GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 25, 2003

Jay Haas

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Jay, for coming in today after 2-under 68. Very steady round and your only bogey of the tournament so far was a short 2-footer.

JAY HAAS: Right, I hit the ball almost as well today as I did yesterday. I hit a couple of wayward drives in the middle of my round but overall it was good ball-striking round today. I just didn't make the putts that I made yesterday. I had a good stretch of holes there. I made a 10-footer for a par save. Then about a 15-footer for birdie and a 30-footer for birdie in a four-hole stretch there and almost made the putt at 8, ran it by two feet, not even two feet and hit a terrible putt. That was disappointing, I wasn't thinking about making a bogey, just hitting a shot like that, I hate to give one away. That was disappointing. I played well hit a lot of good shots. I'm anxious to get ready for tomorrow.

TODD BUDNICK: You shoot a 63 yesterday, you birdied the first hole then you go into 10 or so pars in a row, is that frustration?

JAY HAAS: Not really. I haven't had it that close. I missed a real makeable putt at No. 14, maybe 12 feet or so. 15, I had it about 15 feet. 17 and 18 maybe 15, 16 feet. I had chances. I made those yesterday. But at the same time I wasn't hitting good putts. I don't know, I kept feeling like if I hit the ball, kept getting those putts, they would eventually drop. Again I'm just happy to be hitting the fairways. I missed the fairway at 2, 3 and 4. I hit one right, one left and one right. I was a little flustered there then I hit some good shots coming in. I feel ready for tomorrow.

Q. Jay when is the last time have you been paired with Peter and do you have a distant memory from younger days?

JAY HAAS: You know, on the weekend, you know, I don't know when the last time we were paired together coming down the stretch and both having a chance to win. We were paired together at Memphis this year, and I shot 64 the first round there playing with him. I enjoyed playing with Peter, I enjoyed talking. I'm sure there won't be a shortage of that tomorrow.

Q. Jay, are you surprised the conditions were benign, so to speak, that 10-under is leading at this point?

JAY HAAS: Yes, but I think this is a pretty difficult golf course. For a par 70, you know, 67, 68 and 69, you see a lot of those. You will see occasionally -- we shot 63 yesterday. I think there was one or two today. But it's just not a pushover by any means. If you play well, obviously, anywhere, you can shoot a good score, but the greens are pretty tricky here. They could put the pins in some pretty difficult places. They are starting to firm up. I think you are seeing that a little bit.

We were pretty fortunate in our segment, I think, morning yesterday, afternoon today, you will probably see a little discrepancy in who made the cut. I thought yesterday afternoon the scores were not very good.

I think Dennis Paulson shooting 6-under yesterday was a pretty damn good score. I think if you don't get any rain, the scores will start to taper off a little bit.

Q. It's hard not to keep track of each other, did you notice what he was doing?

JAY HAAS: Yes, I saw that he was -- I birdied early and I saw he hit it pretty close, maybe 14 he made a birdie to go to 8-under and then he birdied 17 and maybe 18. I don't know. All of a sudden --

Q. All of a sudden you are 3 behind?

JAY HAAS: Yes, and I just -- I made the one birdie and finally made a birdie at No. 5 to get to 9-under so I felt a little better about that. I knew what he was doing. Again, the leaderboard is everywhere. I like looking at leaderboards. Some people don't like to look at them. I enjoy seeing my name up there, it gives me confidence.

Q. You noticed him at 3 ahead?

JAY HAAS: Yes, I guess my feeling is 10-under is probably not going to win the tournament, so I need to be lower than that. I can't think about who is ahead or how many is ahead I need to just keep making birdies.

Q. What did you think of Suzy Whaley's showing here?

JAY HAAS: I thought yesterday's round was way better than my round yesterday for her. I think that's outstanding golf. I don't know, I can't say enough about that 75 that she shot. I think that was terrific. I don't know what she ended with today. No matter what she thought, it was wonderful. I thought it was great. The first hole walking off the green she looked like she just one Miss America and she just made 6. I think that's wonderful. I don't think you have ever seen a male professional golfer have a big grin on his face after making a 60 on the very first hole of the tournament. I thought she gets an A-plus in my book.

Q. Do you think that between Annika and her that this is good for golf, men's golf, women's golf?

JAY HAAS: I guess I don't think of it in those terms whether it's good, bad or indifferent. Good for her I think. My goodness, you know, that's like, you know, I shoot free throws occasionally. It's like me going into an NBA game and getting 6 points or something. Maybe that's not a great analogy. She was out of her element here and to do what she did is just outstanding. I guess I don't try to figure it out whether it's good or bad. And that's maybe vanilla that I don't have an opinion on it. Jacobson is here now.

PETER JACOBSEN: I'm told I need to sit down.

Q. Especially since she is a club pro, is that what you mean out of her element?

JAY HAAS: No, you saw her stats, her driving distance is pretty good. But prior to the tournament she says she hits her driver 225. I mean, you know, to shoot 75, and basically this guy hitting a 3-iron off of every tee. That's a disadvantage. She hadn't played in that many LPGA events, and the men's tournament, all of the hoopla and everything, all of the pressure involved in that, I just thought it was outstanding.

Did I say anything stupid there? Am I going to get crucified for any of that stuff?

PETER JACOBSEN: That was good. Just as you wrote it.

TODD BUDNICK: Anything else for Jay?

JAY HAAS: Get me out of here, we have the good stuff coming.

End of FastScripts....