Irwin revival begins at Senior Slam

A trip south of the border revived Hale Irwin's golf game.

Irwin showed further signs of coming out of a season-long funk as he fired a 7-under-par 65 today for a two-stroke lead at the $600,000 Senior Slam.

By his record-setting standards, Irwin severely slumped at the start of the year. His fourth-place finish at the GTE Classic two weeks ago was his best of 1999.

Gil Morgan, who has shadowed Irwin as the second-best player on the Senior Tour the last two years, shot a 5-under 67 and is second in the four-man field. Larry Nelson is another shot back and Jay Sigel is well off the pace with a 1-over 73.

Morgan defeated Irwin by six shots in last year's event, which is 36 holes of stroke play over two days.

Last year, Irwin, 53, captured the PGA Seniors' Championship and U.S. Senior Open last year en route to seven victories and a Tour-record $2,861,945 in winnings.

He has struggled this year, finishing 23rd at the MasterCard Championship and 19th at the American Express Invitational. Irwin shot over par in three of six rounds of his first two tournaments before bouncing back at the GTE Classic.

Today, Irwin started fast, birdying the first two holes. Morgan gave chase, gaining strokes on three of the first four holes. Irwin pulled even at No. 5 with another birdie and the two battled until the 15th hole, where Irwin took charge.

On the 164-yard 15th, he watched as Morgan, Nelson and Sigel hit 7-irons short of the green. After debating whether he could reach with the same club, Irwin opted for a 6-iron and drilled it three feet from the cup.

He parlayed that momentum to the 16th hole, cutting the corner on the 387-yard dogleg and lifting a 110-yard pitching wedge within four feet. Irwin capped his round with a birdie on the par-5 18th, chipping his third shot to set up a tap-in.

"I got away with a few shots out here today," he said. "I had a lot of scoring opportunities and took advantage of them. I played well, I'm fortunate to be where I am. It's a new course for us and the putts are a little difficult for us, a little difficult to read."

Morgan won 1998's other two majors -- the Tradition and Senior Players Championship. He also has struggled in the early going, recording just one top-10 finish in five starts.

Morgan played bogey-free golf today, also getting birdies at Nos. 10 and 17. Nelson had five birdies and a bogey, while Sigel offset two birdies with three three-putt bogeys.

"I played consistently, I didn't get into too much trouble tee to green," said Morgan, who added, "I just didn't make as many putts. Hale putted well. We watched him make a lot of putts today."

Since joining the Senior Tour, Irwin has been the dominant golfer on the circuit, winning 20 Senior Tour events in 80 starts entering 1999. In addition, he also has 19 runner-up finishes and five third-place showings and has won more than $7.6 million on the Senior Tour.

However, Irwin is 24th on the money list in the early going with $91,333 in the three events.

Nelson and Sigel were added to the field for their status as the third and fourth-highest money-winners on the elder circuit in 1998. Neither golfer won the needed major that would make them eligible for the Senior Slam but combined for five wins in in 1998.

Irwin, Morgan, Nelson and Sigel will play 18 more holes on Wednesday. The winner will receive $300,000, with $150,000 going to the runner-up and $90,000 to the third-place finisher. All four players are guaranteed at least $60,000.

Other previous winners of the Senior Slam are Tom Shaw (1994), Raymond Floyd (1995, 1996) and Irwin (1997)