HALE bopped his way to quite a year on the Senior PGA Tour in 1997. Hale Irwin, that is. A record-tying nine victories and a single-season record $2,343,364 in earnings. Can he do it again this year? Irwin can bank on success on Hawaii swing
"Who knows?" said Irwin, who is at the Hualalai Resort on the Big Island for the MasterCard Championship, which begins tomorrow. The 54-hole event, which kicks off the Senior Tour season, features the tournament winners from the previous year.
"Last year was an exceptional year. But I'm not looking at trying to beat it, although the attempt will be there," he said. "If that kind of year happens again, it's fine. If it doesn't, I'll still enjoy myself."
It was a victory in the tournament of champions at Hualalai last January that ignited Irwin's magical year - one he says he will never forget. Nor will the rest of his senior buddies, especially Gil Morgan, who won five tournaments and finished second to Irwin twice, including last year at Hualalai.
"Gil had a fantastic year, too. His, too, was a record year," Irwin said of the Senior Tour's other Two Million Dollar Man.
"Here we are again. It's like we never left," said Irwin, a strong favorite to repeat as the champion of champions.
If there's one thing Irwin has learned, it's that you never stop learning.
He didn't feel he drove the ball as effectively last year as he did in 1996. And he said he wasn't consistent in his bunker play. And he said there were a few loose iron shots that led to silly bogeys here and there. That's Irwin the perfectionist.
AND what is it about Hawaii for Irwin? He tied the Senior Tour's record for most victories in one year here - of all places - at the Kaanapali Classic. With victories on Maui and at Hualalai, Irwin pocketed $313,500 in six days in the 50th state. That's not counting another $160,000 he picked up in the Senior Skins at Mauna Lani the week following Hualalai.
"Talk about the aloha spirit and the aloha luck," Irwin said. "I seem to have great success over here. Probably because of the friends we have here and my relationship with the people at Kapalua."
He and wife, Sally, are certainly no strangers in paradise. Irwin has been the touring pro for the Kapalua Resort for more than 20 years. His only daughter, Becky, was married at the Kapalua Bay Hotel last Saturday.
And with the way the schedule is set up, opening the season in Hawaii with the MasterCard Championship - the Senior Tour's equivalent of the Mercedes Championship - gives Irwin the best of all worlds.
Throw in another chance to play in the Senior Skins the following week at Mauna Lani, and it's all this and heaven, too, for Irwin, who's making the Senior Tour his personal money machine.
CONSIDER these numbers: In less than three years on the Senior Tour, Irwin has earned $4.7 million. In contrast, Irwin made $5.8 million in 24 years on the regular tour. And he's averaging $75,528 each time he tees it up on the Senior Tour.
But it's not about money, said Irwin, who at 53 is yet to peak on the Senior Tour. "It's about winning," said Irwin, a three-time U.S. Open champion who hopes to do better in some of this year's majors on the Senior Tour.
Irwin's record in the win column is equally as remarkable. He won 30 tournaments on the regular tour, and in just 63 Senior Tour starts since turning 50 on June 3, 1995, Irwin has won 13 times.
No wonder he figures to be the player to beat in the MasterCard Championship.
Besides, it's held in Hawaii, Irwin's home away from home. At times, Irwin likes to call himself "Ha-le." In Hawaiian, Hale means "house," and Irwin is definitely at home here - and living it up.