All good things must come to an end, so goes the old saying. And thus, it was on July 2 at the U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio, the course than spawned Jack Nicklaus, where Greenville’s Jay Haas saw the conclusion of one of golf’s most amazing streaks.
At age 72, the St. Louis native, but a South Carolina institution for more than 40 years, was the oldest contestant in a USGA field where the “youngsters” were 50 and up. In his opening round, Haas shot a 6-over par 76. A day later, he beat his age by two shots (even-par 70) but missed the 36-hole cut by two and was on his way home.
So what, you ask? Just this — that missed Senior Open cut was the first of Haas’ career. Before that, he was 18-for-18 at the seniors’ premier event, which started 22 years ago.
Let that sink in. As a PGA Tour Champions rookie in 2004, Haas – who won nine times on the PGA Tour – shot 10-under par to tie for third in his Senior Open debut. He’d finish in the top 10 five more times at such brutal tests as Whistling Straits, Prairie Dunes and the Broadmoor. As recently as 2022, at age 68, he shot 2-under and tied for seventh.
“I just enjoy competition,” Haas said that week at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa.. “I love to put myself against the best players on the best courses. That’s what keeps me going.”
He laughed when asked about the physical toll. “When the bell rings and the adrenaline starts flowing, then I don’t hurt as much,” he said. “When I stop playing, it feels like someone ran over me.”
Another laugh; “I definitely need to buy stock in Tylenol or Advil.”
Which begs the question: when you’re two decades older than some of the Champions competition, why aren’t you back in Greenville enjoying time with wife Jan (who makes a mean banana nut bread, by the way) and your 11 grandchildren, instead of enduring 97-degree heat at Scioto? It’s not about the money — with $34.5 million in combined PGA Tour-Champions career earnings. Haas isn’t worrying about a mortgage payment.
The answer, Haas told reporters at the Senior Open, is simple. “It’s still fun to compete,” he said. “I never lost the passion to play, the desire to try.”
That doesn’t mean every day is great. “Plenty of times like (his opening round) when I was 6-over and trying my guts out, and it just didn’t happen,” it would’ve been easy to second-guess his being there. “Fifteen years ago, I’d say (that round) was just one of those days – but at 72, it’s just another day.”
Still, Haas has never felt like his time is done. “I’ve always said I’d be the one who would go through the finish line and not know I went through it,” he said. “(I’d) just turn around and, ‘I think I made it.’”
Made it? From his first PGA Tour outing in 1976, Haas has been the consummate golf professional: always there, always competing, winning enough – nine times on the PGA Tour and 18 Champions titles – and knowing this is what he was meant to do.
The quietly confident Haas comes from championship golf stock. His uncle, Bob Goalby, won the Masters in 1968, and Jay has said his earliest memory of golf was the sound of Goalby’s solidly-struck shots.
At Wake Forest, he teamed with future two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange on what Golf World magazine dubbed “the greatest college team of all time” – and did we mention that Haas, not Strange, won the 1975 NCAA individual title?
His first PGA Tour victory came in 1978 at the then-Andy Williams San Diego Open, a three-shot decision over Andy Bean, Gene Littler and John Schroeder. Along the way, Haas would post tournament wins over such legends as Chi Chi Rodriguez, U.S. Open winner Tom Kite and old teammate Strange.
While Haas never won a major, he tried 87 times, most by any player who didn’t win one. He came close, though, with 16 top-10 majors finishes, including ties for third at the 1995 Masters and 1999 PGA Championship, and a T-4 at the 1995 U.S. Open.
Talk about longevity — his 799 PGA Tour starts is second-most ever. His 593 made cuts is No. 1. Along the way, he played in three Ryder Cup and two Presidents Cup competitions and captained the 2015 U.S. Presidents Cup team.
When age 50 arrived, Haas was just getting started. He lost by a shot to Champions Tour icon Hale Irwin at the 2004 Senior PGA Championship in his 50-plus debut.
Since, he’s played more than 380 tournaments and won three senior majors: the 2006 and 2008 Senior PGA titles and the 2009 Senior Players Championship. Who’d he beat in those events? Just guys like Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer, multiple major and Champions winners.
So yeah, Haas has held his own against his age group, but he’s not been content to do that. One year shy of 50, he shot 11-under par at the Players Championship, aka the PGA Tour’s “fifth major,” finishing second to friend and Hall of Famer Davis Love III.
And then there was 2022, when he teamed up with son Bill in the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, where the duo shot 12-under in the two-man format to tie for 36th, making Jay Haas at 68 the oldest player to make a PGA Tour cut. Nothing new: back in 2004 at the U.S. Open – the big one, not the “old guys” Open – Haas, then 50, tied for ninth.
How much longer will he keep going? It’s not like there’d be nothing for Haas to spend time doing. Already, he’s considered the Godfather of Golf in South Carolina, where the S.C. Golf Association’s top junior boy’s player each year earns the Jay Haas Award.
Not far from the family home, son Jay Jr., and others operate the Haas Family Golf Center on Greenville’s Pelham Road. “When my young sons were learning the game here, their shots (were) clanging off the roof of the lower hitting bays,” Haas senior writes on the center’s website.
“They eventually hit it past the roof, then past the first pin, and ultimately to success on the PGA Tour.” In 2011, son Bill, 44, won the Tour Championship and year-long FedExCup title, worth a total of $11 million. Good genes, indeed.
So what’s next? A clue might’ve come in May 2025, when Bill Haas competed in the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club. On his bag that week was a familiar face — his dad.
That week, Bill Haas was one of five former Jay Haas Players of the Year in the field. Asked what in his career made his proudest, Jay Haas was all about his journey.
“I think just the fact I’ve been allowed to play as long as I have,” he said. “When I first started professionally, most players at 45 or so just kind of faded away. There wasn’t a Champions Tour. So I thought if I could do that same thing, I would have a decent career and I’d figure something (else) out along the way.
“Here I’m 70 (then) and I’m still trying to play some on the Champions Tour. It’s been kind of a dream. … (Golf) has been such a huge part of my life and our family’s life. I’m just blessed to still be doing this.”
Chances are that will continue, in some shape or form. There will be future Jay Haas Players of the Year to inspire. “I love to see where the game is going and the young players of today,” Haas said that week. A chuckle: “It’s pretty fantastic.”
For Haas, it’s pretty timeless, too.