STAR-BULLETIN / OCTOBER 2002
Hale Irwin has won the Turtle Bay Championship both years since it arrived on the North Shore.
Irwin in a familiar place
as he looks to rebound
Hale Irwin and Annika Sorenstam began their 2003 seasons with modest second-place finishes at the ConAgra Foods Skins Games on Maui. Sorenstam lost to rival Karrie Webb in the LPGA portion of the weekend event, while Irwin was busy being beat by Lee Trevino.
Turtle Bay Championship
Tomorrow's tee times8:20 a.m.: Bobby Waizel, John Harris, Luis Carbonetti. 8:30: Ted Goin, Pat McDonald, Bobby Lincoln. 8:40: Rocky Thompson, Gary Koch, Bobby Mitchell. 8:50: Bob Duval, Bob Murphy, Lon Hinkle.
9:00: Walter Morgan, Babe Hiskey, Rik Massengale. 9:10: Walter Zembriskl, Mark Hayes, Jim Simons. 9:20: Tommy Aaron, Howard Twitty, George Burns. 9:30: Jerry McGee, Dick Lotz, Dan Halldorson. 9:40: Tom Jenkins, Stewart Ginn, Dave Eichelberger
10:00: Bob Gilder, Tom Kite, Isao Aoki. 10:10: Rodger Davis, Tom Purtzer, Dave Barr. 10:20: Allen Doyle, Dana Quigley, Chi Chi Rodriguez. 10:30: D.A. Weibring, Jim Thorpe, Ed Dougherty. 10:40: Don Pooley, Walter Hall, Jim Colbert. 10:50: James Mason, John Schroeder, Joe Inman
11:00: Morris Hatalsky, Hale Irwin, Graham Marsh. 11:10: J.C. Snead, Steven Veriato, Mike McCullough. 11:20: John Jacobs, Jim Ahern, Vicente Fernandez. 11:30: Jim Albus, Terry Dill, Andy Bean. 11:50: Larry Zeigier, Mark Pfeil, Rex Caldwell.
12:00: Hugh Baiocchi, Bob Eastwood, Ed Fiori. 12:10: Fred Gibson, Bob Dickson, DeWitt Weaver. 12:20: Bruce Summerhays, Tom Shaw, Danny Edwards. 12:30: John Bland, Mike Smith, Dick Mast. 12:40: Jay Overton, Rick Rhoden, Jan Stephenson. 12:50: Jim Hoitgrieve, Jack Spradlin, Lonnie Nielsen.
1:00: Butch Sheehan, Mike San Filippo, Peter Martin.
Since they parted company, Sorenstam has gone on to one of the more storied campaigns in golf history. She became the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event in 58 years, missing the cut at the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, but winning the hearts of golf fans throughout America.
For Irwin, his ride down the nation's golf courses has been a bit more serene. And that's not necessarily a good thing for one of the game's more competitive golfers, who will be looking to make a little history of his own this weekend at the $1.5 million Turtle Bay Championship.
This is the third year the Champions Tour event is being played on the Arnold Palmer-designed course. Not only has Irwin won it the only two times it was held here on the North Shore, but he also came home with the championship trophy the last time it was played on Maui in 2000, known then as the Kaanapali Classic.
Throw in a 1997 Kaanapali Classic victory and Irwin finds himself in pretty rare company. Only he and Jack Nicklaus have won the same event four times.
Nicklaus captured titles at The Tradition in 1990, '91, '95 and '96. If Irwin walks off the 18th green Sunday with a trophy in hand, he will become the only golfer to win the same event five times.
"You don't really think about accomplishments like that while you're still playing the game," Irwin said. "I've had a lot of success here over the years. You can say Hawaii has been good to me."
That would be an understatement. Irwin has won $3,278,975 playing in the island chain, including five Champions Tour victories and one PGA Tour event at the 1981 Hawaiian Open. Irwin has also been a solid citizen at the Senior Skins events held in Hawaii through the years.
In six Skins appearances, Irwin has won $1.53 million, including $160,000 last January when finishing second to Trevino. Irwin left here and had a stellar first six months on the Champions Tour, including a victory at the Kinko's Classic last May in Austin, Texas.
But things haven't been going very well for Irwin since that nice run. He has found himself in the middle of the pack in nearly every tournament since, due in part to a bad back. He never knows when the pain will strike. It could be his biggest nemesis at this week's 54-hole event, rather than any of the other 80 golfers vying for the $225,000 first prize.
Joining him in the competition are four top-10 money winners (No. 4 Jim Thorpe, No. 5 Tom Jenkins, No. 7 Dana Quigley and No. 10 Allen Doyle). Irwin is 11th in earnings and would like nothing better than to crack the top 10 before the Champions Tour Championship later this month that concludes the 2003 regular season.
Tom Kite, who hasn't won this year, and John Jacobs, who also has had some success in Hawaii through the years, will be looking to wrestle the title away from Irwin. So will Bob Gilder, Isao Aoki, Jim Colbert and Tom Purtzer.
The tournament begins tomorrow at 8:20 a.m. It will be televised locally all three days on The Golf Channel from 2-4:30 p.m. Tickets are still available for the event, which also features Jan Stephenson. She is the first woman to compete in an official Champions Tour tournament.
