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BOB HOPE CHRYSLER CLASSIC

January 23, 2004

Jay Haas

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Kind of a bad start for you there on hole No. 1, but you rebounded wonderfully and shot 8-under par 64. Why don't you just talk about the day today and your round a little bit, please.

JAY HAAS: Well, I played well all week and I just made a pretty drastic mistake on No. 1. I kind of pull-hooked an 8-iron and carried over this bunker. There's not much room over there. I was out by about a foot, I guess. I felt like the boxer that came out the first round to touch gloves and got decked, and I was not feeling too good after that hole. But then I made two nice birdies at 2 and 3 and just kind of kept hanging in there and just kept hitting it close and making some putts.

I didn't get too panicky after the first hole just because I knew the course usually yields a lot of birdies. I just felt like I played well and they would come. But I certainly didn't expect 64 after walking off the first hole.

Q. You went out-of-bounds on your second shot?

JAY HAAS: I hit five from the middle of the fairway. I had 144 maybe, and the wind was blowing pretty good and so I was trying to hit a hard 8-iron and just pulled it a little bit and it got caught in the wind. I carried it maybe two yards past the flag but left quite a bit, rolled into green-side bunker into the cart path and out of bounds. It's only 20 feet from the back fringe of the green. It wasn't an awful shot. It could have happened another place and I could have made par. I knew it was there and I knew the shot, I didn't want to miss it over there, but I did.

Q. So would that have been a worse start if it had been at another course other than Indian Wells where you felt like the birdies were going to come?

JAY HAAS: Yeah, probably. I think that -- well, I guess I was expecting to be under par before over par when I stood on the first tee today. I also felt like the par 5s are very getable here, and I've had good luck here in the past at this golf course.

So, I tried to calm myself down and realized that, you know -- I told myself on the second tee that I just started off 9-under for the tournament. I didn't start at 11-under and didn't take it from there and tried to fight my way back to even par and then go from there. I managed to do that and I got them back very quickly. And then in the middle of the front nine and through No. 11, I was hitting close and making them. So it was a fun stretch right there.

Q. Jay, you obviously played well here the last couple of years, T-16 and second last year. As you're in position now, how much does course familiarity play into how you're able to handle it out here?

JAY HAAS: Well, I think that that helps me, certainly. But there's plenty of places I've played a lot and haven't done well. So, you know, the Palmer Course is a little newer for all of us, but I've had some good luck there in the past. Hopefully we'll get a good day. I think if the wind blows, that probably is as open as any course so, you might get a little more -- shots will be affected probably a little bit more out there.

You know, I guess I come into this tournament thinking I just need to go for birdies on every hole almost and my mindset is to try to get to 30-under par, say, and then I can start thinking about laying up.

But, you know, I guess as I said, a lot of tournaments, I've played many years and had local knowledge but it doesn't help me. I don't know if it does here or not. I guess the fact that I know that I've played well in the past and I know that I can make birdies on these holes, it relaxes me a little bit.

Q. Based on your past history here, including winning the tournament, playing so well last year, what do you feel it's going to take for you to win the tournament?

JAY HAAS: Well, I guess if 20 or something is leading right now, I would think that. Again, depending on the weather, but I would say a minimum of 30, 32, something like that, I guess it's certainly hard to predict. But we haven't had the typical weather like we usually do out here with hardly any wind at all. You know, it almost doesn't matter anymore out here. The guys are so good that regardless of whether the wind is blowing or not, someone is going to shoot 62 or 64 on any of these golf courses out here.

I guess I'm not going to feel comfortable shooting a couple 69s from here on out and think that I can win the tournament.

Q. The way you've been playing, does it give you any reason to think that you should forget about the Senior Tour?

JAY HAAS: Well, I certainly don't want to forget about it. My mindset earlier in the off-season and coming into this year was, I'm going to act like I'm not on the Senior Tour yet. I'm going to play like I'm a 30 or 49-year-old and make my schedule according to that. And through Hilton Head this year, I basically had the same questions that I had last year. And, you know, I don't know what I'll do, after that I may play Houston, I may play the Legends tournament in Savanna.

I feel like if I split my time that I wouldn't give myself the best opportunity to do well on the PGA TOUR, nor would I would I give myself the best opportunity to succeed on the Champions Tour.

Right now I'm focused on this and just kind of take it from here.

Q. Last year you had a good tournament here. How does your game stack up to where it was at this time last year?

JAY HAAS: I don't know. I really played well here last year. I'm hitting the ball well again this year. Last year I just felt as comfortable and as confident as I've ever felt over the golf ball, but with the mistake I made today and I 3-putted No. 4 for bogey, there's some of those things that I didn't do last year. I saved every shot and hardly made any bogeys until the end. But it's similar. I feel confident. I feel -- I don't feel much different physically or mentally than last year, so I guess I feel like I don't have any excuse to not do well just because I had a birthday.

Q. So the second shot on the first hole wasn't a senior moment?

JAY HAAS: You know, it could have been. I guess you could have said that.

It was funny because I had hit a couple of 8-irons yesterday at La Quinta and I blocked them twice in the bunkers and one led to a bogey and I was able to make par again. So I hit probably 25 8-irons after the round yesterday and hit them all pretty good. So sure enough, I get an 8-iron the first hole and didn't want to block it and I didn't. So I won't say that it was -- I lost my head or anything. I just didn't hit a very good shot.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Jay, can we go through your round of birdies, bogeys, and eagles, please.

JAY HAAS: Doubled 1.

2, I hit a 9-iron to 15 feet and made it.

3, sand wedge to about three feet and made it.

4, I hit 8-iron 15 feet and I 3-putted. Ran the first one by about eight feet. It was a really slick putt on that hole.

Then I hit a 5-wood to about 12 feet at 5 and made it for an eagle.

7, I hit a sand wedge to 15 feet and made it.

8, I hit a 4-iron just over the green, chipped it back to a foot and tapped that in for birdie.

9, I hit a pitching wedge to a foot.

10, I hit an 8-iron to six feet. Made that.

And 11, I hit a pitching wedge to about 8 feet and made that.

14, I 2-putted there and hit a 5-iron to 35 feet and putted up to about a foot.

17, I hit a sand wedge to about ten feet and made that one.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Jay, for joining us and we look forward to seeing you over here tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.

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