More magic for Irwin?

Richard Dunn

When it was brought up during an interview on Thursday, Hale Irwin

didn’t remember exactly what round it was in the 1998 Toshiba Senior

Classic when he broke the course record at Newport Beach Country Club

with a sizzling 62. (It was the final round.)

He did keep in mind, however, the 17th hole that year on Sunday.

“I planned on hitting that rake and bouncing it up on the green

and getting it [into the hole] in two [for a birdie],” Irwin quipped,

referring to his Famous Rake Shot, when the best player on the PGA

Champions Tour that year received a big break from a bunker rake.

Irwin’s tee shot on the par-3 17th rolled off the green and headed

downhill, picking up speed down a steep rough and seeming doomed for

the water. But the bunker rake caught the ball cleanly and stopped it

from getting wet. Irwin, in turn, got up and down for par and birdied

18.

These days, Irwin doesn’t expect to win because of a lucky bounce.

The defending Toshiba Senior Classic champion has other things to

worry about, such as his putting and tendinitis in his right elbow as

he tries to win his third Toshiba title.

Irwin, who only worked on his putting after a pro-am round

Thursday and said he will continue that pattern throughout the

weekend because the rest of his game is in order, has been suffering

from tendinitis since late last summer. The pain reached its highest

point in October when he tried to close out his third money title on

the Champions Tour.

“That’s when it bothered me the most, but it’s gotten a little

better since. But it’s still there,” Irwin said. “They say to rest,

rest, rest, and rest has helped it, but you can only rest for so

long. I’ve gotten back in the gym. You’ve got to use it to get out

there. ... I try not to even think about it.”

Few competitors on the Champions Tour probably have much sympathy

for Irwin, who last year set a Toshiba Senior Classic scoring record

at 17 under 196, while winning here for the second time. The victory

elevated him to the top of the money list on the 50-and-over senior

golf tour, and he never moved from his perch on his way to a

career-first $3-million season.

Irwin, though, has hardly looked like the Irwin of old since the

season opened. But Irwin has arrived at Newport Beach before with a

similar slow start and smoked the golf course here.

The Champions Tour’s most productive player the past five years,

Irwin finished tied for 18th last weekend at the SBC Classic at

Valencia CC, and that was his highest finish of the year.

“I haven’t played badly by any means,” Irwin said. “Last week was

a bit of a disappointment, because I didn’t play well. But the thing

that is the greater disappointment, or frustration, is my putting.

... but as I say that, you make a nice putt here and there, and

suddenly your confidence is back, and there you go.

“I haven’t been playing badly,” he said. “I’ve been hitting the

ball well. In fact, I’ve been hitting it spectacularly.”

Irwin said it’s “undeniable” that he’s enjoyed “good success here”

at Newport Beach Country Club, where his tournament course record

still stands.

“The ultimate compliment is when people expect you to play well,

but it doesn’t give you any strokes off your scorecard,” Irwin said.

“You still have to do it. The guy who putts well each week will win.”

Last year, Irwin changed almost every club in his bag before

winning the Toshiba Classic again. Before teeing off in the first

round, he switched to forged blade irons, changed from graphite to

steel shafts, added a couple of new fairway woods and a new sand

wedge, and then went out and shot 67-64-65 for the finest round of 54

in Toshiba history. It was his 34th career senior title three months

before his 57th birthday.

“When someone tells me I can’t, it tends to motivate me,” Irwin

said. “I’m not one that looks back, but looks forward, try to create

opportunities for success.”

Irwin and Bob Gilder each won four official events in 2002, the

fewest number of victories to lead the Champions Tour since Jim

Colbert and Bob Murphy each had four wins in ’95.

Irwin, a three-time U.S. Open champion, entered the final round at

Newport Beach last year with a three-stroke lead and won by five

shots, a larger margin of victory than the past six Toshiba champions

combined. It was the 12th time in his career that Irwin won the same

tournament at least twice.

Never one to shy away from equipment change (except his putter,

the only club he hasn’t changed in the past year), Irwin was at it

again earlier this year.

Technology has had a big effect on his game.

“I’m hitting the ball farther now than I ever have,” Irwin said.

“I think for all the players -- I can’t think of any exceptions --

that are not hitting the ball farther now than they ever have due in

large part to technology. We are seeing the rebound in the club head,

the titanium heads and the graphite shafts.

Part of the equipment change earlier this year was made to help

alleviate pain in his right elbow.

“I’m trying to get away from the steel to the graphite in the

hopes it might help lessen some of that vibration and stress,” he

said.

Maybe this is the week Irwin gets back on track.

“I’m very excited to come over to Toshiba,” Irwin said. “It was a

kickoff to a great year for me last year and, hopefully, it will be

the same this year.”