He’s not exactly the Twitter type, and his wardrobe trends toward navy and khaki rather than hot pink, electric blue and lime green.
So Bill Haas understands. He knows that players like Rickie Fowler and Anthony Kim epitomize the PGA TOUR’s New Breed marketing campaign more than he does, and that’s fine with him.
But if the 28-year-old keeps playing the way he is right now, Haas will be increasingly hard to ignore. The former Wake Forest All-American, who has one win and last week’s playoff loss over his last four starts, is currently leading the Farmers Insurance Open.
Haas shot a 66 on the South Course Friday to move to 11 under and two strokes ahead of Kim. Fowler, meanwhile, is tied for third — three strokes off the pace — with Bubba Watson, Fredrik Jacobson, Hunter Mahan, Ben Crane, John Daly and Phil Mickelson.
"I think I’m definitely comfortable with where I stand," Haas said. "I think the players that are getting the publicity do back it up. I think Rickie Fowler who maybe hasn’t won, but he shows that he can win. He’s that good, and I’m happy with that. He handles that well. He wears the bright orange on Sunday, and wears the flat bill hat. It works for him.
"I’m 28, but bald. I don’t look 20 something. I can’t really pull off that look, so I’m happy with the regular slacks and solid colored shirts and flying under the radar as you say. Just trying to let my clubs do a little more talking than they’ve done in the past."
Haas, who won twice on TOUR last year, made eight birdies and two bogeys on the South Course Friday. He hit just five fairways and nine greens but his flat stick carried him through with just 24 putts.
Haas made it look relatively easy despite a bogey on the 11th hole, his second of the day., He responded with three straight birdies — and eight in a 13-hole stretch — to pull away.
"Birdieing 12, probably one of the hardest holes out here kind of righted the ship," Haas said. "Birdied the next hole, birdied 13 and then hit a nice shot on 14 and made birdie there. So all of a sudden I was 2 under.
“I think any time you’re playing the South, if you get off to a good start and get a couple under, it makes you feel a little better about the place."
Haas has a solid, although not spectacular, record at Torrey Pines. He has played in the Farmers Insurance Open six times, missing just one cut but a tie for 11th is his highest finish.
That could change, of course, on Sunday.
"Obviously, I put myself in that position again to have a nice 36 on the weekend could turn this into a great week," Haas said. "So I feel good about it. I feel good about my game. Played really well the first couple of tournaments.
"I don’t know. I think no matter what happens this weekend, I just want to play solid golf. If I go out and shoot a pair of 75s, I’ll be disappointed. But if I go out and just shoot, even if somebody catches and beats me, just if I can go out and shoot decent rounds, I’ll be happy with that."
Helen Ross
