Hale Irwin

Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American professional golfer. He was one of the world's leading golfers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He is one of the few players in history to win three U.S. Opens, becoming the oldest ever U.S. Open champion in 1990 at the age of 45.
Along with Gary Player, David Graham, Bernhard Langer and Justin Rose, Irwin is one of five golfers to win official tournaments on all six continents on which golf is played. He has also developed a career as a golf course architect.

Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri, and raised in Baxter Springs, Kansas and Boulder, Colorado. His father introduced him to the game of golf when he was 4 years old. He broke 70 for the first time at the age of 14. Irwin was a star athlete in football, baseball, and golf at Boulder High School and graduated in 1963. Irwin then attended the University of Colorado, where he was a two-time All-Big Eight defensive back, as well as an academic All-American in football. He won the individual NCAA Division I Championship in golf in his senior year in 1967 and turned professional the following year.

Irwin had 20 victories on the PGA Tour beginning with the 1971 Sea Pines Heritage Classic and finishing with the 1994 MCI Heritage Golf Classic, and won prize money of just under six million dollars. His 1994 Heritage win at the age of nearly 49 made him one of the oldest winners in Tour history.

Irwin's tournament victories kept him ranked high among his peers - he was ranked among the top five in McCormack's World Golf Rankings in every year from 1975 to 1979, inclusive. He ranked in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for a few weeks in 1991.

Irwin's first U.S. Open triumph came at Winged Foot in 1974 at the age of 29. In what became known as "The Massacre at Winged Foot", Irwin won with a score of 7-over par, the second-highest winning score in relation to par of any U.S. Open since 1945. The course conditions at Winged Foot in 1974 were described as "brutal". Johnny Miller and several other players suggested that the USGA had intentionally made the Winged Foot course setup particularly treacherous in response to Miller's record-breaking round of 63 at Oakmont the year before. Irwin, however, said in 1974: "I've always enjoyed playing tough courses. It's much more of a challenge to me." Irwin earned $35,000 for his victory at Winged Foot and said that he had a vivid dream three weeks earlier that he won the U.S. Open, which he only told his wife about.

Irwin won the Piccadilly World Match Play Championship at Wentworth Club in 1974 and 1975. He missed out on a record-breaking third straight victory when he was beaten in the 1976 final by Australian David Graham on the second sudden-death playoff hole.

Between 1974 and 1977, Irwin had four consecutive top-5 finishes at The Masters. In 1977, Irwin's three wins on the PGA Tour included a five shot victory in the Colgate Hall of Fame Classic at Pinehurst Resort. Irwin shot a brilliant second round of 62 at Pinehurst for a 15-under par opening 36-hole total of 127, which was the best in any PGA Tour event for over a decade.

Irwin demonstrated great consistency during the late 1970s. For four years between January 1975 to the end of the 1978 season, Irwin made the cut in 86 consecutive PGA Tour events. To date, this is the fourth longest streak of consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour, behind Tiger Woods (142), Byron Nelson (113) and Jack Nicklaus (105).

Irwin added a second U.S. Open title in 1979 at Inverness Club. With its narrow fairways and heavy rough, the Inverness course was a stern test for the players. Irwin's final round of 75 tied the post-World War II tournament record for the highest final round score by a U.S. Open champion. The next month in The Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Irwin came to the final round with a two-shot lead. He was bidding to become only the third golfer since 1945 to win the U.S. Open and The Open Championship in the same year after Ben Hogan (1953) and Lee Trevino (1971) - a feat later matched by Tom Watson (1982) and Tiger Woods (2000). Irwin said in 1979: "I would dearly love to win the British Open. It is special." However, he was thwarted in his attempt at an historic double by the incredible recovery play of Seve Ballesteros.

In 1983, Irwin had another close tilt at The Open Championship, but lost by a shot to Tom Watson at Royal Birkdale, after whiffing on a tiny putt of about an inch, during his third round of play. Irwin said that his mistake, which cost him the chance of a playoff with Watson, was "a mental lapse" and that he learned a lesson from it, later being very careful on short putts.

Irwin said in an interview in 2000 that the greatest disappointment of his career was not at the British Open, but at the 1984 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Irwin had led the tournament after the first three rounds, but shot a final round of 79 to finish 6th. Reflecting on his final round collapse, Irwin said: "A number of factors were in play and it was very emotional. I thought it would be great to win 10 years later at the same venue and, more than anything else, my father was dying of cancer then and I thought it would be wonderful to give him a victory. I destroyed myself with the pressures I'd built up."

After his victory in the 1985 Memorial Tournament, Irwin had occasional top-10 finishes in tournaments for the rest of the 1980s, but he did not have a further official PGA Tour win until an incredible year in 1990, which was capped by his third U.S. Open victory. In a remarkable tournament, Irwin holed an improbable 45 feet (14 m) birdie putt on the 72nd hole to join a playoff against fellow American Mike Donald. In the 18-hole Monday playoff, Donald was two shots ahead of Irwin with three holes to play. Donald missed a 15-foot par putt on the 18th which would have given him victory. Both men shot rounds of 74 in the playoff and Irwin won the title with a birdie on the first sudden-death playoff hole. After becoming the oldest ever U.S. Open champion at the age of 45, winning his first PGA Tour event for five years, Irwin was gracious in victory. He said of his playoff opponent Mike Donald: "God bless him. I almost wish he had won."

Somewhat remarkably, after his 1990 U.S. Open triumph Irwin won the Buick Classic the following week, becoming the first man since Billy Casper in 1966 to win a PGA Tour event the week after gaining the U.S. Open title.

During his career, Irwin won professional tournaments on all six continents on which golf is played: Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Irwin played on five Ryder Cup teams: 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, and 1991. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.

Former U.S. Open champion and television analyst Ken Venturi said of Irwin: "Aesthetically and technically, Hale stands at the ball as well as any player I've ever seen."

Irwin qualified to play on the over-50 Senior PGA Tour (now Champions Tour) in 1995, and enjoyed even greater success at this level than he did on the PGA Tour. Through the 2014 season, he is the career leader in wins and earnings with 45 victories and over $26 million. Irwin won three consecutive PGA Seniors' Championships between 1996 and 1998, including a 12-stroke victory in the 1997 tournament, which was the largest ever margin of victory in a 72-hole Champions Tour event until Bernhard Langer's 13-stroke victory in the 2014 Senior Open Championship. Irwin's nine victories in 1997 tied the Senior Tour record set by Peter Thomson in 1985.

Irwin won the U.S. Senior Open in 1998 and 2000 for a career total of five USGA titles. He narrowly missed out on a third U.S. Senior Open title in 2004 when he finished one stroke behind Peter Jacobsen.

Irwin is the oldest player to finish in the top five in a senior major, with a third-place finish at the 2012 Senior PGA Championship at the age of 66. In the 2012 3M Championship, Irwin shot a score under his age for the first time in his career. His round of 65 included an eagle on the 9th hole and six consecutive birdies on the back nine.

In 2000, Irwin was ranked as the 19th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

Irwin is married to wife Sally and has two children. Irwin's son Steve qualified for the 2011 U.S. Open. Steve Irwin said of his father: "I'm very proud of him. The U.S. Open is what truly defined his career. It's been my ultimate goal in golf to play in the U.S. Open since I began competing."

For 25 years, Hale Irwin helped to raise money for the St. Louis Children's Hospital, which named a wing in his honor. Irwin also enjoys hunting and fishing and spending time with his grandchildren. He is the uncle of former CU lineman Heath Irwin.

• 1967 NCAA Division I Championship

PGA Tour wins (20)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Nov 28, 1971	Sea Pines Heritage Classic	68-73-68-70=279	−5	1 stroke	Bob Lunn
2	Sep 16, 1973	Sea Pines Heritage Classic	69-66-65-72=272	−12	5 strokes	Jerry Heard, Grier Jones
3	Jun 16, 1974	U.S. Open	73-70-71-73=287	+7	2 strokes	Forrest Fezler
4	Jun 1, 1975	Atlanta Classic	66-69-68-68=271	−17	4 strokes	Tom Watson
5	Jun 30, 1975	Western Open	71-68-71-73=283	−1	1 stroke	Bobby Cole
6	Feb 22, 1976	Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open	69-69-66-68=272	−12	2 strokes	Tom Watson
7	Mar 7, 1976	Florida Citrus Open	74-66-64-66=270	−18	Playoff	Kermit Zarley
8	May 29, 1977	Atlanta Classic	70-70-66-67=273	−15	1 stroke	Steve Veriato
9	Aug 28, 1977	Colgate Hall of Fame Golf Classic	65-62-69-68=264	−20	5 strokes	Leonard Thompson
10	Oct 16, 1977	San Antonio Texas Open	68-67-64-67=266	−14	2 strokes	Miller Barber
11	Jun 17, 1979	U.S. Open	74-68-67-75=284	Even	2 strokes	Jerry Pate, Gary Player
12	Feb 14, 1981	Hawaiian Open	68-66-62-69=265	−23	6 strokes	Don January
13	Aug 23, 1981	Buick Open	65-73-67-72=277	−11	Playoff	Bobby Clampett, Peter Jacobsen, Gil Morgan
14	Mar 14, 1982	Honda Inverrary Classic	65-71-67-66=269	−19	1 stroke	George Burns, Tom Kite
15	May 29, 1983	Memorial Tournament	71-71-70-69=281	−7	1 stroke	Ben Crenshaw, David Graham
16	Feb 5, 1984	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	69-69-68-72=278	−10	Playoff	Jim Nelford
17	May 26, 1985	Memorial Tournament	68-68-73-72=281	−7	1 stroke	Lanny Wadkins
18	Jun 18, 1990	U.S. Open	69-70-74-67=280	−8	Playoff	Mike Donald
19	Jun 24, 1990	Buick Classic	66-69-68-66=269	−15	2 strokes	Paul Azinger
20	Apr 17, 1994	MCI Heritage Golf Classic	68-65-65-68=266	−18	2 strokes	Greg Norman

PGA Tour playoff record (4–5)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1970	Los Angeles Open	Billy Casper	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2	1972	Liggett & Myers Open	David Graham, Lou Graham, Larry Ziegler	Lou Graham won with birdie on third extra hole David Graham and Ziegler eliminated with par on first hole
3	1976	Florida Citrus Open	Kermit Zarley	Won with par on sixth extra hole
4	1976	Memorial Tournament	Roger Maltbie	Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole
5	1981	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	John Cook, Bobby Clampett, Ben Crenshaw, Barney Thompson	Cook won with par on third extra hole Clampett, Crenshaw, and Thompson eliminated with birdie on first hole
6	1981	Buick Open	Bobby Clampett, Peter Jacobsen, Gil Morgan	Won with birdie on second extra hole
7	1984	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	Jim Nelford	Won with birdie on second extra hole
8	1990	U.S. Open	Mike Donald	Won with birdie on first extra hole after 18-hole playoff (Donald:74, Irwin:74)
9	1991	Memorial Tournament	Kenny Perry	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

• 1981 Bridgestone Open

Other wins (9)

• 1974 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship
• 1975 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship
• 1978 Australian PGA Championship, Lexington PGA Championship (South Africa)
• 1979 World Cup (team - with John Mahaffey and individual)
• 1982 Brazil Open
• 1986 Bahamas Classic
• 1987 Fila Classic

Champions Tour wins (45)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jul 30, 1995	Ameritech Senior Open	−22 (66-63-66=195)	8 strokes	Kermit Zarley
2	Oct 1, 1995	Vantage Championship	−17 (66-68-65=199)	4 strokes	Dave Stockton
3	Feb 25, 1996	American Express Invitational	−19 (66-67-64=197)	5 stroke	Bob Murphy
4	Apr 21, 1996	PGA Seniors' Championship	−8 (66-74-69-71=280)	2 strokes	Isao Aoki
5	Jan 19, 1997	MasterCard Championship	−9 (71-67-69=207)	2 strokes	Gil Morgan
6	Feb 9, 1997	LG Championship	−15 (70-66-65=201)	1 stroke	Bob Murphy
7	Apr 20, 1997	PGA Seniors' Championship	−14 (69-65-72-68=274)	12 strokes	Dale Douglass, Jack Nicklaus
8	Apr 27, 1997	Las Vegas Senior Classic	−6 (70-65-72=207)	1 stroke	Isao Aoki
9	Jul 20, 1997	Burnet Senior Classic	−17 (65-68-66=199)	2 strokes	Lee Trevino
10	Aug 3, 1997	BankBoston Classic	−13 (70-65-65=200)	2 strokes	Jerry McGee, Bob Wynn
11	Sep 14, 1997	Boone Valley Classic	−16 (70-65-65=200)	2 strokes	Gil Morgan
12	Oct 5, 1997	Vantage Championship	−18 (64-62-69=195)	1 stroke	Dave Eichelberger
13	Oct 19 1997	Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic	−13 (67-63-70=200)	3 strokes	Mike Hill, Bruce Summerhays
14	Mar 15, 1998	Toshiba Senior Classic	−13 (70-68-62=200)	1 stroke	Hubert Green
15	Apr 19, 1998	PGA Seniors' Championship	−13 (68-68-69-70=275)	6 strokes	Larry Nelson
16	Apr 26, 1998	Las Vegas Senior Classic	−7 (69-67-70-75=281)	1 stroke	Vicente Fernández
17	Jul 19, 1998	Ameritech Senior Open	−15 (62-66-73=201)	3 strokes	Larry Nelson
18	Jul 26, 1998	U.S. Senior Open	+1 (77-68-71-69=285)	1 stroke	Vicente Fernández
19	Aug 30, 1998	BankBoston Classic	−15 (69-64-68=201)	2 strokes	Jay Sigel
20	Nov 8, 1998	Energizer Senior Tour Championship	−14 (66-73-70-65=274)	5 strokes	Gil Morgan
21	May 9, 1999	Nationwide Championship	−10 (69-68-69=206)	1 stroke	Bob Murphy
22	May 30, 1999	Boone Valley Classic	−13 (68-69-66=203)	2 strokes	Al Geiberger
23	Jun 27, 1999	Ford Senior Players Championship	−21 (67-71-64-65=267)	7 strokes	Graham Marsh
24	Jul 18, 1999	Ameritech Senior Open	−10 (73-66-67=206)	1 stroke	Bruce Fleisher, Raymond Floyd, Gary McCord
25	Jul 25, 1999	Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic	−15 (64-68-69=201)	2 strokes	Jim Dent, Dale Douglass
26	May 14, 2000	Nationwide Championship	−9 (71-67-69=207)	1 stroke	Vicente Fernández
27	Jun 4, 2000	BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland	−18 (68-65-65=198)	1 stroke	Gil Morgan
28	Jul 2, 2000	U.S. Senior Open	−17 (66-71-65-65=267)	3 strokes	Bruce Fleisher
29	Oct 22, 2000	EMC Kaanapali Classic	−18 (71-62-65=198)	4 strokes	Joe Inman
30	Mar 18, 2001	Siebel Classic in Silicon Valley	−10 (71-70-65=206)	5 strokes	Allen Doyle, Tom Watson
31	Apr 28, 2001	Bruno's Memorial Classic	−21 (65-65-65=195)	4 strokes	Stewart Ginn
32	Oct 7 2001	Turtle Bay Championship	−11 (69-68-68=205)	3 strokes	John Jacobs
33	Feb 10, 2002	ACE Group Classic	−16 (68-64-68=200)	1 stroke	Tom Watson
34	Mar 10, 2002	Toshiba Senior Classic	−17 (67-64-65=196)	5 strokes	Allen Doyle
35	Aug 11, 2002	3M Championship	−12 (66-70-68=204)	3 strokes	Hubert Green
36	Oct 6, 2002	Turtle Bay Championship	−8 (69-69-70=208)	Playoff	Gary McCord
37	May 19, 2003	Kinko's Classic of Austin	−8 (69-66-73=208)	Playoff	Tom Watson
38	Oct 12, 2003	Turtle Bay Championship	−8 (68-73-67=208)	2 strokes	Tom Kite
39	Apr 25, 2004	Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf	−11 (66-68-71=205)	1 stroke	Gary Koch, Gil Morgan
40	May 30, 2004	Senior PGA Championship	−8 (67-69-69-71=276)	1 stroke	Jay Haas
41	Jan 30, 2005	Turtle Bay Championship	−16 (67-66-67=200)	5 strokes	Dana Quigley
42	Feb 27, 2005	Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am	−8 (72-69-68-67=276)	1 stroke	Morris Hatalsky, Mark McNulty
43	Sep 4, 2005	The First Tee Open at Pebble Beach	−13 (66-69-68=203)	1 stroke	Morris Hatalsky, Gil Morgan, Craig Stadler
44	Oct 2, 2005	SAS Championship	−13 (69-68-66=203)	2 strokes	Bob Gilder, Tom Jenkins
45	Jan 21, 2007	MasterCard Championship at Hualalai	−23 (66-62-65=193)	5 strokes	Tom Kite

Champions Tour playoff record (2–6)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	1996	Boone Valley Classic	Gibby Gilbert	Lost to par on first extra hole
2	1999	BankBoston Classic	Tom McGinnis	Lost to birdie on second extra hole
3	1999	AT&T Canada Senior Open Championship	Jim Ahern	Lost to par on second extra hole
4	2002	SBC Senior Open	Bob Gilder	Lost to par on first extra hole
5	2002	Lightpath Long Island Classic	Hubert Green	Lost to birdie on seventh extra hole
6	2002	Turtle Bay Championship	Gary McCord	Won with birdie on first extra hole
7	2003	Kinko's Classic of Austin	Tom Watson	Won with birdie on second extra hole
8	2004	Administaff Small Business Classic	Larry Nelson	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Senior majors are shown in bold.

Other senior wins (12)

• 1995 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Raymond Floyd and Jack Nicklaus)
• 1996 Lexus Challenge (with Sean Connery)
• 1997 Senior Slam at Los Cabos
• 1998 Senior Match Play Challenge, Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Gil Morgan and Larry Nelson)
• 1999 Senior Skins Game, Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson)
• 2000 Our Lucaya Senior Slam
• 2001 Senior Skins Game
• 2002 Senior Skins Game
• 2003 Office Depot Father/Son Challenge (with son Steve)
• 2005 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Jay Haas and Craig Stadler)

Wins (3)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
1974	U.S. Open	1 shot deficit	+7 (73-70-71-73=287)	2 strokes	Forrest Fezler
1979	U.S. Open (2)	3 shot lead	E (74-68-67-75=284)	2 strokes	Jerry Pate, Gary Player
1990	U.S. Open (3)	4 shot deficit	−8 (69-70-74-67=280)	Playoff1	Mike Donald

1Defeated Mike Donald with a birdie on the 19th hole after they were tied at 74 (+2) in an 18-hole playoff.

Results timeline

DNP = did not play
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

• Most consecutive cuts made – 26 (1972 U.S. Open – 1979 Open Championship)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 5 (1975 Masters – 1976 Masters)

Wins (7)

Year	Championship	Winning score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
1996	PGA Seniors' Championship	−8 (66-74-69-71=280)	2 strokes	Isao Aoki
1997	PGA Seniors' Championship (2)	−14 (69-65-72-68=274)	12 strokes	Dale Douglass, Jack Nicklaus
1998	PGA Seniors' Championship (3)	−13 (68-68-69-70=275)	7 strokes	Larry Nelson
1998	U.S. Senior Open	+1 (77-68-71-69=285)	1 stroke	Vicente Fernández
1999	Ford Senior Players Championship	−21 (67-71-64-65=267)	7 strokes	Graham Marsh
2000	U.S. Senior Open (2)	−17 (66-71-65-65=267)	3 strokes	Bruce Fleisher
2004	Senior PGA Championship (4)	−8 (67-69-69-71=276)	1 stroke	Jay Haas

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2016.

The Senior British Open was not a Champions Tour major until 2003.
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

This list may be incomplete.
Professional

• Ryder Cup: 1975 (winners), 1977 (winners), 1979 (winners), 1981 (winners), 1991 (winners)
• Presidents Cup: 1994 (winners)
• World Cup: 1974, 1979 (winners, individual winner)
• UBS Cup: 2001 (winners), 2002 (winners), 2003 (tie), 2004 (winners)