[ GOLF ]
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hale Irwin lined up this putt on the 18th green during yesterday's second round of the 2002 Turtle Bay Championship.
There will be no shortage of contenders vying for the top prize in today's final round of the $1.5 million Turtle Bay Championship. But if you're looking for a favorite, look no further than Hale Irwin. Irwin, 3 others
lead at Turtle Bay
By Grady Timmons
Special to the Star-BulletinYesterday, the Iron Man of the Senior PGA Tour posted his second-straight 69 to move into a four-way tie for the lead, with a dozen other players lurking within three shots.
Yet despite the logjam at the top, Irwin's fellow competitors conceded that the 57-year-old defending champion is the man to beat.
"Hale will set the pace for everybody tomorrow," said Mike Smith, who also fired a 69 and was one of four golfers tied for the lead at 6-under-par 138. "He might shoot 65. He's just that good a player."
Smith told reporters that it would take "at least 10-under" to win the tournament, but quickly amended his statement when he noticed that Irwin had birdied the final hole to join him atop the leader board.
"With Irwin in contention, you might have to shoot a little lower than that,'' he admitted. "You always expect him to play good. I hope I have the opportunity to worry about him tomorrow."
Smith is not alone. Joining him in the effort to dethrone Irwin today will be co-leaders Dick Mast (67) and the Senior Tour's leading rookie, Morris Hatalsky (69). CBS golf analyst Gary McCord (70) is another shot back at 139, while Bob Gilder (66), Isao Aoki (67), John Bland (70) and first-round co-leader Jim Albus (72) are at 140.
Hilo's Steve Veriato (71) was one of seven golfers at 141.
The rest of the field has good reason to be wary of Irwin. Since joining the Senior PGA Tour in 1995 he has become its all-time leader in earnings ($16.5 million) and tournaments won (36). This year he is No. 1 in earnings ($2,604,041), and leads the Tour in points for the Charles Schwab Cup (2,485), a competition that rewards the winner with a $1 million annuity.
Statistically, he tops the 2002 Senior Tour in scoring average (68.78), putting average (1.711), birdie average (4.53), and is in the top five in greens hit in regulation and total driving.
And if all that is not enough, Irwin seems to regard Hawaii as his own private sandbox. He has eight career victories in the Islands, including one Hawaiian Open win, one Senior Mastercard Championship, two Senior Kaanapali Classic titles, and three Senior Skin victories. He is the defending champion in this week's Turtle Bay event.
Yet yesterday Irwin was far from his best. Playing in 15- to 20-mph winds at the Turtle Bay Resort's Palmer Course, Irwin was cruising along at 3-under through the first 13 holes, having got a big break when his 4-iron into the par-3 13th found the rocks on the right side of the green and instead of bounding backward into a lake, careened forward to the back fringe of the green, where he was able to salvage par.
Down the stretch, Irwin made birdies at 16 and 18 but missed an opportunity to assume a commanding lead when he uncharacteristically fanned three short putts, two of them for bogeys at 15 and 17.
"It was really a tale of two nines," he said afterward. "I played solidly on the front nine, but after that I was loose as a goose. I couldn't get my swing together and my putting was erratic. ... When I'm playing in the wind, I try not to overpower anything. I try to keep a light grip, and swing as slow as possible. I try to stay loose, but I just got too loose.
"I don't feel like I've played my best golf yet," he added. "If I play reasonably well tomorrow, I like my chances."
Irwin likes his chances even better if the wind blows in the final round. With so many golfers in contention, calm conditions will allow a lot more golfers into the hunt, he said. Tougher conditions would separate the field and favor players like himself.
Besides, he added, "It wouldn't be Hawaii if it was calm."
Irwin is scheduled to tee off at 9:10 a.m. today in the next to the last group with McCord and Aoki. Smith, Mast and Hatalsky tee off in the final threesome at 9:20 a.m.
