Haas shoots for unprecedented repeat

Jay Haas became like one of those hot shooters on the basketball court, sinking everything in sight, last year when he won the Toshiba Classic.

He came away with only one bogey in 54 holes and carded rounds of 65-64-65 to finish 19-under-par 194 for a new tournament record, two better than Hale Irwin’s that had lasted for five years.

Haas, who has been the Champions Tour Player of the Year and top money earner the past two years, will do his best to find that hot streak again when the Toshiba Classic begins with first-round play Friday. He’s trying to become Toshiba’s first back-to-back winner.

Pros will start coming to Newport Beach Country Club today to practice in the morning and for pro-am competition in the afternoon. Haas will highlight a special breakfast Tuesday morning. That is followed by two days of classic pro-am competition, leading up to the three-day tournament that features an impressive field.

Haas, who has 10 Champions Tour titles, will be hard pressed to win the $247,500 winner’s check. That’s because players like Fred Funk, John Cook, Loren Roberts and Curtis Strange will try to stand in his way.

Roberts missed a 4 1/2 -foot putt in 2006 to lose the Charles Schwab Cup, as Haas took it. But Roberts redeemed himself last year winning the season-long points program designed to recognize the Champions Tour leading player.

Scott Hoch, who is playing in his second straight Toshiba, leads the Charles Schwab Cup standings and has won two tournaments this year.

The Toshiba Classic will also include Mark O’Meara, who won the Masters Tournament and British Open in 1998, as well as World Golf Hall of Famers Lee Trevino, Irwin, Ben Crenshaw, Strange, Raymond Floyd, Bernhard Langer, Tom Kite, Larry Nelson, Hubert Green, John Jacobs and Isao Aoki.

Most would think there to be a considerable amount of pressure on Haas to repeat, but he is no stranger to pressure. He has been experiencing that trying to become the Champions Tour Player of the Year for the third straight year.

“I guess I’ve always felt pressure every year, for a long time, every year I’ve felt like I needed to improve and I know that I probably don’t get better now at my age,” said Haas, 54. “I just get a little bit less worse, maybe, if I really work hard at it. But I don’t think it’s extra pressure by having that [goal to be Player of the Year].”

STEVE VIRGEN may be reached at (714) 966-4616 or by e-mail at steve.virgen@latimes.com.