What they said: Bill Haas

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MARK STEVENS: I'd like to welcome Bill Haas to the interview room. Bill moved to 15 under for the tournament. Holds a three shot lead. Four shot lead over three players. Bill, just kind of start off talking about your round. Just talk about your round today.

BILL HAAS: Pretty erratic, I'd say. Bogeyed the first in the middle of the fairway and then made five birdies after that. So I was pretty proud the way I played solid after that bogey. Then a three putt from pretty short distance on 10, maybe routed me a little bit but felt pretty good. A bad iron on 12 cost me there, made double. And then played 1 under from there.

Grinded it out coming in, could have been a lot better. I made eight birdies today. I definitely could have distanced myself from the field, but I've never really had a lead like this going into Sunday. So looking forward to that challenge and playing solid tomorrow.

Q. Did that change how you approach the round tomorrow, the front nine, knowing that you have a padded lead a little bit?

BILL HAAS: I don't think so because people are making birdies out here, but the greens are getting tough. I don't think anybody's going to go crazy low. If they do, then they've earned it. I'm think I'm going to go out tomorrow, and there's certain holes you can birdie and certain holes that are tough. So just go out and play so just try to play solid on the tough holes.

Q. You won earlier this year at the Hope. What did you learn from your experience that you can carry over into tomorrow?

BILL HAAS: I wasn't leading on Sunday. It wasn't a course where you had to make birdies because everybody was doing it. Tomorrow may be a little bit different, but this course, you can make birdies. Guys from behind, four shots, they're not thinking they can't win. They're thinking they can win. And they know I haven't been in this situation much, so tomorrow I'm going to go out and hopefully prove that I can handle playing from this position.

Q. I know you get this all the time, but will you talk to your dad tonight about what it's like to have a three or four shot lead going into the final round? What kind of conversation will you have with him?

BILL HAAS: Yeah, I'm sure we'll text, or I'll call him. I'm sure he'll be pumped for me . He's playing too this week. I don't know how he did today. Hopefully, he had a good day, and we'll both shoot a good round on Sunday. That's all he cares about.

Q. Couple of bad holes aside, I mean, eight birdies, you've got to be feeling pretty good.

BILL HAAS: To come in with the lead, tied for the lead, and make eight birdies, I did a lot of good things. I've just got to eliminate the bad things. Easy to say, hard to do, but I think I can hopefully get off to a decent start tomorrow and hopefully come through.

Q. How do you go about doing that?

BILL HAAS: Just shot by shot. I mean, the first hole, you've got to hit a cut off the tee. That's all I'll be concerned with and then go from there. Pins will be tough, the Sunday pins. Just have to put it in the right spots and hopefully make some putts.

Q. How firm did the course get today?

BILL HAAS: It's getting firm. I hit a lot of irons on the greens that I haven't hit here before just because the ball's really running. But you just have to drive it on the fairway. If you're in the rough, you can't really get it close to these pins.

Q. I wanted to ask you about [ inaudible ].

BILL HAAS: Yeah. That was one of the worst lies I've seen in a bunker, but I put myself there. I actually hit a good shot. I actually hit the shot I was trying to hit, hold it into the wind. I hit more club than I was actually going to hit. Obviously, I just misread the wind there.

Q. What club did you hit?

BILL HAAS: I hit 8 iron. And I knew, if I over hooked it with the wind, it was going to take it way left. So I was just trying to hold it into the wind, and the wind at the end just got a gust into me, and it kind of held it up.

Q. Have you played much with Michael Allen?

BILL HAAS: Yeah, a little bit actually, and he's actually a great partner to play with. He's about as even keel and as calm and smooth and laid back as they come. So I'm sure playing in the final group there will be anxiety just for my own self, but I played with him before. He's a heck of a player, and he's still beating on us out here at 50, and I'm looking forward to it. I think it will be a fun round.

Q. You just described Michael with the same words that a lot of people describe you, even keel, smooth, calm. Talk about how you stay collected on the golf course.

BILL HAAS: It's hard. If you were listen to the mumbles under my breath, you'd say a different thing. I think it's good to get fired up. It's good to get mad. But after making that double, I just basically said, you're still leading. I was tied for the lead at the time. I said, you're still tied for the lead. It could be a lot worse. This could be Saturday, and you could be teeing off first and not caring how you finish. So just try to I knew I could make a couple birdies coming in, and I did that.

I think talking to yourself sometimes helps. Sometimes it backfires. But you just you can't get too worked up out here, and I do. I'm a victim to it sometimes.

Q. The hole at 7, what did you hit on 7 to the green?

BILL HAAS: 7 iron.

Q. 190?

BILL HAAS: 190. Just got wind there. There's been times when I couldn't get a 3 wood close to that green. Right now the wind is going, and I could hit that 350 yards off the tee, and I'm averaging 290 this year. It's just going, and the fairways are really drying out. And everybody, you know, if you hit a good drive, everybody is ripping it out there 300 plus.

Q. The front nine, I knew you talked about it a little bit, but you went through. Just tell me how you were feeling going through five birdies.

BILL HAAS: Well, I wasn't hitting them as close as I have been the last couple of days. Made a nice putt at 3. Made a nice par putt at 2 actually, about five feet, and that was big after bogeying 1. Birdied 3. 4 was about eight feet. 5 is a hole that everybody's birdieing, but I hit a wedge about 40 feet behind the hole then made that one coming down the slope.

So those were ones that you've got to say maybe that made up for my three putt on 10. You're not supposed to three putt, but you're probably not supposed to make those 40 footers either. And then 9, I made about a 40 footer there too. So the putter was hot early, kind of cooled off towards the end. You've got to make putts out here. You've got to get lucky, and you're going to miss them too. So I'll take all the long ones I can.

Q. What about 15, you know, when Nathan missed and then you made your birdie. That was a two shot swing right there.

BILL HAAS: I knew he was up there. When he was missing putts, I didn't know if they were for birdie or par. Actually, didn't really see where I stood. I knew I could be ahead after those two birdies, but then I bogeyed 16, and I saw the scoreboard on 17 green and saw I still had a two shot lead.

So, you know, tomorrow he was kind of going low. Somebody's going to do that, 10, 11 under par. So somebody's going to get up to 15 really quick, and I've just got to be patient and just another round in the 60s, and I should be fine. Just come out tomorrow and play safe, play smart. Not necessarily safe, just play smart, and hopefully the putts go in.

Q. You doubled 12, and then you came back out with a couple of birdies at 14 and 15. You got Steve on the bag. Was he helping you along? Did that help you today?

BILL HAAS: Yeah, I think so. I'm almost trying to talk to him about what I should be doing out there, and I can't really get mad at him, you know. We're family. And he wouldn't say anything. If I was mad, he wouldn't fire back at me just because he's a nice guy.

But he said, hey, don't worry about. You can make birdies from here on out. He's about as positive as they come. We're just having fun out there. It would be a lot more fun if we go out and shoot a good round tomorrow.

Q. Did you realize you had a five shot lead on the front nine? Did you realize it went to that?

BILL HAAS: I didn't know it got to that. I knew I probably had a couple. Unfortunately, Brendon wasn't having such a great nine, but I knew people in front of me had made birdies. I knew Nathan had made a couple of birdies. So really just kind of the mentality that I can get it done. I was trying to make birdie after birdie and fortunately made a couple of putts.

I knew this was golf, and I knew that wasn't going to keep going, and you've got to fight through the adversity.

Q. You're shot into 10, your second shot, 70 yards maybe. It looked like you were trying to play that ball that goes in one hop and skips and it just released. What happened?

BILL HAAS: Well, it was downwind. I only had like 50 yards, and I was actually trying to land it in the fringe short of the green, and I thought, if it like Brendon's ball hit the fringe and stopped, and I thought, if mine stopped on the fringe, I still only had like 12 feet. Got a little hop forward, and it was good, and it just carried onto the green. I knew there wasn't going to be any spin on it. I just carried it about five yards too far.

Q. What was your goal coming into the fall series? You obviously had one of the best years of your career. What are you looking to do?

BILL HAAS: You know, this week, after three rounds, I definitely would like to win. My goal coming into the whole fall series, I was only going to play a couple times. Just a top ten even, just a good finish. I knew it was going to take a lot of money to get in the top 30 on the money list, but now that's definitely a goal of mine. The top 30 on the money list gets you a couple of extra tournaments next year.

Q. One of the tournaments is Augusta. Thinking about that maybe?

BILL HAAS: A little bit, but you can't because I had my chance. Making it to a championship, I can get there. Winning another tournament can get me there. A top ten in one of those majors would have got me back there. There's a lot of things that would have gotten me to Augusta. If you think about it too much it's just one tournament. My dad always told me, good play takes care of everything. You can complain that your world ranking isn't good enough and you can play better than that or whatever. But if you play better, your world ranking will go up, and you can get in better tournaments. Just be patient and try to shoot good scores.

Q. How close were you getting into the championship?

BILL HAAS: Just by one. I missed by one spot. Obviously, disappointing, but that stuff happens. Somebody's got to be 31. Hopefully, next year I'll be 30 or better.

Q. Thanks a lot, Bill. Good luck tomorrow.