HUALALAI, Hawaii >> Two years ago, Jay Haas was at the top of his game, with 17 top-10 finishes in 21 Champions Tour events.
But as kind as 2014 was for Haas, 2015 was equally cruel. Due in part to a bad back, Haas had more errant shots than the 62-year-old cared to count. The result was one top-10 last year and enough frustration to go around the Haas family tree.
That’s why Saturday’s final-round 65 and a tie for fourth place at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai had Haas with a big smile spreading across his face as he and Fred Couples exited the scorer’s tent. He’s not predicting 17 top-10s that led to only two rounds over par for the coming campaign, but this week’s 14-under effort has him once more believing in the game he loves.
“I had some back injuries, but frankly, I wasn’t swinging well or playing good golf,” Haas said of his worst effort on the senior circuit. “I got into the wrong swing patterns, whatever, bad back. I couldn’t fake it around and just played terribly. I pretty much got what I deserved. It wasn’t bad breaks or that kind of thing.”
Haas managed a top 10 at the Allianz Championship — the first full-field event on the Champions Tour — last year, but quickly faded from view. He has 17 Champions Tour wins, including three majors, and nine victories on the PGA Tour, so he’s used to being in the winner’s circle.
His last first-place finish was at the Greater Hickory Kia Classic in October 2014. And as he said on Saturday, you never know when that last victory in a career will come by.
“I’m a little healthier now, but I don’t know if I’m healthy enough to win again,” Haas said. “I’m swinging better and I’ve got better things to think about. What I did this week was encouraging.”
Langer may switch putting stroke
Bernhard Langer got better as the week progressed, finishing with a solid 67 Saturday and a tie for eighth at 12-under 204.
Langer was the only senior in the field to stick with the long putter after the USGA ruled that 2015 was the last year you could anchor the putter to your body. His method this week was practice putting with it anchored to his body, then move the top of the putter just inches away and then make the stroke.
He had 32 putts on Thursday, 30 on Friday and only 27 in Saturday’s final round. Not that the defending Schwab Cup winner puts too much stock in that in just one tournament. Langer said it’s a mixture of greens in regulation and putting that he’s most concerned about. So much so, he might change what he did this week with the long putter at the next event in Florida and adopt the Matt Kuchar method of having the flat stick anchored to your arm, instead of your belly.
“I played all right for the most part, a little rust here and there,” Langer said. “The last two days were better putting-wise. I didn’t make much the first day. It was OK. I can still improve upon it, but it was OK.
“I don’t know if I will stay with this method. I have 10 days off to try other things and see if that’s better. The one I will most likely end up with is the style Matt Kuchar uses. But we will see.”
Inside the numbers
The scoring average for Saturday’s final round was a solid 69.887, with the easiest hole being the par-5 fourth and a tie for the hardest between the par-3 eighth and the par-4 ninth.
The scoring average for No. 4 was a stellar 4.233, with three eagles, 27 birdies and 13 pars. The par-3 yielded a scoring average of 3.233, with two birdies, 31 pars, eight bogeys and two doubles. On No. 9, the scoring average was 4.233, with four birdies, 25 pars and 14 bogeys.
For the tournament, the scoring average was 69.916. Runner-up Tom Lehman had his fourth eagle of the event, tying a record held by a dozen golfers. The last to do it were Jay Don Blake and Rocco Mediate in 2013 at the Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary.
