Hale Irwin has competed in 22 U.S. Senior Opens — this week will make 23 — and at 73 he’s the oldest player in the field at The Broadmoor.
Considering his ever-shrinking competitive schedule, and the fact that this U.S. Senior Open is being played in a state he’s synomymous with in many ways — Colorado — will this be his final U.S. Senior Open?
And actually, the question is bigger than that in many respects. After all, the World Golf Hall of Famer and former University of Colorado athlete has won five USGA championships in his career — three U.S. Opens and two U.S. Senior Opens — so when he does call it quits at the Senior Open, it would mark the end of the line for him in USGA championships of any sort.
Irwin’s answer on Tuesday afternoon at The Broadmoor about this possibly being his final U.S. Senior Open: “It could be,” he said. “I’m not going to say yes because that’s just the way I’m bred. But I’m just finding it harder and harder to compete the way I feel like you need to play to play against these guys.”
And if it does turn out to be his final USGA championship, will he be nostalgic this week given all he’s accomplished in those events and with this tournament being held in the state where he grew up?
“If it was (my last) — and we’re not saying that — being here around family and friends and the old stomping grounds, sure there’s a great deal of nostalgia here,” he said. “Going into the clubhouse and seeing the old 1967 Broadmoor Invitation (a tournament that Irwin won), that brings back a lot of fond memories. At the same time, I’m not one that gets hung up in the history and what used to be. I’m more, what can I do today? That’s kind of what drives my life now. I have a lot of history and a lot of it is great, but I don’t live my life in the past. I want to live my life in the present and the future.”
For the record, Irwin has competed in 56 USGA championships — 34 U.S. Opens and the 22 U.S. Senior Opens, which will become 23 this week. Only two golfers — fellow former Buff Dale Douglass (26) and Arnold Palmer (25) — have played in more U.S. Senior Opens. Irwin’s first USGA championship was the 1966 U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco, where he finished 61st.
Including his U.S. Open wins in 1974, ’79 and ’90, Irwin finished in the top 10 in that event seven times, with a third in 1975 and a fourth in 1978 at Cherry Hills Country Club.
At the U.S. Senior Open, he won in 1998 and 2000 and has placed in the top 10 eight times. He was never out of the top five in his first six U.S. Senior Open appearances. He ended up runner-up twice, third once, fourth in 2011 at age 66 and fifth twice. This week, Irwin and defending champion Kenny Perry are the only players in the field who have won at least two U.S. Senior Opens.
But at age 73 — and after winning a record 45 times on PGA Tour Champions, in addition to his 20 PGA Tour victories — Irwin has backed off his competitive schedule considerably. He’s played in eight PGA Tour Champions events each of the past two years and will be competing in his fifth of 2018 this week. His last event prior to the U.S. Senior Open was more than two months ago.
With age having taken a toll on his game, and with different priorities in his life, things have simply changed.
“Just distance off the tee,” he said. “This course (for instance), I’ve played enough to know where I should be hitting it, and I’m not (hitting it there). That’s happening every week now. I can see where my distance off the tee is less. I have more distance into the greens and my irons aren’t as long as they used to be. What used to be a driver and a 7-iron, now it’s a driver and a 4-iron or 5-iron, and that’s just hard to compete on an every-hole, every-day, every-week basis.
“When you’re not playing that much … I just have different priorities. Seeing the grandkids, trying to keep up with (son) Steve’s little girls up in Denver. It’s different, just different.”
On Tuesday, for instance, after putting on a kids-oriented clinic at The Broadmoor, Irwin was on the practice range having a little fun and giving a few tips to his grandsons. His wife, Sally, was there, as was brother Phil, who likewise played football at CU back in the day. There were also other family members and friends.
Asked what his goals are this week at the U.S. Senior Open, Irwin said, “Obviously you want to say make the cut but those things all seem superfluous when you’re looking at the overall scheme of things. The overall scheme of things here is to be with my family and friends. There are friends who aren’t doing physically that well that I’d like to see or get in contact with. To be able to enjoy what I’m able to enjoy — the little thing with the kids there (the junior-oriented clinic) is very heart-warming. I enjoy that.
“Competitively, if I can go out and play the kind of golf I think I’m still capable of playing, will that mean I’m going to be a threat to win? That might be pushing it. But I’d like to think I’d be representative of what once was. But I don’t have any preconceived notions. I’m taking this as a steppingstone to what’s next in my life. And that’s being defined as we speak.”
Speaking of family and friends, one of Irwin’s grandsons, Dylan Meyer, is caddying for Hale this week. And on the near horizon, son Steve, a former CGA Player of the Year, will loop for Hale at the Senior British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland July 26-29.
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