In a year of highs and lows, Haas continues to play well
By Lauren Deason, PGATOUR.COM Editorial Coordinator
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- It's supposed to be one of the happiest, albeit bittersweet, days in the life of a parent.
|
On June 28, 2008, his eldest daughter Haley's wedding day, Jay Haas and the rest of the family and family-to-be were goofing around, tossing a football and having fun. It wasn't even a pickup game -- just a friendly game of catch -- which was probably a good thing since the groom played football at Vanderbilt University.
Haas went to catch a pass and knew the second it happened. In his heart, he hoped it was just a cramp but quickly realized it was much worse.
"I was running a little harder and faster than I should have been running and pulled my right hamstring," he said. "I went down and I couldn't hardly walk. I managed to make it down the aisle OK and nobody knew, I don't think, but three days later it started turning blue. It was nasty."
So he took to the bench for five weeks, the longest he thinks he's ever sat out in his professional career. His first tournament back was this week's U.S. Senior Open, a hilly course to walk. Haas has gingerly stepped on that right leg at times and may be a little slower bending over to mark his ball or fetch it out of the cup, but he's feeling a little better each day.
"I was pretty bad for about three weeks, I couldn't have played. Now, it's been five weeks and it's better but not 100 percent. I'm a little bit discouraged about that," Haas admitted. "But at 54, I guess my healing powers aren't what they once were.
"I'm ready for it to be like it was before I did it but that might take a little longer."
The past several months have featured more highs and lows than usual for the Haas family, particularly Jay.
About a month before his injury, Haas won the Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hills and earned a berth in Oakland Hills for next week's PGA Championship. Haas also won the Principal Charity Classic, the next event on the Champions Tour.
Then came the wedding and injury. Just as Haas was set to return to the Champions Tour, his wife Jan's sister-in-law Fran Pruitt -- the wife of PGA TOUR Rules Official Dillard Pruitt, Jan's brother -- passed away from a long battle with cystic fibrosis on July 18. Haas withdrew from the 3M Championship and the Senior British Open for that reason.
So he made his re-debut at one of the toughest courses on the Champions Tour schedule. He hadn't walked 18 holes before coming to Colorado Springs, so his first three rounds of 72, 70 and 70 were impressive. Haas, though, wanted to go lower on Saturday, especially after seeing several low scores posted from the morning wave.
"There wasn't as much wind early and there were a bunch of good scores. When we got out here, we saw there were a ton of good scores and so I kind of figured I could shoot one of those good scores, too. But the wind kicked up from when we were on the 7th hole and it really never let up from then on in and made the course play a little bit harder," said Haas, who's tied for 11th after 54 holes.
His injury has affected his iron shots, which Haas admits haven't been really good at The Broadmoor.
"I haven't been playing competitively so it's kind of hard to be sharp on those," he said. "I've done some good things and played well enough to be 2 over par with a couple of 70 rounds. On a tough golf course, it's not awful but when there's half a dozen guys under par and one guy 9 under, one guy 7 under, I'd like to be a little closer to them than I am."
Since he's not quite 100 percent health-wise, Haas is going to make a game-time decision on Monday as to whether he makes the trip to Michigan for the PGA Championship. He'll head home to Greenville, S.C., then decide there if he should take his scheduled trip on Tuesday.
It's a course he's familiar with and one that has ties to his family. Haas tied for seventh at the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in 1979, tied for 15th at the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills in 1985 and earned 1 1/2 points for the U.S. Ryder Cup team there in 2004. His son Bill, now on the PGA TOUR, was also a semifinalist and medalist at the U.S. Amateur there in 2002.
"Oakland Hills is one of my favorite places. I've been there a lot, played there a lot. Had the Ryder Cup there, got smoked there in 2004," he said with a laugh. "I love the golf course and I'm anxious to see what they've done to it. I think they've added some length, which certainly doesn't help me, and taken out some trees. Everything is probably going to be beautiful and really a hard test so I'm anxious to see it. Hopefully I'll feel better."
It's especially disappointing since Haas marked making the PGA Championship as one of his goals at the start of the year. He knew if he could win his second Senior PGA Championship -- Haas won his first in 2006, one of his 12 victories on the 50-and-over circuit -- then he could make another PGA TOUR major.
"But, you know, there are a lot of young guys that would love to play and, if I'm not 100 percent, then it's silly for me to go up there," Haas said. "You are just going to have to really be on in every phase of your game, especially putting. The greens are really treacherous (at Oakland Hills) and you have to know where to miss it.
"(They are) a little like these greens here (at The Broadmoor). You have to try to stay underneath the hole. Fortunately, these aren't as fast as they will be up there. You can get putts up there that you will look very, very foolish on."
Even if Haas doesn't accomplish his goal of playing in the PGA Championship, he can earn Player of the Year honors on the Champions Tour for an unprecedented third straight year. Even 45-time Champions Tour winner Hale Irwin never did that.
While Haas was out, Bernhard Langer took over the top spot in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, the season-long point's race that rewards top-10 finishes. Haas doesn't stress over regaining the lead, but he does want to play well this week and at the JELD-WEN Tradition, the fourth major on the Champions Tour in two weeks, to move back up.
"That's why I'm thinking the JELD-WEN, for the Champions Tour obviously, is more important than the PGA Championship. That's hard to believe that I would say that but it is in my schedule. So, if I'm going to be in shape for either one, I'd rather be in shape for the JELD-WEN," Haas said. "It's a long way out there and I need to be feeling better for that tournament and the rest of the Champions Tour schedule.
"...I know where I stand (in the Charles Schwab Cup race). I don't think about it before every shot or every round but I'm trying to shoot as low as I can everyday. If it works out that I win that's great, if not, somebody played better."
Get the best deals on the best equipment all at the SHOP.PGATOUR.COM.
FANTASY
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network