CT Insider: Winning is about more than trophies, money

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Bill Haas is congratulated by his dad, Jay, after winning his first PGA TOUR victory.

Competition is about winning and losing but there are times when the lines can be blurred and the ultimate prize isn't necessarily what it appears to be.

Nick Price and Mark O'Meara won the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf last week, and deservedly so, but nobody can say Ken Green and Mike Reid didn't come out as winners, too.

There will be only one winner on the golf course this week in Mississippi in the inaugural Gulf Resort Classic but look around the area, at the enthusiasm generated by the new Champions Tour event and money it will raise for local charities, and it's clear there will be many winners.

Next week on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Jay Haas, 56, will be a longshot against the youngsters. He knows that better than anyone. But don't think for a minute he won't feel like a champion walking the same fairways with his son, Bill, as they achieve something that's never been done before at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Green became the first recorded amputee to tee it up in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event at the Legends of Golf. Green and Reid finished in a tie for 26th. For Green, 51, a man determined to take however many baby steps he needs to return to the Champions Tour, it was a giant leap.

"I don't know if I could possibly express what this has done for me personally in terms of getting hope again -- I hate to say this, but getting hope for life," Green said.

"If I start talking about it, I'm probably going to end up bawling, so I'm trying to say the right things without losing it."

Losing it? Not a chance. Green, on one good leg, has started the long walk back to where he wants to be.

And then there's Reid. What he won in Savannah isn't measured by dollar signs. It's measured by the standards of compassion and decency.

"For Mike to give this week for me was something I'll never ever forget," Green said. "He's playing so well. If he had another player that wasn't, quote, in the midst of trying to regroup ...."

What Reid found discovered is the level of Green's commitment.

"I think I underestimated maybe how much he loves the game because for him to be here and from my perspective seeing not only the awkwardness, but the pain he had to deal with, it's just a measure of how much he loves the game," Reid said.

"He inspired all of us, but I had the best seat in the house. He was not a load, believe me. I mean he was hitting a lot of good shots, great short game. I was really impressed."

And then Reid said it all.

"When you make a living at this game, you sort of like to think that you have an idea where the ball's going to go," he said of Green. "To have all of that erased, which in effect is what has to have happened and to reinvent everything on the fly and get out there and do what he did.

"It's not going to register as a win in the tournament, but it's a win."

Jay Haas qualified for THE PLAYERS by winning the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship last year. Bill's breakthrough victory on the PGA TOUR came at the Bob Hope Classic in January. It will be the first time a father and son combination has teed it up together in THE PLAYERS.

"I'm looking forward to getting back playing with Bill in the same event," Jay said. "I'm looking forward to being out there on the range with him.

"I think more and more you're going to see it. The sport lends itself to that. Just the fact that here I'm 56 years old and I'm still doing that. It is a charm of the sport. I've been blessed in the fact that I got into this sport and was successful at it and was able to do it as long as I have here."

A few years ago, Jay Haas played with his sons Bill and Jay Jr., at Quail Hollow.

"Any time we can do that is an unbelievable thrill for me," Jay said. "Then to see the maturity of Bill on the course and how he's handled himself and how his game has improved, I get a big charge out of it."

Jay Haas will be the underdog to his son at THE PLAYERS. That's fine with Jay.

"I told them every time we played, 'I want you guys to beat me every single time we go out but I will never make it easy,'" Jay said. "I will never give it to you because then it won't be as satisfying to you."

Father and son remember the first time Bill beat the old man.

"I want to say it was '98 or '99, something like that," Jay said. "And I remember Bill saying, 'Well, that didn't count. You didn't play all that good.' I said, 'No, that counts because I tried my butt off on every shot, and you just clipped me.'

"For a while, I would get the best of him and then it was kind of even, and now, I don't think I give it much of an effort anymore because it's kind of a losing battle."

It's easy to see that's where and how the line between winning and losing can be blurred.

Champions Tour Insider notes: The Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic is the eighth of 26 official events on the 2010 schedule and the first of three new events. The others: The Montreal Championship and the New Songdo City Championship in South Korea.

• Jodie Mudd and Bobby Clampett will make their debuts this week. They celebrated their 50th birthdays a day apart last week -- Clampett on April 22, Mudd the next day.

• The winner of the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic will get a unique 14-inch trophy that is a replica of the restored Biloxi Lighthouse. Built in 1848, the 65-foot cast-iron lighthouse is located on Highway 90 and was recently re-opened for visitors after a 13-month renovation following Hurricane Katrina.