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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, May 26, 2008

Haas chases off demons with title

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Jay Haas

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As Jay Haas approached the 18th tee at Oak Hill Country Club with a one-shot lead during the final round of the 69th Senior PGA Championship yesterday, it felt eerily like the 1995 Ryder Cup all over again.

Same stingy East Course, same familiar pressure. And here was Haas' opportunity not to rewrite history exactly, but to make up for a memory that has troubled him since.

"I kind of had a chuckle with myself on the 18th tee, like, 'Well, you've been talking about this. It's time to put up or shut up,' " Haas said. "You talk about ripping it and all that stuff and, damn, if I didn't do it."

Did he ever.

Haas hit a perfect drive into the middle of the fairway and closed with a 2-foot putt for par to clinch his second Senior PGA title in three years with a final-round 4-over 74 to finish at 7-over 287, one shot better than Bernhard Langer. Haas won his 11th Champions Tour event and claimed the $360,000 first prize of the $2 million tournament.

Just as important, this was a finish that was far better than what happened 13 years ago, when Haas drove his tee shot into the trees and settled for bogey to lose the singles match to Philip Walton, giving up the decisive point in the European team's comeback 14 1/2-13 1/2 win over the United States.

"I exorcised some demons," Haas said. "If I could've played those two shots (today) in 1995 ... we probably would've won the Cup that year or tied it or whatever."

Langer, a member of that European team, also remembered 1995, and graciously congratulated Haas for his victory.

"I said, 'Well done and well-deserved,' " Langer said. "And he said, 'You know, there was one guy after the Ryder Cup that came over and said some nice words to me.' And he meant me. ... It was a pleasure playing with him."

Yardage: 7,001.

Par: 70.

x-denotes PGA Club Professional.

Jay Haas, $360,000 69-72-72-74—287.

Bernhard Langer, $216,000 71-71-70-76—288.

Scott Hoch, $102,666.67 71-74-72-72—289.

Joey Sindelar, $102,666.67 76-69-72-72—289.

Scott Simpson, $102,666.67 76-71-69-73—289.

Don Pooley, $62,000 75-73-72-70—290.

Ron Streck, $62,000 76-71-72-71—290.

Greg Norman, $62,000 72-73-72-73—290.

Vicente Fernandez, $50,000 74-75-73-69—291.

Gene Jones, $50,000 76-74-72-69—291.

Jeff Sluman, $50,000 70-73-70-78—291.

Tom Purtzer, $42,000 73-67-81-71—292.

Craig Stadler, $36,000 75-70-76-72—293.

Andy Bean, $36,000 73-72-74-74—293.

Tom Kite, $36,000 75-71-71-76—293.

David Eger, $23,375 72-78-74-70—294.

Tom Watson, $23,375 78-69-75-72—294.

Bruce Fleisher, $23,375 78-67-76-73—294.

Tim Simpson, $23,375 71-73-76-74—294.

Ian Woosnam, $23,375 71-76-73-74—294.

John Cook, $23,375 73-75-72-74—294.

Eduardo Romero, $23,375 71-77-71-75—294.

x-Bill Britton, $23,375 70-74-72-78—294.

Kiyoshi Murota, $16,500 75-72-75-73—295.

Mark O'Meara, $16,500 76-66-77-76—295.

Bob Cameron, $13,875 72-73-81-70—296.

James D. Mason, $13,875 76-71-78-71—296.

John Harris, $13,875 72-78-73-73—296.

Denis Watson, $13,875 72-74-74-76—296.

Joe Ozaki, $11,750 71-79-77-70—297.

Bruce Vaughan, $11,750 77-70-76-74—297.

Mark Wiebe, $11,750 74-72-77-74—297.

Keith Fergus, $11,750 71-74-75-77—297.

John Ross, $8,700 75-77-78-68—298.

Des Smyth, $8,700 74-70-80-74—298.

John Jacobs, $8,700 71-80-74-73—298.

Bob Gilder, $8,700 73-73-77-75—298.

Sam Torrance, $8,700 76-74-73-75—298.

Nick Job, $8,700 72-76-75-75—298.

Kirk Hanefeld, $8,700 71-74-77-76—298.

Katsuyoshi Tomori, $8,700 75-77-70-76—298.

Mike Goodes, $8,700 72-73-75-78—298.

Sandy Lyle, $6,600 76-76-74-73—299.

Gil Morgan, $6,600 78-74-71-76—299.

David Edwards, $6,600 76-73-73-77—299.

Jim Ahern, $5,700 83-68-76-73—300.

David Ogrin, $5,700 75-72-78-75—300.

x-Jim Woodward, $5,700 72-74-75-79—300.

Loren Roberts, $4,725 78-74-76-73—301.

Tom McKnight, $4,725 76-76-75-74—301.

x-Perry Arthur, $4,725 77-73-76-75—301.

Chip Beck, $4,725 73-75-76-77—301.

D.A. Weibring, $4,225 76-74-80-72—302.

Tom Jenkins, $4,225 75-71-84-72—302.

Lonnie Nielsen, $4,225 81-70-78-73—302.

Mike Hulbert, $4,225 80-72-76-74—302.

Allen Doyle, $4,225 76-74-77-75—302.

Bobby Wadkins, $4,225 76-75-73-78—302.

Juan Quiros, $4,000 77-74-75-77—303.

x-Robert Thompson, $4,000 73-76-77-77—303.

Massy Kuramoto, $4,000 73-68-80-82—303.

Wayne Levi, $3,875 73-76-82-73—304.

Dave Eichelberger, $3,875 77-74-79-74—304.

Jim Chancey, $3,875 76-71-82-75—304.

Mark James, $3,875 79-73-76-76—304.

x-Gary Robison, $3,875 75-73-79-77—304.

Walter Hall, $3,762.50 73-78-80-74—305.

Rod Spittle, $3,762.50 76-74-79-76—305.

x-David Lundstrom, $3,762.50 78-74-77-76—305.

Mike Reid, $3,762.50 78-74-77-76—305.

Hajime Meshiai, $3,637.50 78-74-80-74—306.

Tom Wargo, $3,637.50 76-76-78-76—306.

Jim Thorpe, $3,637.50 74-77-79-76—306.

Rick Karbowski, $3,637.50 77-72-78-79—306.

Costantino Rocca, $3,637.50 75-76-76-79—306.

x-Darrell Kestner, $3,637.50 76-70-79-81—306.

Bill Longmuir, $3,500 76-74-82-77—309.

Roy Vucinich, $3,500 78-72-82-77—309.

x-Freddy Gibson, $3,500 77-75-82-75—309.

x-Mike Barge, $3,500 72-80-80-77—309.

Gordon J. Brand, $3,500 73-77-79-80—309.

Danny Edwards, $3,425 77-72-85-77—311.

x-Bill Loeffler, $3,400 76-76-85-76—313.

x-Scott Spence, $3,375 74-78-82-82—316.

$650,000 MELWOOD PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY OPEN

At Mitchellville, Md.

The Country Club at Woodmore.

Yardage: 7,059.

Par: 72.

Jeff Klauk, $117,000 64-70-73-69—276.

Jeff Brehaut, $57,200 73-65-72-67—277.

David Mathis, $57,200 74-67-66-70—277.

Scott Gutschewski, $26,867 68-70-71-69—278.

Craig Bowden, $26,867 73-67-69-69—278.

Greg Chalmers, $26,867 73-70-65-70—278.

Ricky Barnes, $20,963 75-63-70-71—279.

Gary Christian, $20,963 70-70-68-71—279.

Roger Tambellini, $16,900 74-67-69-70—280.

David Hearn, $16,900 68-69-71-72—280.

Matt Weibring, $16,900 66-70-71-73—280.

Chad Ginn, $16,900 70-65-72-73—280.

Bill Lunde, $13,000 70-68-71-72—281.

Tripp Isenhour, $13,000 70-69-70-72—281.

Chris Parra, $11,050 69-73-72-68—282.

Paul Gow, $11,050 71-72-70-69—282.

J.J. Killeen, $11,050 68-71-72-71—282.

John Kimbell, $7,911 73-64-78-68—283.

Andrew Buckle, $7,911 71-72-70-70—283.

Spike McRoy, $7,911 73-71-69-70—283.

Kris Blanks, $7,911 69-72-71-71—283.

Steve Wheatcroft, $7,911 70-69-72-72—283.

Jon Turcott, $7,911 69-71-71-72—283.

Fran Quinn, $7,911 76-66-68-73—283.

Also:

Keoke Cotner, $2,860 77-67-72-71—287.

$7 MILLION BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

At Virginia Water, England.

The West Course at Wentworth.

Yardage: 7,320.

Par: 72.

x-won on second playoff hole.

x-Miguel-Angel Jimenez 70-67-72—68—277.

Oliver Wilson 70-66-73-68—277.

Luke Donald 72-69-73-65—279.

Robert Karlsson 66-69-70-74—279.

Jyoti Randhawa 73-68-69-70—280.

Retief Goosen 76-69-70-66—281.

Alexander Noren 75-68-71-67—281.

Richard Green 70-69-73-69—281.

Andres Romero 72-69-73-67—281.

Steve Webster 71-70-72-69—282.

Simon Khan 71-71-71-69—282.

Soren Kjeldsen 71-65-76-70—282.

Alejandro Canizares 72-66-74-70—282.

Paul Casey 71-68-73-70—282.

Paul McGinley 65-66-79-72—282.

Oliver Fisher 71-73-69-70—283.

Peter Hanson 72-71-70-70—283.

Felipe Aguilar 71-67-74-71—283.

Martin Kaymer 71-70-71-71—283.

Gary Orr 70-68-73-72—283.

Daniel Vancsik 68-70-72-73—283.