An Interview With:
BILL HAAS

CRAIG SMITH: This is Bill Haas who had a good day today.

Bill, how much -- before we get into this one. You're the top returning finisher from a year ago. How much does that mean to you in terms of getting along in match play and feeling comfortable.

BILL HAAS: It means a little. A little bit. It's a new year, playing new opponents. Maybe having that experience, you would say, of match play in the U.S. Amateur but I think each day is just the key. I'm taking off of the last hole, maybe. I think when, I talked to my dad last night and his advice was if you get 1-up, get 2-up. Don't protect the 1-up lead. Get 2-up, 3-up, 4-up. And somehow that worked today. But obviously that's not going to work every day. It's not going to go your way every day. Maybe I have more experience than this guy; he's going to be a freshman in college next year. So I had a little experience this year. But there's a lot of other guys who have more experience than me.

CRAIG SMITH: You were even par as you went through. How much of it was you and how much of it was your opponent having a little rough sledding.

BILL HAAS: I would say a lot of it was my opponent. Although I would say I could have driven the ball a lot better. I missed a lot of fairways to the left. Which is good, because I'm not missing them both ways. I know where my miss is going to be. It seemed like I was able to  -- out of the rough  -- I was able to put the ball in the right place to where maybe when he was in the rough, he couldn't put the ball in the right place. A lot of my misses ended up being good misses.

Q. Any highlights?

BILL HAAS: I birdied one hole.

Q. Which one?

BILL HAAS: The 6th hole. The par-3. That got me even. I birdied 9 too. I would not have made that putt.

Q. Which one was that?

BILL HAAS: The last hole. Number 13.

Q. 13? Where the pin was up front?

BILL HAAS: Yeah, somehow I was behind it. I was trying to lag it down there and it still would have gone five feet by.

Q. Did your approach to any of those holes out there change in match play versus how you played it in stroke play?

BILL HAAS: Definitely. Every hole changed, I think. Like the first hole today, I missed the fairway way left. And ended up being in a bunker, which I don't even know if it's considered to be on the first hole. It's maybe -- yeah, it's got to be. It's not on the ninth hole.

But my opponent hit it in the right bunker and had to chip out. So now he's hitting three on one of the hardest greens in the course. And I'm in the bunker, so I the worst thing I want to be is maybe over the green. Because now I'm chipping back up the hill. So that's an advantage where in stroke play I might try to play short of the green and roll on and make a 4 or a 3, because I had a good lie.

But in match play I'm thinking the best he's going to make is 5. Unless he makes an unbelievable up-and-down. So I just basically played to the middle of the green. And if it went over, fine. I made a 5 and won the hole with a five. So I felt like I was 1-under par. I was 1-up. So that's a pretty different approach.

Q. When did you play Oakmont, Monday?

BILL HAAS: Yes.

Q. How much different is it today?

BILL HAAS: With the weather, greens are harder.

Q. Quicker?

BILL HAAS: Yeah. I agree. I don't know if they can get them any quicker. There's a few putts out there that are unbelievably fast. I would say it is running -- maybe Saturday I think I got in. So that rain on Monday, for me the greens were a little softer but they were pretty firm.

Q. How is this different than Olympia Fields with regards to courses and yourself?

BILL HAAS: I don't know, it's a lot harder, I think. It's just so penal. The greens  -- you can hit every fairway out here and shoot 75. The greens are just so tough. Out there at Olympia Fields -- or Olympia Fields you were asking me? I was thinking of last year's U.S. Amateur. What was that?

Q. Oakland Hills?

BILL HAAS: Oakland Hills. Sorry. This is much harder than Olympia Fields, the U.S. Open. But not a whole lot. Those greens were fast. And pretty undulated too. And they had to be, because that course wasn't as long as this course. I hit more irons off tees at Olympia Fields. But this one is just more penalizing.

Q. What's the rough like here versus there?

BILL HAAS: This rough is very untamed I would say. There's a lot of -- one area where you might have a decent lie, another area where you can't even advance it to where I thought at Olympia Fields it was  -- you could tell it had been cut to a certain length so had you a pretty -- you kind of knew what the ball was going to do coming out of it. If that makes sense.

CRAIG SMITH: Talk about the last 10 days and in the Haas household with the phone calls you and your dad, Jay, got for the President's Cup.

BILL HAAS: Well, I wasn't there when he got named. I was here when he got named to the President's Cup. But it's just been great. It's a great feeling to be here. I can't wait to get over there and play. I'm sure he told me the next day. He told me the next -- he found out the night before when Jack called him and he said he couldn't sleep that night, he was so excited. So the Haas household is on a high right now.

Q. The Walker Cup guys are here and you know that's out there; is there any competition among you guys in an individual tournament like that or is this just all for you individually?

BILL HAAS: Do what now?

Q. Is there any kind of competition between you guys?

BILL HAAS: Between who?

Q. The Walker Cup guys?

BILL HAAS: I think we're pulling for each other. I think now that -- like if there were other players from the Wake Forest Golf team here, I would be pulling for them. If I didn't win I would want them to win. And I think now that I'm on the team, when all eight or now it's going to be 10 of us are going to represent our country. I'm pulling  -- if I don't win this thing I want somebody that's my team mate to win.

I definitely -- no, I'm not trying to beat those guys. They're the best players in the country, so I just want to be here the same time they are, hopefully.

Q. Is your approach any different coming into this year than it was last year because you got so far in match play last year?

BILL HAAS: Maybe. I'm much more calm, I would say and not as nervous on the first tee. Maybe that's just experience. Last year was kind of a surprising to most people, and a little bit to myself to get that far. I haven't done a whole lot nationally. And especially as this is like our Major, I would say, so I haven't done anything that great in that big of a tournament. I would say it was more of a surprise last year and this year I'm much more comfortable. People see my name and -- I don't know. I would say that my approach this year is a lot more calm.

CRAIG SMITH: As those folks kind of chose to go professional, from last year's top finishers, as they sort of went by the wayside and sort of put the spotlight on you a little bit more, didn't they?

BILL HAAS: I guess. They're putting the spotlight on themselves about turning pro, I would say. But in the amateur field, yeah, there was some great players that turned pro this year. And I guess that's the way it works out.

I guess Hunter and Ricky and D.J. all made it pretty far in the U.S. Amateur last year. I didn't think about that. Yeah, I guess I haven't really thought about it that way. I don't think that -- I don't know if there's a spotlight. Especially among the players there's no spotlight on me. They want to beat me as bad as I want to beat them and I don't think they think I'm any better than they are; it's just whoever wins that day.

Q. Can you compare this course to Oakland Hills last year and how are they similar and how are they different?

BILL HAAS: They're similar with the types of putts that you hit. You got to play -- there was a putt I had 12 feet today where I aimed probably eight feet to the left and then it was just going to get there somehow I knew. There was like some putts like that I would say at Oakland Hills. But, it seemed like I could drive it anywhere at Oakland Hills and advance it. I don't know. I chipped out -- I always remember chipping out on 18 last year in my match to lose. But I don't remember chipping out a whole lot where I couldn't advance it to the green. I think the greens were softer last year too. Maybe it rained a lot.

But here these greens, I was happy on the 12th hole, the par-5 to hit a sand wedge 20 feet. I thought it was just what I wanted to do. So there aren't many golf courses where if you hit sand wedge 20 feet you're happy.

Q. You said you thought about, you thought about that shot at 18, second shot where you chipped out; that was I think right behind the bunker?

BILL HAAS: It was right over the bunker.

Q. Okay.

BILL HAAS: Really got a bad break there to chip out to the fairway.

Q. When you think about it, is that something that's kind of lived with you for a while?

BILL HAAS: No. I just say I remember chipping out that one hole. If I had to think about if I chipped out last year, I remember that one. But it hasn't lived with me, no. I set new goals and I accomplished one by making the Walker Cup team. I accomplished two more this week by making match play and then making it to the next round. I don't think it's lived with me, definitely hasn't eaten up at me. I try to -- I woke up the next morning and I kind of go on from there.

Q. Short-term meaning over the next 12 months, is your success or not success here a determining factor on what your plans will be?

BILL HAAS: To turn pro?

Q. Yes.

BILL HAAS: I think my plans are pretty much set on I want to play another year of college golf. And then after that, I don't have any plans. I'm just trying to continue to get better. Seems like each year in college I improved a little bit in some way on the golf course, and maybe even off, is what I've done. Maybe that's what I'm improving on. I'm just really looking forward to learning a lot and then turning pro whenever it seems to fit.

CRAIG SMITH: Casey Wittenberg was in here and he's already in school. Are you missing school as well.

BILL HAAS: No, I start next Wednesday. So hopefully I won't miss any.

CRAIG SMITH: And last year I think it took until Saturday morning until dad flew in. How long do you have to go this year?

BILL HAAS: Well, he's playing at Firestone this week. So I don't think there's a cut there.

Q. There isn't, he said he can't. I said to him, "What happens if maybe you get bad weather, play early Sunday morning?" He said, "Well, that's a possibility." But that's all. It's a no-cut event.

BILL HAAS: No-cut.

CRAIG SMITH: He wasn't very good luck last year.

BILL HAAS: Yeah, he wasn't. No. I talk to him every day and I hope he plays well there and I think it would be maybe cooler if we both won.

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