[ TURTLE BAY CHAMPIONSHIP ]
Irwin continues
impressive streak
If you started listing all the significant numbers by Hale Irwin's name, you'd have more figures scrawled than a tax attorney on April 15.
Yesterday's victory at the $1.5 million Turtle Bay Championship goes beyond the four consecutive titles here and all the money he has made the last 22 years in the island chain. True, $3.5 million in earnings in the 50th state is a staggering figure, but in his career, Irwin has won 38 Champions Tour events, 20 on the PGA Tour, three U.S. Opens, five senior majors and more than $24 million.
Yesterday's victory gives him nine straight years winning at least two tournaments. He also became only the fourth multiple winner on the Champions Tour this season, joining Bruce Lietzke, Craig Stadler and Tom Watson. There have been 25 different winners this year, matching the record set in 1995.
Part of the reason is Irwin didn't have as good a summer as he's had in the past. A back injury the last weekend in May led to some concerns that his career might be over. He visited several doctors, had three cortisone shots and finally believed the only way he would get better was with rest.
"This is the first time in many months that I played golf pain-free,'' Irwin said. "My back is a little stiff, but I'm actually feeling better. There was some fear that my career might be over. But this win this week gives me hope that I might get past this and be ready to go again in January.''
Irwin will move back into the top 10 in earnings with the win this week. There are two events left on the Champions Tour for Irwin. He can't successfully defend his money title, but he can still move up with good efforts in San Antonio this week and at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, Calif.
"First, I'm going to rest a couple of days before going to Texas,'' Irwin said. "This was a very special week for me.''
Fly a Kite: This was the second time this year that Irwin and Tom Kite have squared off head-to-head with Irwin winning both.
At his only other victory on the Champions Tour, Irwin tracked down Kite at the Kinko's Classic in Kite's hometown of Austin, Texas. Irwin won with a 208 at that event, the same score he managed here to keep Kite at bay.
The two 208 finishes were the highest winning scores on the Champions Tour this year.
Tear in her eye: Jan Stephenson finished the ninth hole about the same time Kite bogeyed the 18th. She went off the 10th tee and played in relative obscurity all day. Stephenson, who said yesterday on The Golf Channel that her comments about Asians killing the LPGA Tour were a mistake, finished in a tie for last with Bobby Mitchell.
Her 78 yesterday was her best round of the 54-hole event. She finished with a 26-over 242, some 34 shots behind Irwin. As she walked off the ninth hole, she wiped a few tears from her eyes. It has been an emotional week for Stephenson.
"The thing I regret is taking away from this great event,'' Stephenson said. "I came here to help promote the senior women's tour and end up causing a lot of controversy I didn't mean to cause. I feel badly about that.
"I wish I had said no to the article. I knew it was going to be controversial, but I never meant what I said as a racial slur. The seniors out here have been very classy. It was a difficult course but a wonderful experience.''
Out of the swamp: Graham Marsh not only had one of two holes-in-one during the tournament, he also tied he course record with a stellar 7-under 65.
"No way he does that on Saturday,'' Irwin pointed out. "The rains we had Saturday and Sunday made the greens much softer and more accessible. It was subtle out there, but the course played a little easier today.''
Marsh finished tied for third with Bruce Summerhays. He earned $98,625 and jumped from 31st to 28th on the money list with $683,969, just about assuring himself a berth in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in two weeks.
"That was a fun round of golf,'' Marsh said. "It's good because I was kind of on the bubble to play in the final event (only the top 30 money winners get in). It took awhile to get going (after back-to-back rounds of 73), but this helps out. I've been playing better lately.''
In the race for the top 30 spots for the Charles Schwab Championship, Jim Ahern slipped from 30th to 31st after finishing tied for 31st yesterday. Fuzzy Zoeller now holds the 30th spot with $643,330.
