Masters is a family tradition for Bill Haas

Bill Haas is keeping a family tradition going at the Mas­ters Tournament.

His great-uncle, Bob Goalby, played in 27 Masters and won the green jacket in 1968. Bill’s father, Jay, played in 22 Masters and had three top-five finishes, including a third in 1995. And Bill’s uncle, Jer­ry, played in the 1985 Mas­ters and tied for 31st place.

“It’s my favorite major,” Bill Haas said of the Masters, which is a two-hour drive from his hometown of Green­ville, S.C. “I enjoy the course and have good feelings there. It’s obviously special for me because it’s the one major I watched my dad play. My dad’s had success there and came close to winning. It’s the one I enjoy the most. I have lots of friends and family come.”

His father, who won nine times on the PGA Tour and has 17 Champions Tour wins, is one of those. He has followed his son during tournament and practice rounds from outside the ropes.

“The last couple of years we’ve stayed together and we like to go through the round and talk about, ‘Aw, man, you hit it good here even though you didn’t make birdie,’” Bill Haas said. “Never once has he said, ‘Man oh man, was that a bad shot there.’ He usually picks the good stuff and tries to motivate me for the next day. That helps me. That’s probably one reason I’ve done well there. If I could have him at every tournament following me, I think that would help me play better.”

Haas has also gotten tips from Goalby.

“He certainly has had some pearls of wisdom that maybe I don’t even know from him that trickled down,” said Haas, who has finished in the top 20 at the Mas­­ters the past three years. “Some­times, I wish both of them could hit shots for me because that’s a hard golf course.”

It didn’t seem hard to Haas in the first round of the 2014 Masters when he shot 68 and was the leader. He followed that with 78, then closed with 74-70 on the weekend to tie for 20th.

“If I do it again I won’t have as many nerves,” Haas said of being the first-round leader. “The second round I didn’t have a good score, but I remember I played OK. The first day, every 6-footer I needed to make I made, and the next day every 6-footer I needed to make I didn’t make. It’s something you have to focus on that week is try to get as comfortable as you can with the putter in your hand.”

Haas showed he can handle pressure when he won the Hu­ma­na Challenge in 2015 and later in the year played a starring role on the U.S. Presidents Cup team, which was captained by his father.

Haas just missed being one of the 10 players who automatically qualified for the Presidents Cup competition. He was 11th, and his father made him a captain’s pick. He also had enough
confidence in his son to have him anchor the final day of play, which were singles matches.

Haas beat Sangmoon Bae 1-up as the U.S. beat the In­ter­na­tional team 15.5 to 14.5.

“I felt pressure because I was the last match on the course,” Haas said, not because he’d been a captain’s pick.

“Once he makes the pick, I felt like I earned a spot,” said Haas, who went 1-1-1. “I was No. 11. I think 11 of the first 12 captain’s picks (in Presidents Cup history), No. 11 got picked. Once you’re on the team, not one player in the team room or my dad or any of the assistants made me feel like a pick. They made me feel part of the team. I was lucky in that respect.”

Handling the pressure the way he did could eventually serve Haas well at Augusta National.

“Under the gun, you’ve hit some quality shots,” he said. “If I come down the stretch on Sunday at Augusta, you have to tell yourself you’ve done this before and trust yourself.”