Bill Haas Didn't Know He Won The FedExCup When He Won The FedExCup
/It's hard to imagine that Bill Haas was unaware that he won the $10 million FedExCup. After all, have you seen the PGA Tour's electronic scoreboards? You can get FedExCup standings, but apparently in September when it matters, information was tough to come by! (Maybe not surprising since you may recall I've written about how tough it is to get scores in between the ads, player info and other stuff on the video boards.)
The final round highlights include Haas' brilliant playoff recovery shot from the 17th hole lake but do not capture the bizarre moment Haas talked about in his post round press conference.
Q. Could you clarify when you actually did find out that you had not only won the $1.44 but the 10 mill? And did you fall out of your chair?
BILL HAAS: Well, we went up and did some TV interviews up in the grandstands there on 18 and both trophies were there and there was no other player, (laughter), so I kind of assumed and I looked at my wife and she was there, and she nodded her head. So that was when I realized.
I saw Tim Finchem, I said, I didn't know I had won this, and he was like, congratulations, you won both. That's what he said, both are for you.
The scribblers in attendance weren't buying his claim.
Q. Two-part question: How is it possible that you didn't know you were playing for $10 million?
BILL HAAS: Well, I knew I was playing for it, but even winning it --
Q. No, that the playoff was for the -- when you teed off in the playoff, you did not know you were playing for the FedExCup title and the $10 million?
BILL HAAS: Uh-uh.
Q. How is that possible?
BILL HAAS: I didn't ask, and nobody told me and nobody --
LAURA HILL: Bill, come on now.
BILL HAAS: Well, I knew if I won, that was the only way I could win the FedExCup. If I finished second, I knew I couldn't win the FedExCup. So in theory I knew I was playing for it. I'm not going to sit there and say, well, it's not a million on the line here, there's $11 million, let's put some more pressure on it, because it's not worth it. It's not worth that stress. I was just trying to win that golf tournament. And actually even more than that, I was trying to hit good shots in the moment, and even though I did it some of the time, I still was trying to stay not thinking about what's going to happen if this doesn't come off. I was just trying to hit each shot, and now it just fell that way. It's awesome.
Q. The second question is if you did know you were playing for the $10 million in the playoff, would there have been more pressure?BILL HAAS: I don't know, because like you said, I knew $11 million was on the line somehow, whether Luke Donald won it or Webb Simpson won it or I won it, it was there, so that was in my head. When I was putting for that 4-footer to win, it was just to win the TOUR Championship, knowing that was all I could do.
The highlights, including the shot on 17 and the final putt: