Papa Haas trying to clinch Schwab Cup while worrying about his boys  PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator SONOMA, Calif. -- Jay Haas has pocketed over $2.5 million this year, thanks to four wins and four runner-up finishes, but the 53-year-old is pretty nervous about a pending trip to q-school.  Jay Haas Jr. is a chip off the old block as he tries to make it to the TOUR. (Badz/WireImage) Mind you, the trip is one that his son Jay Haas Jr. is taking but Jay Sr. is anxious just watching his son go through the torturous task to try for a PGA TOUR card. "I feel kind of helpless that I can't be there, that he's on his own. It's all about him and whether he plays well or not," Big Jay said of Little Jay, who sits tied for 56th in Florence, S.C., after Tuesday's first round in the first stage of the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament. If Jay Jr. survives the long q-school journey, he'd join little brother Bill on TOUR next season. Father Haas says his eldest son possesses all the skills that a weekend duffer would kill to have -- a beautiful swing, great fundamentals, stellar golf pedigree. But for a while the 26-year-old was lacking the most important intangible: a love for the game. "Maybe that's held him back, that he didn't have the passion that I had at his age but I think he's getting that passion a little bit more and it's certainly showing. He's playing better and better. The more successes you have, the more successes you can have because you are confident about it. "...I'm pulling as hard for him as I am for me this week, harder even." Haas has two roles to play this week: the nail-biting dad and the biggest thing standing in the way of Loren Roberts winning the Charles Schwab Cup. It's déjà vu at Sonoma Golf Club with Roberts and Haas reprising their 2006 rivalry for the trophy that rewards top-10 finishes throughout the season. "I use the Charles Schwab Cup as motivation [throughout the season] -- one of my goals this season was to repeat," Haas said, who narrowly beat Roberts last year after the Boss of the Moss uncharacteristically three-putted the final hole to lose by 20 points.  Jay Haas is trailing Loren Roberts in the Charles Schwab Cup points race. (WireImage)
"To me, it's like looking at the leaderboard on the golf course. I like to see my name up there and see what's going on." Those 20 points made a big difference for both Roberts and Haas, who wound up with more than just the Charles Schwab Cup on the mantelpiece. "I got some awards last year, the Player of the Year and all that. It was really one putt away from being his name on all of those trophies. That's how neck-and-neck it was," Haas said. But if it all ended today, Haas doesn't think he deserves the honor again, even if he is atop the 2007 Money List and trailing Roberts by only 165 points. "Leading the money list is one thing but ... he's won a major tournament, as have four other guys this year, and I haven't won a major. I feel like I'm on the outside looking in this year for that and that motivates me. "But I think that Loren coming so close last year fuels [him too]." On Monday, Haas showed up at the course to put in hours on the range and putting green to prepare for a potential showdown. But he also put on his spectating hat to watch his uncle, 1968 Masters winner Bob Goalby, tee it up in a pro-am featuring some of the games older legends. "I saw Orville Moody walking down the 18th fairway and it looked like he was on the last leg of a Mohave Desert crossing, he could just barely get one foot in front of the other but he was all, 'Jay, how are you doing' and bright as he could be. Then I see my Uncle Bob and these guys are still doing this, still enjoying being with each other. "Bob hit some great shots, he's 78 but I was still impressed with the shots that he could hit. His knees are bad, his neck is bad, his back is bad but it's what we do and it is the [family] business." Jay's brother, Jerry, serves as the golf coach at Wake Forest University. Brother-in-law Dillard Pruitt is a rules official on the PGA TOUR. And, of course, there are his two sons who are following in the granduncle-father-uncle-uncle-in-law footsteps. "Jay's been playing the Tarheel Tour and thankfully they don't have a hole-by-hole, shot-by-shot rundown on the computer because I get very uptight and nervous watching Bill on the computer. I can't see what's happening, why did he hit it over there, why did he miss that putt," Haas said. "If Jay's rounds were on there, too, I'd be a basket case. I'd have to sell my computer or throw it in the trash, it would drive me nuts watching both of them."  Bill Haas (left) and Jay Haas share both a love for the game and a physical resemblance. (Condon/PGA TOUR) For most parents, "letting go" revolves around a child taking their first steps or waving goodbye as they pull the station wagon away from the college dorm. For Haas, he's had to sit on the sidelines for two of his sons as they go navigate the harrowing holes of q-school and various golf tours. He was at q-school in 2005 when Bill, then 23 and a recent graduate of Jay's alma mater Wake Forest University, birdied the final two holes in the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament to just barely secure his card for the next season. He hung around the PGA TOUR that following season, despite having status on the Champions Tour, to be a part of Bill's first year. Haas split his time between both Tours before deciding it was time to let Bill forge his own way. He was there at the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, N.C., when the father and sons played in the same tournament in 2006 after Jay Jr. qualified. But being there is all that he can do. And there comes a point when he steps back from his son's lives and hopes that they've soaked in what he's taught them. "There's stuff that I've tried to do to pass on about course management, patience, believing in yourself," Haas said. When he plays a casual round with his sons, he tries to get them to think out loud. How did they hit that shot? What were they thinking? What's the best way to attack the course? "That's kind of the way that Bob taught me. This isn't going to be the proper English, but he was a good explainer of things. He explained things very well. When he would hit a golf shot, I learned by listening and watching and I've tried to do the same thing with Jay and Bill." Like a coach on the bench, he can't take the shots for them when it comes to game time. There's really only one thing he can do. "Keep your fingers crossed," Haas said, as he turns around to continue practicing for his own week of golf. |
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