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The 56-year-old three-time U.S. Open winner is on top and Tiger Woods is far back after storms suspend play.
By BOB HARIG
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 15, 2001
TULSA, Okla. -- The senior discounts are there for the taking, not that Hale Irwin has money woes. He has been hauling Brinks trucks full of cash from the Senior PGA Tour for years as the circuit's all-time victory leader.
But it is at the U.S. Open where Irwin secured his place in golf history, winning the championship three times, once before Tiger Woods was born.
While pre-tournament favorite Woods was on his way to shooting his highest score in a major championship since the 2000 Masters, AARP member and grandfather Irwin was in position to become the oldest player to lead the U.S. Open.
Irwin, 56, shot 3-under-par 67 on Thursday during the weather-plagued first round of the 101st U.S. Open at Southern Hills Country Club and acted as though nobody should be surprised.
"I'm not going to accept the fact that I can't do it," said Irwin, a 20-time winner on the PGA Tour who has added 31 victories on the Senior PGA Tour. "Age is a number. Let's not forget that there are a few championships and three U.S. Opens to my title. So it's not like I've never been here before."
This is Irwin's 32nd U.S. Open, his first coming in 1966 when he was an amateur. From 1971 through this year, he has played 31 in a row, winning titles in 1974 at Winged Foot, 1979 at Inverness and 1990 at Medinah, where at 45 he became the oldest player to win the title. He qualified for this year by winning last year's U.S. Senior Open.
Irwin beat the bad weather to the clubhouse and gets to wait until this afternoon for his second round. Play was suspended at 3:39 p.m. CDT, and the determination to quit for the day was made at 5. Only 66 players completed the first round, which was scheduled to resume at 7 a.m. today. The second round was scheduled to start at 9.
When play was stopped, Irwin was tied with South Africa's Retief Goosen, who got to 3 under through seven holes. Japan's Toshimitsu Izawa was 2 under through four holes, with several players at 1 under, including Loren Roberts and Stewart Cink, who shot 69. Shaun Micheel, Jim Furyk, Mike Hulbert, David Toms and Bob Estes are 1 under with holes to play.
Woods, trying to win his fifth straight major championship and defend his U.S. Open title, started shaky, missing the first two greens and then three-putting the third hole for a bogey. He doublebogeyed the par-4 ninth when his approach found a greenside bunker, and his blastout slid over the green. He chipped to 6 feet and missed, shooting 38 on the front nine.
When play was stopped, Woods faced a 5-footer for par on the 10th hole. He has not made a birdie during his opening round and declined to comment afterward.
Irwin was more than pleased to talk, calling it a "pitter to the heart. It really feels good."
"I know when I come to this championship, regardless of whether Tiger is here, there are some other players on that leaderboard who are pretty good players, too. And you have to step up your level," said Irwin, who has earned more than $12-million since joining the senior tour in 1995. "If you're not capable of that, then you become the ceremonial golfer. I don't want to do that. If I can't pull my game up to where it takes to compete at this level, then I don't want to do it."
Irwin appeared headed for a long day when he bogeyed the first two. But he bounced back with birdies at the third and fourth, added birdies at the eighth, 10th and 14th holes, then bounced back from a three-putt bogey at No. 15 by making a 25-foot par putt at the 491-yard 16th hole. "That was probably the best putt I made," said Irwin, who had 27 for the round.
The best shot came at the 466-yard, par-4 18th. After his tee shot came to rest on the right side of the fairway, Irwin had 198 yards left but an overhanging tree in his line. He considered cutting a 4-wood around it but decided for a low shot that would land short and bounce onto the green. Irwin could not have played it better. His 2-iron approach stopped 2 feet from the cup for his sixth birdie of the day.
"He's a control player," said Roberts, who shot 69 and played with Irwin. "And this golf course lends itself to someone who keeps the ball in control. He putted extremely well, and he had some great iron shots.
"If you look at Hale, he's had a long career, and he's never been injured. He's always taken care of himself."
Irwin is one of five players to win three or more Opens. Willie Anderson, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus each won four.
"I think it would probably turn over every rocking chair in the country," Irwin said of the notion of a fourth Open title. "It would be fantastic."