an ultimately had to make a par at the worst and maybe get an opportunity for birdie, I probably would have gone‑‑ I could have hit a 6‑iron, I had the 6‑iron out, took a couple practice swings and it just didn't look very inviting for me. I was going to miss to the right. I didn't want to pull it, obviously, I was going to miss to the right, and it just looked like I had nothing from over there. Then I was just walking through or at the scorer's table and I saw Willie Wood chipped in from over there, so probably should have tried it. Or at least had him hit the third shot for me. Q. A year removed from being so close to winning this championship last year, how do you look back on that and has it changed your perspective on it this year? JAY HAAS: Not necessarily. I was fortunate enough to win a couple times a few years ago and some of the greatest wins of my career, I mean, just to have my name on that trophy, that's kind of a dream for me. Last year was very special, being, I grew up across the river there and knew so many people in the gallery there and I really played well. Kohki just played a great last round and Kenny or I just couldn't put enough heat on him there. But it doesn't change anything. I would like to contend, obviously and have a chance to win, but had I won or missed the cut, it wouldn't have affected this year. I think as I've gotten older I realize that every tournament's a new tournament, every year's a new year, you just got to turn the page and go forward and try to do the best I can. So that's my mindset here. In fact, until you ‑‑ Peter and I were talking about it the last hole, something about last year or something and I was trying to think, where was this tournament last year? I'm serious, I had forgotten. I said, that's right, I finished second last year. So, no, and I'm serious. I guess I just, one foot in front of the other and not thinking so much about what's happened in the past and can't change any of that good and bad. So just try to make the best out of what's ahead. Q. There's so much focus on winning traditional Majors, the Regular Tour, but talk about how do we put in perspective what Kenny's done with these senior Majors in the last year? JAY HAAS: Well, he's clearly one of our best players. I think you could put maybe a dozen guys in that best player category at any one time. These guys are still very, very capable. Kenny's gone to the PGA TOUR and played well out there. Mark Calcavecchia, I think he's played five or six events on the PGA TOUR, made the cut every time this year. So he's capable out here. Obviously, Bernhard is kind of the sheriff until somebody knocks him off his perch. He's the guy to beat. 8th place in the Masters for him. Freddie is not here this week, but he's obviously very capable. So I guess what I'm trying to say is what he's accomplished in winning three straight Majors is pretty impressive, to beat those guys each time in what we consider our Major events. So I don't think you can discount that. He's beaten Bernhard. And Calc played good last week, I was right there. To win any event out here is still pretty impressive and to win Majors is even more so. Q. From establishing your roots in South Carolina, how much of a sense do you get‑‑ the folks have high regard from Brad Faxon from his days at Furman down there. JAY HAAS: Definitely. He's in bold print in the paper down there all the time. I think, when I think of Brad, I think of Furman. It's just, a lot of people asked me where I went to school, Wake Forest. That's just part of our bio, I guess. And he's, he was a huge part of building that program and still is. So we're actually staying together down at Lost Dunes this week, Jeff Sluman and Bob Tway and Brad and I are staying down there together. So it was good to see him play well and hopefully he won't get too far away from us. But his wife came in last night and so I think he was all relaxed today and ready to play hard. But you're right, he, they talk about Brad still, he still has a lot of friends and people that he went to school with down there, so he's a big part of that community. KELLY ELBIN: Jay Haas in with 69. Thanks very much, Jay. JAY HAAS: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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