Curtis Strange - "Jay Haas Had IT" SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to pull.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Yeah, you had a great team. Uh Golf World labeled that team at one point the greatest of all times. You named some of the teammates that you had, but uh quite a record with back-to-back titles in 74 and 75. I'll tell you a quick little story about Jay Haas because he and I grew up sort of in the same part of uh southern Illinois. So he was at Belleville West and I was over in a little town called Salem. So when we got to regional before you know you went on to to state, uh, which was played up in Champaign, uh we'd normally see each other, and he was uh what is he, a year or two ahead of us?

SPEAKER_02 0:50

He's uh no, he's a year ahead of us, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 0:52

Yeah, yeah. So I think he might have been a junior and I was a sophomore. And and I th uh I I th we either got paired together, I was one group behind him, but I remember in Millstad, Illinois, right outside of Belleville where he grew up, we had our regional tournament, and he shot a smooth little 65 like it was nothing. Made every putt. And you know, I probably fired an 82 or an 83. And back then, you know, I'm thinking, what a little nine-hole course. I'm thinking I'm pretty good. And I came off the golf course that day and I said, Okay, I ain't gonna be a golfer.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Well, Jay is is, you know, I always like to think that you know, there's a lot of good golfers out there, and those who have it, it define it, I'm not quite sure, but it's that sixth sense to be able to play your particular sport. Jay had it. Jay has that ability to you throw him anything round, and he can either juggle, kick, throw, shoot. He had that it and to play sports, and not a big guy, and um and and not long, although he became longer as as he got older with the new equipment. But uh he just had and he just had it, and he enjoyed to compete in his mild manner way, and he's still playing quality golf at 67 years old on the champions tour. And you know, like I said earlier, I admire guys that stayed in the game because it burnt me up. Um and I went into TV at uh in my early to mid-40s. But uh uh it uh I admire those guys, Langer and and and Jay and and and uh Sheefs, I mean Trevino and Watson, the ones that stayed in the game and had kept that competitive edge, because it's hard. Um it's hard because you're given so much every single day, and you can't just do it part-time and do it well. You have to do it darn near every day. And uh uh that that's a that's a gift.

Mike Gonzalez 2:48

We hope you've enjoyed this short track of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 3:09

Smack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it started to slice, just smidge off line. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddies, as long as you're still in the state, you're okay.