Hale Irwin

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Hale Irwin
Personal Information
Birth June 3, 1945 (1945-06-03) (age 63)
Joplin, Missouri
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg)
Nationality Flag of the United States United States
College University of Colorado
Career
Turned Pro 1968
Current tour Champions Tour
Professional wins 87 (PGA Tour: 20, Other: 10, Champions Tour: 45, Other senior: 12)
Best Results in Major Championships
Wins: 3
Masters T4: 1974, 1975
U.S. Open Won 1974, 1979, 1990
British Open T2: 1983
PGA Championship T5: 1975
Awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 1992

Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American professional golfer. He is one of the few players in history to have won three U.S. Opens and was one of the world's leading golfers for much of the 1970s and 1980s. He is the uncle of Heath Irwin.

Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 1967, 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 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. He also won two Piccadilly World Match Play Championships at Wentworth in the 1970s. His successes 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.[1]

Irwin played on five Ryder Cup teams: 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, and 1991.

Irwin's first U.S. Open triumph came at Winged Foot in 1974, and he added a second in 1979. The next month, he came to the final round of the The Open Championship with a two-shot lead, but was thwarted in his attempt at an historic double by the incredible recovery play of Severiano Ballesteros. In 1983, Irwin had another close tilt at the Open, but lost by a shot, having called a penalty on himself in an early round for casually taking an "air shot" over a short putt. He was rarely on leaderboards from then for most of the rest of the 1980s, but enjoyed an incredible swansong in 1990, capped by his third U.S. Open victory, which came in a playoff against Mike Donald which Irwin had only joined after holing an improbable 45-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole.

Irwin qualified to play on the over-50 Champions Tour (formerly the Senior PGA Tour) in 1995 and has enjoyed even greater success at this level than he did on the PGA Tour. He has won 45 Champions Tour titles and tops the all-time Champions Tour money list with earnings of over USD $23 million. He was the winner of the U.S. Senior Open in 1998 and 2000.

He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.

In 2000, Irwin was ranked as the 19th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.[2]

Contents

[edit] Amateur wins (1)

[edit] Professional wins (87)

[edit] PGA Tour wins (20)

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] Other wins (10)

[edit] Champions Tour wins (45)

Senior majors are shown in bold.

[edit] Other senior wins (12)

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (3)

Year Championship Winning Score Margin Runner(s) Up
1974 U.S. Open +7 (73-70-71-73=287) 2 strokes Flag of the United States Forrest Fezler
1979 U.S. Open (2) E (74-68-67-75=284) 2 strokes Flag of the United States Jerry Pate, Flag of South Africa Gary Player
1990 U.S. Open (3) -8 (69-70-74-67-74=280) Playoff1 Flag of the United States Mike Donald

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

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament 1966 1967 1968 1969
The Masters DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open T61 DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Masters DNP T13 CUT DNP T4 T4 T5 5 8 T23
U.S. Open DNP T19 T36 T20 1 T3 T26 T41 T4 1
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP T24 T9 T32 T46 T24 6
PGA Championship T31 T22 T11 T9 DNP T5 T34 T44 T12 CUT
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Masters CUT T25 CUT T6 T21 T36 CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open T8 T58 T39 T39 6 14 CUT CUT T17 T54
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP T2 T14 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship T30 T16 T42 T14 T25 T32 T26 DNP T38 DNP
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters DNP T10 T47 T27 T18 T14 T29 DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open 1 T11 T51 T62 T18 CUT T50 T52 CUT WD
The Open Championship T53 T57 T19 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship T12 T73 T66 T6 T39 T54 DNP T29 DNP T41
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
The Masters DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open T27 T52 CUT WD DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT

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

[edit] United States national team appearances

This list may be incomplete.

[edit] Professional

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
  2. ^ Yocom, Guy (July 2000). 50 Greatest Golfers of All Time: And What They Taught Us. Golf Digest. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.

[edit] External links

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U.S. Open champions

1895 Horace Rawlins · 1896 James Foulis · 1897 Joe Lloyd · 1898 Fred Herd · 1899 Willie Smith · 1900 Harry Vardon · 1901 Willie Anderson · 1902 Laurie Auchterlonie · 1903 Willie Anderson · 1904 Willie Anderson · 1905 Willie Anderson · 1906 Alex Smith · 1907 Alec Ross · 1908 Fred McLeod · 1909 George Sargent · 1910 Alex Smith · 1911 John McDermott · 1912 John McDermott · 1913 Francis Ouimet · 1914 Walter Hagen · 1915 Jerome Travers · 1916 Chick Evans · 1917-18 Cancelled due to World War I · 1919 Walter Hagen · 1920 Ted Ray · 1921 Jim Barnes · 1922 Gene Sarazen · 1923 Bobby Jones · 1924 Cyril Walker · 1925 Willie Macfarlane · 1926 Bobby Jones · 1927 Tommy Armour · 1928 Johnny Farrell · 1929 Bobby Jones · 1930 Bobby Jones · 1931 Billy Burke · 1932 Gene Sarazen · 1933 Johnny Goodman · 1934 Olin Dutra · 1935 Sam Parks, Jr. · 1936 Tony Manero · 1937 Ralph Guldahl · 1938 Ralph Guldahl · 1939 Byron Nelson · 1940 Lawson Little · 1941 Craig Wood · 1942-45 Cancelled due to World War II · 1946 Lloyd Mangrum · 1947 Lew Worsham · 1948 Ben Hogan · 1949 Cary Middlecoff · 1950 Ben Hogan · 1951 Ben Hogan · 1952 Julius Boros · 1953 Ben Hogan · 1954 Ed Furgol · 1955 Jack Fleck · 1956 Cary Middlecoff · 1957 Dick Mayer · 1958 Tommy Bolt · 1959 Billy Casper · 1960 Arnold Palmer · 1961 Gene Littler · 1962 Jack Nicklaus · 1963 Julius Boros · 1964 Ken Venturi · 1965 Gary Player · 1966 Billy Casper · 1967 Jack Nicklaus · 1968 Lee Trevino · 1969 Orville Moody · 1970 Tony Jacklin · 1971 Lee Trevino · 1972 Jack Nicklaus · 1973 Johnny Miller · 1974 Hale Irwin · 1975 Lou Graham · 1976 Jerry Pate · 1977 Hubert Green · 1978 Andy North · 1979 Hale Irwin · 1980 Jack Nicklaus · 1981 David Graham · 1982 Tom Watson · 1983 Larry Nelson · 1984 Fuzzy Zoeller · 1985 Andy North · 1986 Raymond Floyd · 1987 Scott Simpson · 1988 Curtis Strange · 1989 Curtis Strange · 1990 Hale Irwin · 1991 Payne Stewart · 1992 Tom Kite · 1993 Lee Janzen · 1994 Ernie Els · 1995 Corey Pavin · 1996 Steve Jones · 1997 Ernie Els · 1998 Lee Janzen · 1999 Payne Stewart · 2000 Tiger Woods · 2001 Retief Goosen · 2002 Tiger Woods · 2003 Jim Furyk · 2004 Retief Goosen · 2005 Michael Campbell · 2006 Geoff Ogilvy · 2007 Ángel Cabrera
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