AROUND THE GREENS
No golfer has dominated Hawai'i events like Irwin
By Bill Kwon
Tom Kite found a putting stroke to win the MasterCard Championship at the Hualalai Golf Club on the Big Island. Hale Irwin is still looking for his as he defends his Senior Skins Game title at Wailea, Maui, Saturday.
Advertiser library photo • January 1981
"I'm not putting well. I missed three greens in two days and I'm only 3-under," Irwin said after the first two rounds of last week's Senior PGA Tour season-opener. Frustrated, he shot a final-round 75 and finished 17 strokes behind Kite. Not that anyone else did much better as Kite won going away by six strokes.
Hale Irwin won the first of seven tournaments in Hawai'i at the 1981 Hawaiian Open at Wailae Country Club.
Still, Irwin always has to be the player to beat whenever he is entered in a tournament in Hawai'i. He has won more PGA events here than anyone else.
Even Tiger Woods. Hale has won on every major island except Kaua'i, where Tiger has won the PGA Grand Slam of Golf four years in a row at the Po'ipu Bay Resort.
Woods also won the 2000 Mercedes Championships at Kapalua in 2000 for his fifth victory in Hawai'i. Everybody is hoping he will play in and win the Sony Open in Hawai'i someday.
Irwin has won seven times locally: the 2001 Turtle Bay Championship, the 1997 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai, the 1999 Senior Skins Game at Mauna Lani and the 2001 event when it moved to Wailea, the 1997 and 2000 Ka'anapali classics on Maui and, when he was on the regular tour, and the 1981 Hawaiian Open at the Waialae Country Club.
"I've had great success in Hawai'i," said Irwin, whose claim to golf fame is winning three U.S. Open championships. Only Jack Nicklaus (with four) has won more U.S. Open titles since Ben Hogan in the 1950s.
Advertiser library photo • Oct. 19, 1997
Besides, Irwin is also a golf money machine. He just needs $94,695 — he won't get it at Wailea because the Senior Skins Game is an unofficial money event — to become only the second player besides Woods to reach the $20 million mark in combined PGA Tour earnings.
Hale Irwin captured the Ka'anapali Classic in 1997.
Interestingly, Irwin hasn't won a tournament at the Kapalua Resort, which he has represented on the tour for 20 years. That's including the unofficial Kapalua International.
Before coming here, Irwin watched the Mercedes Championships on television at his new home in Paradise Valley, Ariz., where he moved last month. His neighbors include Arizona Diamondbacks pitching stars Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.
Irwin told his wife Sally how nice it would have been if the Tournament of Champions had been held at Kapalua during his days on the regular tour.
"Absolutely, I'd love to have played in the Mercedes Championships there," Irwin said. "I'm happy to see that it will be at Kapalua for four more years."
Irwin did pose one intriguing possibility — playing in the Sony Open one of these years.
"I think I could have played with my exempt status. But I couldn't schedule it this year," he said, leaving it open for future consideration.
Advertiser library photo • Oct. 7, 2001
As an active life member on the PGA Tour for 15 years with at least 20 victories, Irwin is definitely eligible.
Hale Irwin led the gallery in song after his win at Turtle Bay.
Right now, though, his focus is on the Senior Skins Game.
"In this format, all you need is the right shot at the right time," said Irwin, who is glad that there won't be a need to validate a skin this week.
The original Skins Game adopted the validation rule for the first time in November. (The rule says a skin can be won only if a golfer wins a hole, then either wins or ties on the next hole). None of the four golfers won a skin on the first day and Greg Norman collected all 18 skins and $1 million on the final hole the following day.
"I'm not big on the validation rule," Irwin said. "Frankly, I got bored watching it the first day. I didn't want to wait around that long. I want to see results along the way. I think it bombed."
Irwin is looking forward to the coming year, especially with the addition of Ben Crenshaw and Fuzzy Zoeller to the senior tour. Zoeller will be joining Irwin in the Senior Skins foursome with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
"Zoeller and Crenshaw will give the Senior Tour more pizzaz," Irwin said.
With the two, along with Kite, Tom Watson, Larry Nelson, Bruce Fleisher and 2001 Player of the Year Allen Doyle — and "who knows what Hale Irwin will do?" — Irwin doesn't think anyone will dominate the tour as he and Gil Morgan did in 1997 when they combined to win 15 of 38 events.
"I don't think we'll see the same players winning all the time. Every year, it's getting more difficult," said Irwin, the Senior Tour's winningest player with 32 victories.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
