Haas denied of being first repeat champion

NEWPORT BEACH — After 25 holes of golf Sunday at the Newport Beach Country Club, Jay Haas was not downtrodden.

True, Haas couldn’t quite defend his Toshiba Classic title, losing in the seventh playoff hole to Bernhard Langer after Haas couldn’t make a bouncing, three-foot birdie putt that broke right on No. 18. Haas’ previous shot, from the rough off the left side of the green, nearly won him the title before lipping out.

“It was a little firm, but not that bad,” Haas said of his third shot at the par-five, onto the green. “Coming from back there [in the rough], it’s pretty sticky going in there. It’s easy to leave that chip short. I was being aggressive with it ... but I still should have made that putt. We should still be going out there on the fifth time to No. 16, or however many times we played that hole.”

Still, for Haas, it was easy to feel positive after his final-round score of 65, the second time in three days he had shot six-under par. The rally enabled Haas, who earned $149,600 for the second-place finish, to catch Langer at 14-under as the playoff began. Haas, playing two groups ahead of Langer, was leading before Langer sunk a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation.

Both players were two-under par in the playoff until Langer made the putt that Haas couldn’t match. Langer’s winning tap-in from a foot out was preceded by a 42-foot putt that put the German in a good position.

“I made a lot of nice putts today early,” Haas said. “The 17th hole in regulation and that last one there, those were the only short ones all week that I really missed ... I really played well this week. I hit a lot of good drives.”

“The 17th” referred to when Haas played the hole in Sunday’s regulation play. He got his tee shot on the green, but on the front of the green. His first putt, uphill, went past the hole and wide left, then Haas couldn’t make a four-foot putt for par.

No. 17 was statistically the most difficult hole this weekend, allowing just 13 birdies.

The miscue let Langer hang in, but Haas birdied No. 18 in regulation and Langer fell behind by three-putting No. 17 himself.

When it came down to it, however, Langer had the shots.

“I guess I felt like I had to shoot in the low 60s to get into the playoff,” said Haas, 54, who has won 10 times on the Champions Tour, including four tournament wins each of the last two years. “I thought I’d given it away on 17 when I three-putted. To get into the playoff, I felt good about that. He hit a lot of great shots in the playoff.”

It was the first playoff defeat in Hass’ PGA/Champions Tour career. Haas had been undefeated in five previous playoff appearances, three on the PGA Tour and two on the Champions Tour.

Haas, who has yet to win on the Champions Tour this year, has nevertheless finished top 10 in each of the three tournaments he’s played. He’s now third in the Charles Schwab Cup race for overall points, behind Scott Hoch and Langer. Haas won the Charles Schwab Cup in 2006 and he’s been the Champions Tour Player of the Year the past two years.

Haas entered Sunday’s round tied for sixth, four shots behind. He first caught Langer at 12-under, when Haas birdied par-four No. 10 by sinking a 13-foot putt. Haas took his first lead when Langer bogeyed par-four No. 14.

“He’s a great champion,” Langer said. “He will win many more tournaments. He’s rock-solid ... I pretty much figured he wasn’t going to make many mistakes. Jay is known to be very straight, very precise and solid.”

Haas said he wasn’t necessarily disappointed about not defending his Toshiba Classic crown, even if he would’ve been the first player in the tournament’s 14-year history to do so.

“You know, that would have just been icing on the cake,” Haas said. “Just the fact that I had a chance to win and I didn’t, that was the most disappointing thing.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].