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player ready...Hale Irwin is a PGA Tour veteran.
His 20 PGA Tour victories and three U.S. Open crowns in 27 years tell him that is so.
Hale Irwin is a Senior PGA Tour rookie.
He knows that to be true as well because he celebrated his 50th birthday in June, which gave him a license to drive the fairways with his elders.
So how come he still feels like he’s on a learner’s permit?
“I’m sure it’ll take me the rest of the year to get adjusted,” said Irwin after playing in the Senior Open Pro-Am Thursday at Stonebridge Country Club in Aurora . “My mind is not set on one Tour. It’s been like a circus. Playing the regular Tour and the Senior Tour, I’ve been galloping. It’s time to get off one and concentrate on the other one. Since the Masters, I’ve been putting pressure on myself to play the Senior Tour or the regular Tour. What’s gone now is probably a chance to make the Ryder Cup team. I’m here because I’m playing well and I want to try to get more Senior Tour action under my belt.”
Irwin said he plans to play the VFW Senior Championship in Belton, Mo., next week and then return to the “regular” Tour for the PGA Championship.
Meaning his “balancing act” will continue for a while .
“I’m taking it a week at a time now. I’m not ready to give up the regular tour,” said Irwin, who has won $222,525 in four Senior events and $186,911 on the PGA Tour, “but I enjoy playing the Senior Tour. Hopefully next year will be easier because I will be playing far more Senior Tours.”
Ray stays, plays: Unlike many of his Senior PGA Tour contemporaries , Raymond Floyd, after playing in the British Open last week, decided not to remain in Europe as did Gary Player, Tom Wargo and Arnold Palmer. Floyd won’t be playing in the British Senior Open this week. He chose another Senior Open. The one in Aurora. “As you know,” said Floyd, “I didn’t enter till the Tuesday of Detroit . Peter de Young kept calling– pleading–because he had a weak field because of the British Seniors being this week. That’s why I agreed to play. I feel like, some of us, when an event has a weak field, need to come out and support it.”
With Floyd’s entry and those of Irwin and Lee Trevino, the Senior Open in Aurora ended up with probably its strongest field ever. Tournament organizers are even talking about bettering the attendance record of 83,400 set in 1993 when Palmer played here. Leading money winner Jim Colbert, Dave Stockton (No. 4), Graham Marsh (No. 7), Chi Chi Rodriguez, George Archer and Jim Dent round out a star-studded field.
Beat the heat: How do the Senior PGA Tour players plan to stay cool this weekend in temperatures expected to reach the mid-90s?
In Detroit two weeks ago at the Senior Players Championship , John Paul Cain decided to soak his head. It worked great.
“I filled a bucket full of water and just put my whole head into it,” said Cain. “A wet towel on the back of the neck also works. That and you hunt for that shade whenever you can.”
Senior PGA Tour players have an advantage over their counterparts on the regular Tour because they are allowed to ride in carts during their rounds.
“Either the clubs ride or the player rides,” said Cain. “If the clubs ride, the player walks. If the player rides, the clubs walk .”
“As long as it doesn’t get over 90, I walk,” said Floyd. “The Saturday of Detroit it was so hot I rode because other people were riding. I’m in good shape but I was giving up a lot. If it gets hot, humid this weekend I imagine I’ll take the cart a few holes. Golf, though, is not a game that should overwhelm you physically. You walk your own pace. You don’t run, leap, jump. It’s not that tough.”