Gilder beats Irwin in playoff

Bob Gilder won the SBC Senior Open on a steamy Sunday afternoon when the sand, the water, the high grass and a high bounce off a cart path ganged up on Hale Irwin.

``You don't want to see that happen to anybody because you wouldn't want it to happen to you. You kind of feel bad, but you feel good,'' Gilder said after his victory on the first playoff hole that saw Irwin experience every weekend hacker's worst nightmare.

Irwin, five strokes behind Gilder after the second round, had a 6-under 66 to briefly overtake Gilder, who finished with a 71 after shooting a course-record 63 on Saturday.

After Irwin -- playing four groups ahead -- forged ahead, it was Gilder's turn to rally. He tied Irwin at 12 under with a birdie on No. 16 and then rimmed out a makeable birdie putt that would have won on the final hole of regulation.

Back to 18 for the playoff, both players hit their tee shots in the same right bunker.

Gilder's second shot went below a cart path into the rough. Irwin's ball hit the cart path, bounced and lodged in high grass.

That's where Irwin, the senior tour's career leader in victories and a three-time champion in this event, really found trouble.

Trying to hit the ball sideways, he barely made contact in the grass on his third shot, then knocked his fourth shot out of the grass and completely across the fairway into the water.

Irwin finally reached the green with his sixth shot, pretty much assuring victory for Gilder, last year's tour rookie of the year.

``He was upset, you get a bounce like that and it's up in the hay,'' Gilder said.

Like everyone else, Gilder watched as Irwin tried to extract his ball and save the tournament, or at least prolong it.

``I saw that the first one didn't come out and I said, `Ok let's not make a mistake.' Then when he hit the second one and it went across the fairway into the water, it was basically over,'' Gilder said. ``I'm not going to blow it unless he holes in from there.''

Irwin, 0-4 in senior playoffs, said it was difficult to stay loose while he waited for the final group to finish.

Then his game, so steady all day, deteroriated on the first playoff hole, starting with his tee shot into the bunker. His second shot was even worse.

``Hitting in the bunker wasn't so bad. I played a lofted club, the wind got it and it went dead right. Once it hit the cart path, I was pretty much cooked,'' Irwin said.

``I had a precaurious lie and I had to take an unusual stance. The ball was lying on an old piece of grass, teetering up in the air 3 or 4 inches.

``I thought I could hit it and then when I didn't advance it, it was sitting down. All I did was hit the top of the ball and it went out fast. I didn't have much of a choice.''

Gilder reached the green with his third shot -- a chip out of the rough -- and two-putted.

While he was waiting to see if he would still be playing, Irwin watched from a golf cart, went out to practice and then returned to see Gilder miss his putt on the 18th in regulation.

``When you sit around for 30 or 40 minutes, you lose a bit of your edge. I think affected me in the playoff,'' Irwin said.

With temperatures in the upper 90s at Harborside International, Irwin shot 3 under on the front nine and pulled into a tie with Gilder at 10 under by making a birdie at No. 11.

Irwin then took a lead into the clubhouse at 12 under with birdies at the 13th and 17th holes.

Gilder won $217,500 for his third tour win. Irwin, the three-time U.S. Open champipn who has 34 senior victories, earned $127,600.

Bruce Fleisher shot a 66 to finish third at 10 under.

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