Bill Haas follows in father's footsteps as 'Bob Hope' winner

Bill Haas has finally chalked up his first win on the US PGA Tour after playing 140 events without success. He finally made it after the five-round marathon week of the Bob Hope Classic at La Quinta, California. That put him next to his father Jay on the Hope Classic Roll of Honour.
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Bill Haas started the final round in a three-way tie for the lead and it was still so close at the end that he had to birdie - a tap-in from 12 inches - at the 18th for a 64 to claim victory, one stroke ahead of South African Tim Clark, Matt Kuchar and long-time leader Bubba Watson.
"I'd been wanting to win from the first tournament I played, but it's a process, and there's a lot to it," said Haas, a heralded rookie in 2006. "It's special, but I don't know if it's a monkey off my back. I know how hard it was to win, and I'm grateful."
The 27-year-old son of 1988 Hope Classic champion Jay Haas was the last of three co-leaders to play the par-5 18th. Kuchar and South Africa's Clark had both missed birdie putts at the Arnold Palmer Private course, before Clark laid up.
Determined not to come up short, Haas expertly dropped a 3-iron behind the pin, allowing him to two-putt his way to a 30-under-par 330 total, the $900,000 winner's share of the $5 million purse -- and the chance to scratch his name off the meda's list of "good players with no wins."
"Patience isn't one of my key virtues," Bill Haas said. "It's something I'm still trying to learn. This week, we were forced to be patient. Who knows? Maybe the rain-out was good for me. It obviously was. It worked out for the best."

FINAL TOTALS
Par 360 (5x72)
Players from US unless stated
330 Bill Haas 68 66 66 66 64.
331 Matt Kuchar 67 69 67 65 63, Tim Clark (South Africa) 70 63 67 66 65, Bubba Watson 66 62 68 69 66.
332 Alex Prugh 64 66 65 70 67.
334 Mike Weir (Canada) 67 67 67 67 66.
336 D J Trahan 69 68 65 68 66.
337 Kevin Na 69 66 67 69 66, Matthew Jones (Aus) 69 67 69 66 66
338 Vaughn Taylor 66 67 73 65 67, Chad Collins 67 64 69 70 68, Brandt Snedeker 70 69 65 66 68, Kevin Streelman 70 71 63 64 70, Ryan Moore 69 67 66 67 69
339 Brian Gay 71 65 70 68 65, Kevin Sutherland 69 71 68 65 66, Steve Elkington (Aus) 69 65 68 68 69
340 Jeff Klauk 66 72 67 65 70, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 69 69 65 68 69, Kevin Stadler 67 69 69 67 68, George McNeill 65 72 65 70 68, Martin Flores 66 65 65 72 72, Jason Dufner 72 67 64 69 68, Graham Delaet (Can) 71 69 67 66 67, Derek Lamely 68 69 66 71 66
341 Pat Perez 68 69 68 70 66, John Merrick 68 70 66 66 71, Jeff Quinney 64 74 69 67 67, Joe Ogilvie 65 66 68 68 74, Bo Van Pelt 73 70 66 67 65, Garrett Willis 65 69 70 68 69, Charles Howell III 68 69 66 71 67
342 Brendon De Jonge 73 67 67 69 66, Ricky Barnes 67 72 67 69 67, J.P. Hayes 65 67 70 71 69, Heath Slocum 66 72 68 67 69, Webb Simpson 67 72 66 66 71, Jason Bohn 69 72 68 65 68
343 John Senden (Aus) 68 69 68 68 70, Matt Bettencourt 71 66 69 66 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 73 66 66 68 70
344 Michael Bradley 74 68 70 64 68, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 67 70 70 70 67, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 68 70 70 68 68, Ryan Palmer 72 67 64 69 72, David Toms 70 70 67 70 67, Chris Couch 71 72 66 69 66
345 Joe Durant 71 69 69 70 66, Jeff Overton 68 68 69 69 71, Chris DiMarco 72 67 66 68 72, Jamie Lovemark 71 71 66 69 68
346 Chris Wilson 69 67 71 71 68, Ben Crane 70 69 70 64 73, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 70 67 68 71 70, Billy Mayfair 71 71 69 66 69, Roger Tambellini 66 71 70 68 71
347 Brian Davis (Eng) 73 70 69 67 68, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 70 69 68 69 71, Lee Janzen 69 70 66 70 72, Tom Gillis 68 66 72 72 69, Jerod Turner 69 69 71 68 70, Josh Teater 71 69 69 70 68
348 Michael Sim (Sco/Aus) 73 67 69 69 70, Omar Uresti 70 67 71 69 71, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 71 68 70 72, Harrison Frazar 72 72 68 66 70, Troy Merritt 72 70 66 69 71
349 Bob Estes 68 72 68 71 70, Bill Lunde 68 68 71 70 72, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 68 70 70 70 71
351 Brett Quigley 71 66 69 70 75, Greg Owen (Eng) 74 65 70 70 72, Shane Bertsch 62 69 77 71 72
354 Paul Goydos 69 69 67 69 80

Editor's note: Is the Bob Hope Desert Classic more important than the Open and the other majors? Of course, not. So why is the 'Bob Hope' over FIVE rounds and the majors only four?

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