Champions Tour Insider: Haas thrilled to be assistant

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Caryn Levy/PGA TOUR

Tiger Woods (left), Jay Haas (center) and former President Bill Clinton chat at The Presidents Cup.

Jay Haas remembers when it all started.

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"It was at the AmEx tournament in Ireland," Haas said. "It was just after the U .S. team got waxed again (in the Ryder Cup). We were just talking about how this works, why we got beat. It was dinner conversation, with eight or 10 people at a big table."

Fred Couples was at the table with Haas, and the conversation turned to future prospects.

"Freddie said, 'If I'm ever the captain, Jay-bird is my assistant," Haas said. "And I said, "If I get it, Freddie, you can be my assistant captain, too. I guess we didn't think it was ever going to happen."

But it has happened.

Couples is captain of the United States' Presidents Cup team for this week's competition against the International Team at Harding Park Golf Course. Haas is his assistant.

"I've been looking forward to it for a year," said Haas, who these days is a one of the Champions Tour's signature stars and won last week's Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, his second straight victory.

An assistant captain's role in these international team golf competitions is loosely-defined. Haas is quite happy to go along with that approach. He's ready to do "just whatever Fred needs."

Haas has discussed the assistant captain's role with another top Champions Tour player, Jeff Sluman, who has been the right-hand man for Jack Nicklaus in this biennial competition.

"Jeff said whatever you need to do, you do it," Haas said. "Be visible, be invisible. Whatever situation calls. I'm sure Fred and I will have many hours together. If he needs a Diet Coke, I'll go get it. Fred jokingly said he was captain but I was going to do everything. It's going to be a ton of fun.

"Hopefully my role will be important and I won't just be there holding a walkie-talkie. I will be another ear. The players can talk to me and tell me they want to do this, or don't want to do that."

Certainly, Haas will provide much more pivotal input. He has played in the Ryder Cup three times, most recently in 2004 at Oakland Hills Country Club where he was a captain's choice by Hal Sutton.

Levy/Getty Images

Jay Haas (left) stands with Captain Fred Couples.

The Americans were beaten at the Monster by a record margin. It was a month after that defeat that the World Golf Championship-American Express Championship convened at Mount Juliet in Kilkenny, Ireland. That's the occasion on which Couples and Haas made their pact.

Haas has also appeared in the Presidents Cup twice as a competitor, at the inaugural event in 1994 and again in 2003. His overall record is 5-3-1 and 2-0 in singles, the Sunday victories coming over Mark McNulty 4-and-3 in 1994 and over Stephen Leaney by the same score in 2003.

Haas has a wealth of knowledge in the intricacies and nuances of match play and international competition. He will be invaluable in helping Couples sort out pairings, a key element to success at The Presidents Cup. At the Ryder Cup, the pairings are a blind draw. At The Presidents Cup, captains must maneuver to get the best possible match-ups.

"You want certain match-ups and you try to make that happen," Haas said. "Fred has been out there playing. He knows the players and he knows how they're playing. I know about half the guys so I'm comfortable with that.

"I think Fred has some gut feelings (on pairings). We're very close to being on the same page."

Haas played for Ryder Cup captains Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins and Hal Sutton. At The Presidents Cup, his captains were Nicklaus and Hale Irwin.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't see a whole lot of difference in any of them," Haas said. "They were all great. I'm so excited to be on one of those teams whatever they tell me to do, I'm going to do.

"The ideal captain? Ideally, the guys would like to have a leader, want to have someone tell them what to do. Sometimes a captain can be too laid back, too casual. The perception is we're all individuals and we've done this for years, we'll prepare on our own and all this stuff. What Paul Azinger did at the Ryder Cup last year, everybody enjoyed that immensely.

"There is a nice mix to being a leader, telling people what to do and what you want to see done, and saying, 'Let's have fun and, darn it, we want to win this thing, too. That's the best way to do it."