Bill Haas Wins Humana Challenge

By City News Service:

Bill Haas won the $5.7 million Humana Challenge Sunday, overcoming a disappointing drive to par the 18th hole at the Arnold Palmer Private Course at PGA West to avoid a six-man playoff.

Haas hit his drive on the 543-yard 18th hole 286 yards into the right rough.

“I was doing everything I could to not go left, so what do you do? You go right,” Haas said after completing his round of five-under-par 67 to finish at 22-under par 266 for the tournament.

“I could see it from the tee where it ended up, and I was shocked. I thought, ‘What a bad break.’ But then I just said, ‘Well, it wasn’t a good shot, so you got to deal with it.”’

Haas said his drive made the second shot “pretty key.” He took what he called an “educated guess,” using an eight iron and a punchout-baseball swing to hit it 82 yards into the left fairway, 169 yards from the hole.

Haas also used his eight iron for his third shot, which left him 20 feet from the hole. He tapped in his second putt to become the seventh player to win the tournament at least twice.

“If you would have told me I would have done this last week, I would have laughed at you, so to be here is an unbelievable feeling,” said Haas, who also won in 2010, when it was known as the Bob Hope Classic. Haas’ father Jay won the tournament in 1988.

Haas said he “didn’t feel sharp coming into” the tournament because he hadn’t played competitively since tying for 48th in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai Nov. 6-9, when his play prompted him to think, “I need a break” and time to heal an injured wrist.

Former President Bill Clinton presented Haas with the Bob Hope Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the tournament champion. Clinton’s foundation is a tournament sponsor.

Haas earned $1.026 million for his sixth PGA Tour victory and first since the 2013 AT&T National.

Sharing second, at 21-under par 267, were Brendan Steele, who was born in Idyllwild and raised in Hemet and graduated from Hemet High School and UC Riverside; fellow Americans Charley Hoffman, Kuchar and Steve Wheatcroft and South Korean Sung Joon Park. They each received $342,000.

Haas moved into sole possession of the lead with a birdie on the par- four 16th hole.

Rookie Justin Thomas, playing in the final threesome with Haas, moved into a share of the lead with Haas and Matt Kuchar with back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. However, Thomas hit his drive on the par-four 16th hole into the water and had a double-bogey on the hole.

Kuchar, playing two groups ahead of Haas, missed a 12-foot, 4-inch birdie putt on the par-five 18th that would have given him a share of the lead.

Haas parred the par-four 17th, putting him in position to win the tournament with a par on the 18th.

Haas is the tournament’s all-time money leader, with $2,808,815.

The Humana Challenge’s closeness prompted Haas to say it was his first tournament he knew “that if I dump one in the water, I go from winning to finishing 10th maybe.”

“I just tried to stay focused,” Haas said. “Those last four holes get your attention on every shot. If you execute, they can be easy holes; but, as I proved on 18, if you don’t execute, you can make a mess of them.”

Haas was among four golfers who entered the round tied for the lead along with two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton, Thomas and first- round leader Michael Putnam.

Haas bogeyed the par-three third, birdied the par-four fourth, had an eagle on the par-five sixth and a birdie on the par-four eighth, completing the front nine in three-under-par 33. He also had a birdie on the par-five 11th.

Compton shot a two-under-par 70 Sunday to finish in a four-way tie for 10th, three shots off the lead. Thomas birdied the 18th for a three-under-par 69, finishing in a three-way tie for seventh, two shots off the lead. Putnam shot an even-par 72 to finish in a five-way tie for 15th, five shots off the lead.