Bill Haas was born and raised in South Carolina – and still lives there, too. But these days, he’s certainly proving comfortable in southern California.
Haas’ first PGA TOUR victory came a year ago last week at the Bob Hope Classic in the Palm Springs area. It’s a tournament his father, Jay, also happened to have won.
The younger Haas is making a bid to follow in his dad’s footsteps this week at the Farmers Insurance Open, too. He’s currently 2 under through eight holes on the South Course at Torrey Pines which puts him 7 under for the tournament and three shots off the lead.
Four years before Bill was born, Jay had picked up the first of his nine victories on the PGA TOUR at the 1978 Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational. A decade later, the elder Haas was the runner-up there by a shot to Steve Pate.
Haas, who earned the first two wins of his career in 2010, isn’t troubled by comparisons to his father. who has gone on to win 14 times on the Champions Tour and two Charles Schwab Cups. Haas also holds the TOUR’s cuts-made mark of 592.
"I don’t think I have to live up to it, no," Bill said. "I think the bar he set with his career is very high. If I have half the career he’s had, I’ll be happy. I’m just trying to play well. If you hit it good and you make some putts, you can compete out here."
Someone suggested that if Bill had half the career his father did he’d probably have twice the money.
"Exactly," Bill said. "I mean, we don’t play for the money, but it is nice. I mean, we do play for the money, but obviously you want to have the finishes and cuts-made record. … People don’t realize how hard he worked and how good of a career he had.
"So, yeah, if I can play 15 years out here, he played 30 and he’s still going, 30 something years. So I’m just happy to be out here." — Helen Ross
Way to go Bill.
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