home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 27, 2005

Hale Irwin

KETTERING, OHIO

RAND JERRIS: It's our pleasure to welcome Hale Irwin to the interview room this afternoon. Hale is a five time USGA national champion, having won the U.S. Open in 1974, 1979 and 1990 and the Senior Open in 1998 and 2000.

Hale, with five national Open Championships to your credit, you have more national titles than anyone else in the field this week. What do you think has been the key to your success in championships like this?

HALE IRWIN: I think you first have to look forward to this kind of an event in terms of how the course is going to be prepared, how you're going to play it, the difficulty that you're going to encounter. It's not something that you can roll into and just say, well, I'm going to get through the week with what I've got and that will be good enough. That's not it.

I think you have to come in to this particular week certainly, but any of the national events with the idea in mind that it's going to be a difficult week, you're going to be challenged continually, and having a good bit of patience, to mention just a part of the formula, and the other part would certainly be to have some talent to play the game, but I think you have to have all the disciplines, you have to have driving and the iron game and the short game, they all have to be not necessarily perfect, but they all have to be in good shape.

It's more of a contest of not just testing not necessarily every club in your bag, but certainly all the elements that go into playing golf successfully, but I think as much as anything else, it's the patience and the discipline required to get through from Thursday to Sunday.

Q. Are you satisfied that you've had enough preparation on this course now?

HALE IRWIN: Well, I don't know if you'll ever get quite enough preparation on this particular course because the greens are going to be ultimately the biggest challenge, I think. It may take several more rounds before the players get even semi comfortable with knowing where to play it, and this rain is going to make the course play differently certainly than what we've seen over the last few days.

I had not intended to play an entire 18 holes today, but when the forecast came about that we were going to have a wind shift, that's why I played today, to see how it would play from a completely different direction than what we've experienced it.

It will slow some of the greens down, but I think you can just sort of say what we've seen Monday and Tuesday and then today, what was learned Monday and Tuesday may have to kind of take the back seat, and we'll see what it brings to the weekend.

But I don't know if this course would ever say that you've prepared completely, simply because the greens have so much slope in them, I don't think the question running rampant in the locker room, where are you going to find four hole locations on some of these greens? Anyway, everybody is guessing where they're going to be, and we all are experts, it'll be here, it'll be there, and you never know until you get out there. But at the same time, as you're preparing to play, you expect the holes in locations, and there are some that you just kind of scratch your head and say, "where?"

Q. And the rain will change that, too, will it not? I mean, if the greens are softer, you'll have more pin positions?

HALE IRWIN: Well, I don't know about more hole locations. Other than that you're going to have to really look at how much the ball is going to spin.

One of the things I saw when I first came here was that holes like No. 6 or No. 10, I don't know if you guys are familiar with those holes, I'm sure some of you are, but you know when you're hitting a short iron into those holes, a wedge, whether it be a lob wedge or a 56 or whatever, you're going to be getting a lot of spin on the ball.

And now with it soft, you could be spinning those things let's say you're going to have to be careful you don't spin it off the greens because there will be some places here where you could perhaps spin the ball 20, 30, 40, 50 feet. With this rain and the soft conditions that we'll see tomorrow, that will be a factor.

So it's not as if over the last several days you would be able to hold the ball in those positions. Now it's going to be coming in the other direction. It'll be interesting. But that's part of this formula we were talking about. You have to have a game that's adaptable, you have to be able to hit some flat shots, take the spin off the ball to play with those conditions, and you just can't take that game and go play because it doesn't always work that way.

Q. With the golf course tomorrow probably playing softer, the fairways, is that going to play an advantage for the longer players or possibly have a problem with players holding the fairways, that type of thing? Will it be an advantage to the longer player?

HALE IRWIN: Well, the longer player, of course, always has a distinct advantage if he drives it in the fairway. The scenario doesn't quite apply as it used to. If you're a long player, you're probably not too accurate. Now you have a lot of long hitting players that are still quite accurate, but with this rain, and boy, it's really letting up, isn't it, the rough is going to be that much thicker.

So short or long, you'd better be in the fairway. I don't know as it's going to matter so much. The shorter the shot, the greater the spin on the ball, so it may be in some cases you hit more club so you don't have as much spin on the ball to hold it in these areas. But again, we're all kind of guessing where some of these hole locations are going to be because the greens are large, there are a number of hole locations that are available on many of the greens, but on some of them there are very few hole locations. It may not be the smartest thing in the world to play to every one of those hole locations, too. You might want to hit away from it.

This is probably because it's a new venue for us, we haven't played here much, I don't think many of the players have played here at all until this week, we don't have a history. So we don't have like a normal week or perhaps a Pinehurst or places we have been where we have a hole location here, this is Sunday and this is probably Friday and you can kind of guess where they're going to be. That's not the case.

But getting back to your length part, I wish I was 30 yards longer, yes.

Q. Between obviously the heat Monday and Tuesday and then all the rain today, you've played a bunch of different types of weather. What's been some of the worst weather conditions you've had to play tournaments in?

HALE IRWIN: The worst I've ever played in was in Scotland one year. It was raining about this hard but sideways. The umbrella was better used at a right angle, and I could not put enough clothes on. It had snowed up in the Scottish highlands, and I'll get personal here, I was wearing long underwear, wool pants and rain pants. I had on a tee shirt, a turtle neck, a sweater and a raincoat over that and a stocking cap over my head, and I expanded my hat to fit over the stocking cap, and I had a glove on one hand, and over there they had something that looked like a head cover because when they pull their little trolleys, they put these things over their hand so it doesn't get cold and it has a zipper so you can roll it up your sleeve, hit your shot and zip it back up. Oh, that was fun (laughter). Got to play two matches in that stuff that day.

This is a real sidelight, but it was at Turnberry, that's where it was, I went up to my room to take a hot bath. I went in and the sheer drapes in my room were just billowing. I thought, "oh, my God, the maids left the windows open." So I go to close them, they were closed. It's just how much wind was blowing through the cracks in the windows. So I get the hot tub of water and I get to where I can just stick my nose up out of the water to I felt like a whale breathing. There are some pretty miserable times, yes, but that was the worst.

Q. Is there an adjustment period in golf for those people who play the PGA TOUR and then move to the Champions Tour? I'm wondering in particular about Greg Norman, whether there's any kind of advantage he has because he's recently been playing very well, quite frankly, on the regular Tour.

HALE IRWIN: How much has Greg been playing?

Q. Not much.

HALE IRWIN: Why the advantage? I don't think he has an advantage in terms of that. His advantage might be Greg is a very proven player, but he hasn't played a lot, and to cite his Senior British results I think is just one example.

You might go back to the British Open, and I can't recall how he did there, but I don't think Greg has played a lot of competitive golf, or if he has I haven't followed it. His advantage would be in that he's just turned 50. He may or may not has he been in here? You'll have to read him better than I. I haven't seen Greg in years. His enthusiasm, good, up, down, I have no idea. But the adjustments, I think, that are required to be made, I think you have to make it in your head. You have to make it in your mind that you are now going to play here and that's it.

I think Jay Haas has proven going back and forth while he was successful last year, he didn't play a lot of the Champions Tour, yes, he had a little bit of success, but this year he's come over and he hasn't played that well, missing the cut at the Senior PGA.

I think outside those of us who play on the regular Tour and those that follow the Champions Tour a lot, the caliber of play is underrated, and it's not like you can step over from the regular Tour and see immediate success. It's just not there. It may happen, but it's not that easy.

So to say Greg has got an advantage, I don't think he has any more advantage or even less advantage than a Loren Roberts who has played a lot and who has had some success in recent events on the regular Tour.

Q. Let's talk now about the important thing that really hits me: How's your game, your game? You're the man that's got to make it happen. Lord, I have seen you high five in Chicago.

HALE IRWIN: God, are we on the air?

Q. Yep.

HALE IRWIN: I'm ready. Let's go, Baby.

Q. Talk about your game.

HALE IRWIN: Well, over the last at the Ford Seniors I had a good event there. I won't say I should have won, but I had an excellent chance to win, finished 2nd. Peter Jacobsen had the good fortune of winning there.

I had a good practice round here Monday, Tuesday hit the ball quite nicely, today a little different, simply because when I really hit the ball well and I do the things I can do, my back starts flaring up a little bit, and today I got in kind of a little protection mode, so it was a little off today. But again, a different golf course, and I was more interested in seeing the golf course from a different perspective than how I was hitting it.

To me, going out and playing golf, that's the easiest part of performing. The hardest part is some of the adjustments you have to make, and I wanted to see how the course played today and the adjustments. Perhaps where I might have been hitting a 3 wood off the tee, now perhaps it's a driver or vice versa. I wanted to see how the greens were now going to hold these shots, and as I mentioned, it's much softer now. But again, not knowing where the hole locations are going to be, it's kind of hard to know.

So I was just more interested in seeing the course under different conditions.

Now, my game, I couldn't tell you day to day, week to week how my game is. I don't worry much about it. I concern myself tomorrow on the 1st tee just putting the ball in the fairway and I go from there. That sounds kind of trite and not very exciting, but that's kind of the way I approach it. I don't get hung up on whether I'm hitting the ball really well or really not. There are a few things I know I should have done today, but again, I kind of backed off and I was in a little protection mode with my back.

Q. I've been with you when you won major championships. I know what it's like when you go after them, always the last round you seem more intense. Do you still feel pressure?

HALE IRWIN: Hell, yes. Oh, yeah. If you don't feel some anxiety, if you don't feel some pressure, if you don't get excited about the moment, then why are you here? When I don't feel that, you'll see me driving down the road and I won't come back. That's certainly part of why I do what I do, because I enjoy that competitive moment.

I like going up against Greg Norman. I like going up against Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. I wish Tiger Woods was here. I think we'd all play better. I enjoy that.

I'd get pounded to the ground a lot of times, but occasionally I do get up and I get in my licks. But I enjoy that competitive challenge. I enjoy going out and trying to maneuver the golf ball around a golf course the way it's supposed to be done. I enjoy those challenges. When that time doesn't come and I can't get excited about a shot or a situation that I did several years ago, maybe it's more than several, but let's put it this way: I'm not as nervous on the 1st tee on Thursday as I used to be, but I'm probably, if I'm in contention, as anxious on the 1st tee on Sunday that I was in the past. It just takes a little longer to get the engine wound up to get there. But it's still there.

Q. Quick follow up to that. Each year you always hear the new 50 year olds coming out that you probably look forward to, come on, bring them on because I'm not quite done yet.

HALE IRWIN: Oh, okay, that sounds all right. Is that a quote?

Q. I don't know, you can put it into your words.

HALE IRWIN: No, I want to be quoted on that. I don't know if it's so much of again, whoever it is, put a bag over their head. It doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter who they are, what their age is, what they look like. It doesn't matter. Ultimately it comes down to me doing my thing and whoever else is out there, if I do my thing the way I think I'm capable of, I'll be all right. That doesn't mean that I'm going to out last or out play everybody else. It's just that that's all I can be is what I am, and the best I can play is my best effort, and my best effort one day, going back to '98, my best effort the first round was 77. That's as good as I could make it. It wasn't very good, but that's the best I could do that day.

So I don't worry too much about who it is, but I do welcome Loren and Greg and all the newcomers because I think they have great credibility, they're bringing great careers and great substance to the forgive me for referring to this as the Champions Tour, but to the over 50 crowd. I think it shows that there are still some quality players with quality credentials that can still play some quality golf. I love to be in that environment.

Q. All things relative, looking back on your career on the PGA, now on the Champions Tour, what's been harder to do in terms of majors, winning majors? Was it harder to do it on the PGA TOUR or the Champions Tour or is it all equal?

HALE IRWIN: Well, I think, whenever you've played on just about any major venue, any major tournament, any major venue, you had a certain number of guys that you had to beat. The majority of players were beaten before you got there, simply because their games weren't up to those standards or they mentally didn't feel you were capable of doing that. You always had to beat Jack Nicklaus, you always had to beat Tom Watson, you always had to beat the great players that were there. That hasn't changed. It's just there are not as many of those players.

You will always have the occasional player that comes up, a Hale Irwin winning at Winged Foot in 1974. You'll always have that player come on. Some of the newcomers that have won regular tournaments, I've got blank, whether it be the British Open or the PGA. It doesn't matter. You'll have those newcomers that are going to win their first major somewhere before they establish a string of them, if they do.

So there's always that. But I always felt like there was at least, on the regular Tour, there probably is 10 to 20 guys that you felt like you had to beat, and there was always five or so, four or five, that you knew will always be there. You can kind of look at that same thing now on this Tour. You can kind of look at the same thing. You've still got Tom Watson, who's proven he can still play at major championship caliber level, Loren Roberts and Greg Norman and Jay Haas, and those are the "rookies," that doesn't say anything about Craig Stadler, who's been out here a few years now, a real veteran, guys that can still play that are major championship winners.

So I think you look at the same sort of format, same sort of formula, but the approach doesn't change much, at least in my mind. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it changes.

Q. With this being a somewhat strange golf course to the entire field, does that bring more people into the possibility of winning? Are there more people with a chance on a deal like this?

HALE IRWIN: I think just the opposite. I think it probably brings less players into it because they're going to have to be able to the players that do well here are going to have the familiarity with unfamiliarity. They're going to expect the unexpected and be comfortable with that. As trite as that may sound, I think that is very applicable, simply because, as I mentioned earlier, you have to have that flexibility in your game. You have to have a little bit of the lift and shift syndrome, to be able to change gears, and the experienced players, the proven winners, are able to do that.

If you're coming in here with one gear, it's just not going to make it. And I think unfamiliarity with the golf course probably plays into the hands of the experienced player more so than it does the inexperienced player.

Q. You talked a little bit before about Norman and a guy when he becomes 50 kind of stepping it up here. Did you have to do the same thing? Was it an adjustment for you?

HALE IRWIN: No, I think the adjustment is if you're hung up on 50 or 60 or 40 or whatever that if you get hung up on that number, that may have an influence. But I think more importantly to me, if you go from, not so much this week because you're playing in a four round event and you're playing under major championship conditions, so that's not a big step, but if you're playing a regular Champions Tour event, you have a format change, you're three rounds instead of four, no cut, sort of a different you're around a different level of intensity, and I cite this a lot because I think that the outside influences now, I'm not raising my children, I am coaching my children how to raise their children. So you have different interests, different intensity level the way I look at it. Your interests change. It's not that you're an older person necessarily. You are, you're older, but I just think that your priorities shift. I think you have to take those priorities, feel comfortable with those priorities and go into another environment.

Being 50 years old and being a rookie is pretty unusual. Now you're looking at, you are the youngest guy there, and you've probably been the oldest guy where you came from. So it's a little different.

RAND JERRIS: Hale, thanks very much for your time this afternoon. We wish you luck this week.

HALE IRWIN: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297