Insider: Haas hopeful third time is the charm on TOUR
By John Dell, Nationwide Tour Insider
Talk all you want about the long ball, but most players agree that what you do on the greens can make or break a season.
In the case of 34-year-old Hunter Haas, he rolled the flat stick pretty well on the Nationwide Tour last year. And because of that he'll be back on the PGA TOUR in 2011 for a third time and he says he'll be in a better frame of mind.
He ranked seven in putting average this past season on the Nationwide Tour.
"I was pleased," said the understated Haas, who quietly finished third on the money list with two victories and a putting stroke that was consistent the entire season.
What made Haas' season even more impressive was the slow start he had playing in just one tournament out of the first four. But he caught fire in August and September during a five-week span that turned what was an average season into a great one.
"Toward the middle of the year I was playing pretty well and my putting and short game came around," Haas said. "And things started clicking right around Omaha."
The hot streak started at Omaha with a tie for 11th continued with a tie for fourth in Wichita. The next week at the Price Cutter Charity Championship Haas fired rounds of 65-66-66-65 to pick up his first victory since 2006.
Later in August, he missed the cut in Knoxville -- despite having won twice there in 2004 and '06 -- and tied for 49th in Utah. But Haas won again the next week in Boise with a final-round 64.
"After my first victory, I realized I hadn't been in that position in a long time," Haas said. "From there, though, it was pretty easy to play golf for the rest of the year. It's a matter of managing your season correctly."
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Haas said that he's never lacked confidence in his seven full seasons on the Nationwide Tour, and this season was no different.
"Every year I've played on the Nationwide Tour I felt like I could win but I hadn't won out there since 2006," Haas said. "So to do it again and to do it twice means a lot. It's just hard to win out there on the Nationwide (Tour) and every year there are young and hungry guys out there or older guys trying to resurrect their careers."
Managing his season is something he hopes to do better next year on the PGA TOUR. In his first two seasons on TOUR (2001 and '05) Haas says things didn't go as planned. In those two seasons he finished 196th and 166th on the money list.
"My first year out I think I went through 13 caddies," Haas said. "If you don't have a caddie that's stable you aren't sure if the next guy has confidence in you. You want your caddie to believe you can hit the next shot so there was that and a combination of other stuff that I didn't handle too well. Maybe I was out there too soon, I don't know."
Haas, a 2000 graduate of Oklahoma where he had an outstanding career and was a three-time All-America, is looking forward to using his experience he's gained on the Nationwide Tour for next season. He has 204 career starts on the Nationwide Tour and has made more than $1.3 million.
In his 66 starts on the PGA TOUR, Haas just one top-10 finish.
"I've made my mistakes and I'll probably make more," Haas said. "I know the right things to do and the right way to act. I know the right way to treat people and do all those things and respect the game then I think I will be more productive."
Haas says that adjusting to what he calls the circus of being on the PGA TOUR isn't easy. "For some guys it comes natural to be out there on the PGA TOUR and with other guys it's hard to make the transition," Haas said.
One thing keeping him busy this off-season is an addition to the family that took place back in February. Haas and his wife, Lorie, have a 3-year-old daughter, Piper, and a 10-month-old son, Hayden.
"He's already walking at 10 months so that's keeping us very active around the house," Haas said.
Once Haas gets back out on the PGA TOUR there will likely be more confusion with the other Haas family. Jay Haas (now a Champions Tour player) and his son, Bill, have long been associated with the PGA TOUR and Hunter Haas says he is often asked whether he's related.
"It happens a lot," Haas said. "But it's funny when I see Jay he'll call me son and I'll call him dad so it's something we have kind of gotten used to."
Haas, however, does remember a few years ago when a dinner invitation was put in the wrong locker.
"I was playing at Castle Pines about six years ago and I got a note in my locker and it said 'Mr. Haas we'd like you to join us for dinner' and it was from Jim Nantz and Lance Barrow," Haas said.
To be invited by Nantz, the voice of CBS golf and Barrow, the popular CBS golf coordinating producer, was something that Haas was flattered by. The only problem was that Haas had plans to have dinner with his wife and another couple.
"Jimmy Vickers (whose brother, Jack, founded The International) told me you need to have dinner with those boys," Haas said. "Tell your wife she can go have dinner with your friends."
Haas then made his way to the dinner only to realize that the note that was left in his locker was supposed to be for Jay Haas.
"So I went up to have the dinner and Jay Haas, David Duval and Davis Love are sitting there at the table with Nantz and Barrow and it hit me that they put the note in the wrong locker," Haas said.
But Hunter Haas, being the cool customer that he was, didn't flinch. "They just said pull up a chair and join us," Haas said.
Haas is excited to get a chance to play another full season on the PGA TOUR.
"I've set some moderate goals and I need to have at least five top-10s and if that's the case then it means I'll be in the hunt," Haas said. "If I can win a tournament then that would be a big success for me."
John Dell has covered golf for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina for the last 17 years. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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