FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hale Irwin shot a 5-under 67 in yesterday's final round of the Turtle Bay Championship to finish at 16-under 200, topping his 2001 record of 11-under 205.

‘Welcome to Hale’s hale’

Irwin tops his own 54-hole
tournament record to win
the event for the fifth
straight time

Hale Irwin didn't want a Hollywood ending, no holed shot from the fairway, no 50-footer for eagle on the finishing hole.

By the time he made the turn for home, the only drama in this historic story was not whether Irwin would be the first golfer in PGA or Champions tour history to win the same event five consecutive times, but by how much.

Like Secretariat thundering down the stretch at Belmont, Irwin pulled away from the $1.6 million Turtle Bay Championship field with a final-round 67 to finish at 16-under 200. He shattered his own 54-hole tournament record of 11-under 205 set in 2001, and he's the only person to win this event in the 21st century.

"Welcome to Hale's hale," Irwin told the crowd gathered at the 18th green for the trophy ceremony. "That has a nice sound to it."

Irwin wasted little time establishing himself as the man of the house by birdieing two of the first three holes. He added three more birdies on Nos. 8-10 and had only 13 putts on the front side en route to a 5-under 31. He played the front nine in 13 under for the week.

"What I wanted to do today was two things," Irwin said. "I wanted to hit a lot of fairways and greens. I hit every fairway but one and I hit every green. I accomplished that. And I wanted to get off to a good start, which I did. The big putts at nine and 10, the door was still open, but after those putts it got real tight for some of the other players. After that, it was just a matter of not doing something stupid."

Dick Mast tried to make a game of it early, shooting 5-under 31 on the front. He is lugging some hot sticks of his own by qualifying for two PGA Tour events this year, including the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he had a 6-under 64 in the second round. But bogeys at Nos. 10 and 13 hurt his chances of tracking down Irwin.

"I knew I had to get out fast and post a low number," said Mast, who eventually settled for a tie for fifth. "I was able to do it on the front nine, but the back things started to get away from me. I was staring another bogey in the face at the 18th, but I got the par there, which was good for me. But it wasn't nearly enough to catch Hale."

That left it up to Irwin playing partners Dana Quigley and Allen Doyle to provide the challenge. But let's face it, two club pros from New England vs. three-time U.S. Open winner Irwin? To borrow a tennis phrase, that's game, set and match.

"Hale was just on another planet," Quigley said. "No one could have beaten him here today. He putted unbelievably, 6 under through 10. There's not enough trouble out here to make sixes and sevens. He'd have to make an awful lot of bogeys and it didn't look like he was."

Quigley fired a final-round 69 to finish second at 11-under 205. Doyle bogeyed the 18th to finish in a tie for third at 206 with Tom Watson, who closed fast with a 67. But none of them could ruffle Irwin, who said Saturday he wished he could take this course with him once the Champions Tour returns to the mainland.

"As far as winning five in a row, it's always good to be a part of history," Irwin said. "It's a very proud moment to do what I have done out here. To me, I wore this red, white and blue outfit, and it may be symbolmatic, but it's heartfelt for the troops who are out there doing their thing in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world sacrificing to help freedom. For them, I feel like we owe them a great, big thank you."

Irwin, who will turn 60 this summer, has finished in the top three in 100 of 230 senior circuit events entered. He has so many Champions Tour marks, it's hard to list them all. But the big one is all-time money leader with nearly $21 million earned in a decade as a senior. He has also pocketed $3.84 million in all the PGA and Champions tour events played in Hawaii.

"It's an understatement to say this has been a great course for me," Irwin said. "Three days without any significant wind is very unusual. You have to be able to drive the ball well and hit a variety of shots. What has been the key to my success here? It's in the air. It's the aloha spirit. Say what you want to, but there's something about that."

You won't get any argument from any of the players here at this week's first full-field event on the Champions Tour. From the outset, they were all playing for second.

"This is the perfect place for Hale," Quigley said. "It became pretty apparent we'd have to settle for second. But to see history in the making, there's something special about being a part of that."