The Haas boys were packing Friday night, but they will remember the 2003 U.S. Open fondly even though they won’t be celebrating Father’s Day at Olympia Fields.
Father Jay Haas was the low family member at 75-72-147. Son Bill shot 73-76-149 as the fourth father-son combination to play in a U.S. Open. Both missed the cut, but when Bill made a 2-footer for par, it ended a week in which scores weren’t that important.
“I’ll probably remember when we were checking in, going through the motions and him getting a locker next to mine,” Jay Haas said. “Playing the practice rounds together early in the week . . . If I had shot 5 under, I’d say my first two rounds . . . No, early in the week [was most memorable], seeing him playing in his first Open.”
Jay Haas is in his 26th year on the PGA Tour. He has won a career-best $1,687,727 this season with four top-five finishes at age 49. Bill, who turned 21 last month, plays for his uncle Jerry Haas at Wake Forest and was a semifinalist in the 2002 U.S. Amateur.
When Jay finished in the early afternoon, he hurried through lunch and went out to watch his son play.
“It’s pretty cool,” Bill said. “It is disappointing . . . not playing on the weekend, but it definitely was a fun week from Sunday night on. It was pretty cool to wake up and play three practice rounds with him. To experience this with him was pretty special.”
