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Monday, October 23, 2000
Irwin puts on KAANAPALI, Maui -- Hale Irwin put on a clinic at Kapalua earlier in the week. Then he put on quite an exhibition to win the EMC Kaanapali Classic by four strokes, tying Lee Trevino for the most Senior PGA Tour victories with 29.
Classic show at
Kaanapali
The four-stroke victory ties him
with Lee Trevino for most
Senior PGA Tour winsBy Bill Kwon
Star-BulletinIrwin shot a final-round 65 yesterday for a 54-hole total of 198 -- 15 under par at the par-71 Kaanapali North Course to blow past the 75-player field, including second-round leader Jose Maria Canizares and Jim Thorpe, bidding to become the first on the senior tour this year to win three consecutive tournaments.
With the victory worth $165,000, Irwin went over the $2 million for the fourth straight year. And his fourth victory of the year -- his second here since 1997 -- came after quite a comeback.
He was 3 over after 13 holes in Fridays opening round and trailed Canizares by four shots going into the final round.
"Going into today, for me to win I knew I had to play extremely well and for Jose Maria to come back to us," Irwin said.
Canizares, looking for his first win on the senior tour, lost his lead quicker than Irwin expected.
The Spaniard bogeyed his first two holes and then it got worse. He triple-bogeyed the par-4 fourth hole, enabling Irwin to go right to the top of the leaderboard to stay.
"I like to be chased, whether its a tournament or the money list," said Irwin. "I like to know where I stand."
After birdieing 12, 13, 14 and 15 for the second day in a row, Irwin and everyone else knew where he stood.
"He's like Jack (Nicklaus). When Jack goes out there, he goes out to win, said Joe Inman, who finished second by four strokes.
"Even at 60 years old. Hale is like that. He likes to be No. 1."
"I still have the fire in the belly, (but) it's a bigger belly," said Irwin, who now has an incredible 63 top-3 finishes in 128 career starts since joining the senior tour in 1995.
Inman, whose closing 67 gave him a 202 total and $96,800, almost decided to take the week off.
Good thing he didn't.
He became the third senior in 2000 to shoot a bogey-free tournament. He now has 91 holes without a bogey, six shy of the record held by the late Jack Kiefer, whose streak ended at 97 here.
It took a "great putt" (Inman's own words) on the final hole to keep his bogey-free streak going. He sank a 15-footer at the par-4 18th to save par, as well as a 10-footer at No. 8 and another 15-footer at No. 9.
"It was one of those weird things. Whenever I needed a par putt, they went in. I had three or four great chances to make bogey," Inman said.
With windless conditions for the second straight night, the 6,590-yard Kaanapali North Course was at the mercy of the field. Fifty bettered par 71.
Thorpe recorded his 10th straight round in the 60s with a closing 67, despite a bogey at 16 and a double-bogey at 18.
Steve Veriato, a former Big Islander playing his first exempt year on the senior tour, shot a 65-205 and tied for 11th with six others, including Canizares, who ended with a disappointing 76, and defending champion Bruce Fleisher.
Veriato earned $21,371, giving him $166,171 in four Kaanapali Classic appearances.
CLASSIC NOTES:
Graham Marsh maintained his grip on 31st place on the 2000 money list to remain some $8,000 ahead of Gary McCord, whose double-bogey 6 at the 14th hole cost him about $30,000 . . . The par-4 18th hole proved the most difficult in the tournament with 4.326 average, ranking it as the 16th toughest on the senior tour this year ... Don't tell that to Dean Overturf, who took a 10 on the par-5 10th, putting three approach shots in the water fronting the green ... Hale Irwin and his wife, Sally, celebrated her birthday last Sunday at Kapalua, which he represents on the tour. "It's always special winning here," he said.
At Kaanapali, Maui EMC Kaanapali Classic
Final round, par 71
Hale Irwin, $165,000 71-62-65--198 Joe Inman, $96,800 67-68-67--202 Jim Thorpe, $66,000 69-67-67--203 Howard Twitty, $66,000 70-66-67--203 Allen Doyle, $66,000 71-63-69--203 Bruce Summerhays, $35,640 66-70-68--204 Graham Marsh, $35,640 70-66-68--204 Walter Hall, $35,640 70-66-68--204 Gary McCord, $35,640 70-64-70--204 Stewart Ginn, $35,640 67-68-69--204 Terry Dill, $21,371 70-70-65--205 Jay Sigel, $21,371 72-67-66--205 Steve Veriato, $21,371 72-67-66--205 Gary Player, $21,371 69-69-67--205 Mike Malone, $21,371 69-68-68--205 Bruce Fleisher, $21,371 69-67-69--205 Jose Maria Canizares, $21,371 68-61-76--205 Dave Stockton, $14,586 69-71-66--206 Dave Eichelberger, $14,586 67-73-66--206 Lon Hinkle, $14,586 71-71-64--206 Tom McGinnis, $14,586 70-68-68--206 Fred Gibson, $14,586 72-66-68--206 Mike McCullough, $11,022 72-69-66--207 Christy OConnor, $11,022 69-70-68--207 Andy North, $11,022 71-68-68--207 Dale Douglass, $11,022 67-70-70--207 Jim Colbert, $11,022 70-67-70--207 DeWitt Weaver, $9,570 70-66-72--208 Rocky Thompson, $7,469 71-70-68--209 Frank Conner, $7,469 71-71-67--209 Jim Albus, $7,469 73-67-69--209 Ed Dougherty, $7,469 71-69-69--209 J.C. Snead, $7,469 73-69-67--209 Rex Caldwell, $7,469 72-67-70--209 David Graham, $7,469 70-69-70--209 Jim Ahern, $7,469 75-69-65--209 George Burns, $7,469 71-74-64--209 Chuck Moran, $7,469 67-69-73--209 Jim Holtgrieve, $5,390 72-69-69--210 Bill Brask, $5,390 68-73-69--210 Jerry McGee, $5,390 72-68-70--210 Hugh Baiocchi, $5,390 73-69-68--210 Chi Chi Rodriguez, $5,390 70-68-72--210 Paul Parajeckas, $4,400 71-70-70--211 Bob Dickson, $4,400 69-72-70--211 Dana Quigley, $4,400 71-72-68--211 John D. Morgan, $4,400 69-74-68--211 Ken Corliss, $3,520 73-67-72--212 John Jacobs, $3,520 70-70-72--212 Tom Shaw, $3,520 71-68-73--212 Ron Parsons, $3,520 72-73-67--212 Bob Charles, $2,603 72-70-71--213 George Archer, $2,603 69-73-71--213 Tom Jenkins, $2,603 73-70-70--213 Bob Lendzion, $2,603 76-71-66--213 Roy Vucinich, $2,603 76-71-66--213 Kermit Zarley, $2,603 79-71-63--213 Dick Lotz, $2,145 72-70-72--214 Hubert Green, $2,145 74-69-71--214 Mark Hayes, $1,980 73-71-71--215 Larry Ziegler, $1,870 71-72-73--216 Walter Zembriski, $1,650 73-68-76--217 Bob Lunn, $1,650 73-72-72--217 Walt Morgan, $1,650 80-68-69--217 Harold Henning, $1,320 75-68-75--218 Bob Wynn, $1,320 71-74-73--218 Dick McClean, $1,320 80-71-67--218 Jesse Patino, $1,100 74-74-71--219 Greg Edwards, $1,001 77-71-72--220 Rodney Acia, $1,001 78-71-71--220 Al Kelley, $902 79-71-72--222 Dean Overturf, $836 71-71-82--224 Tommy Jacobs, $770 77-71-77--225 Larry Stubblefield, $704 78-74-76--228 Doug Sanders, $704 80-75-73--228 Ed Sneed 78-69--WD