Irwin returns to scene of triumph

We remember the celebration. He remembers Mike Donald's mistake in the playoff.

We remember a 45-foot over-the-hill-and-'round-the-curve birdie putt falling in on the 72nd hole and a 45-year-old veteran taking a lap around the green to high-five anyone with an out-stretched palm. He remembers playing those last eight holes 5-under-par and posting a score for everyone else to shoot at.

We remember him clutching that third U.S. Open trophy. He remembers the long road back.

Maybe the golf gods were trying to give us a peek into the future nine years ago when Hale Irwin defied the odds to come from behind in the final round, force a playoff and beat Donald in 19 holes to win the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah. Maybe they were tipping us off that this guy's career wasn't over. That there was so much more lying ahead.

Irwin himself wasn't quite sure of where he was headed. The more he immersed himself in golf course design, the more he struggled with his game. He was 45 and hadn't won since 1985. Could he still play with the big boys? Was the Senior PGA Tour even an option in the future? Did he want to be working on his game at 50 or sitting back and enjoying the show?

Irwin had told himself 1990 was the year. He was going to put everything he had into the season and see where it took him. At Medinah, where he was given a special exemption into the field, he found the answer.

"I've played it in my mind a lot of times,'' he said of the final round and the playoff, "and I still shoot the same scores. And I still keep winning.''

Irwin returns to the Chicago-area course Tuesday for the first time since that Monday in June when he came from two-shots down in the playoff to win that third Open. He hasn't had a reason to play Medinah -- or even drop by -- since then. And, would it really matter? The course they're playing for this PGA Championship will be longer and, quite likely, a bit kinder and gentler than the one the USGA set up in 1990.

"We're playing it at 7,500 and that seems terribly long to me,'' Irwin said. "Basically, I think we're going to see an extended version of what we saw in 1990, but this is not a U.S. Open. The PGA will take a different approach in grooming and preparation so I think we'll see a somewhat mellower version. But, then again, that may be offset by the length."

Just as he did in 1990, Irwin comes into Medinah with something to prove. At 54, he's tearing up the senior tour for a third straight year, but he wants to, at the very least, be competitive.

He was more than that two years ago at Winged Foot when, at 52, his name was being tossed out as a potential captain's pick for the Ryder Cup. Even by 1997 captain Tom Kite. "I thought I was out of the Ryder Cup race until so many people started asking about it,'' he said. "Then, when I played a practice round with Tom, I started thinking, well, maybe I could make it."

Obviously, he didn't. But oddsmakers would have given him a better chance at that than they would have winning that Open at Medinah. It wasn't that he wasn't still one of the best mid-iron players in the game. It wasn't that he hadn't won a pair of Opens earlier. It was that he was in his mid-40s and was no longer a frequent visitor to the top 10.

Even Irwin admitted he was a long shot. He was playing just OK that week, not great. He was going along watching a couple of kids -- Billy Ray Brown and Donald -- grab the attention. And, going into that final round, he was four shots -- and a pack of players -- behind Brown and Donald.

Irwin who didn't consider himself a contender was just about to head to the tee when Brown walked over and asked for some advice on how to handle the day. Irwin told him to try to keep simple and play his own game.

A few minutes later, Irwin, who had changed putters going into the final round because he wasn't comfortable on the greens, was almost to the tee when he thought, that advice just might apply to him, too.

"I had at best a long shot to win,'' Irwin said. "Through the first 10 holes, I wasn't in the top 15. I was playing respectable, but not great. And after I hit the tee shot at 11, I thought if I play 1 under from here in I can finish in the top 15 and get invited back for the following year. I immediately birdied 11. So then I'm thinking I could make the top 10 if I played in.

"Then I birdied 12 and I started thinking I could make the top 5. Then I birdied 13 and 14 and now I'm at 7 under and the lead at the time was 9 (under). I'm thinking if I can get to 8 under and post it and they're out there looking at it, I have a chance."

He did indeed get there, dropping that 45-foot birdie on the 72nd hole. Then, he sat back and waited.

"I played 5 under the last eight holes of a U.S. Open and that far surpassed anything I could imagine,'' he said. "It put me in the clubhouse with the lead and everyone else was out there scrambling.''

He remembers watching Donald, Brown and Nick Faldo all make runs. He remembers making the playoff against Donald and realizing that long-shot had turned into a 50-50 chance.

"What I've got is a player who hasn't been there,'' Irwin said. "As far as technically hitting the ball better, he had the advantage. But I had my experience and I hoped that would carry the day."

It did. Irwin started fast and Donald caught up, then cruised on by. The kid from Hollywood, Fla., had a two-shot lead with three holes to play. And, he was up at the 18th, when Irwin let his drive fly into the fairway.

"I'm standing there to the side saying "please hit driver' because if he pulls it out, I might have a chance,'' Irwin said. "He'd been hitting a little fairway wood all day and hitting it well. But here, I thought he might go to driver and if he did, well, he wasn't used to hitting it."

Irwin's wish came true. Donald pulled his driver and sent his tee shot into the trees. Irwin caught him, then won on the 19th hole.

"I started the day by giving experience (to Brown), then using my experience, then falling back on my experience,'' he said.

That win, coupled with his win at the Buick Classic the next week made Irwin's decision easy. Yes, he could still play and still wanted to play. He added the exclamation point four years later with a win at the MCI Heritage, then headed to the senior tour.

Irwin has struck an easy -- but fast-paced -- balance between design and golf. Last week, he took a week away to give design his full attention. Come Tuesday, golf takes center stage.

Just two months ago, we were wondering if Irwin would swing a club again this year. He withdrew during the second round of the U.S. Open with a painful rotator cuff. "I probably could have limped along and finished, but I realized it didn't make any sense for me to keep playing,'' he said. "If it was the rotator cuff, it would take months to heal."

He left the course and went to the Ford Players Championship, the third senior major of the year, the following week in Detroit. The trainers worked on his shoulder and discovered it was only a tight muscle. The rest? Well, Irwin won that week and has won twice more since.

He owes a lot of it to that week at Medinah where it seems the golf gods were indeed giving us a look into the future.

AP

AP