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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 1, 2004

Hale Irwin

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

Q. No. 6 was a killer there?

HALE IRWIN: No. 6, of course, you had to bring that up. Let's talk about the birdie at 17 or something.

Q. When you were at 17, and you did birdie, what were you feeling at that time?

HALE IRWIN: Well, I knew that I would have to -- my goal on the back nine was 4-under par, and that would have done it, at least to tie, but going back to the previous question, as much as I hate to, that was just a momentum breaker. The problem there was when I stand around that long, that's the worst thing in the world for my back. It just got tight as it can be, and I just couldn't get loose, and I hit a very poor shot.

But more than anything, the play was so slow all day that it was stand and wait, stand and wait, stand and wait, and it was hard to get any flow and momentum going, and after this morning's round, that's what I had, I had some good momentum going, and I just couldn't capitalize on it.

Q. How did you feel for the 36, though?

HALE IRWIN: I feel good. I'd love to go back and play three more, but -- unfortunately Peter played great, he's going to be a tremendous addition to the Tour, and he brings a great personality, a great presence, and obviously great golf. But I felt good today. I'm sure it'll set in tomorrow. I've got to get on the plane and get out to Salt Lake City tonight, so I have to forget it quickly and go do other business, but at the same time, I was looking forward to today, I really was. Not that I feel like I'm in better shape, but I felt like I was playing well enough to make up that ground but it just didn't happen.

Q. After 17, did you know where you stood?

HALE IRWIN: Oh, yeah. I knew I had to birdie the last two holes, I felt and hoped that they didn't, and it all came true except the 18th hole. I hit a bad drive.

There were a few bogeys and a double bogey made out of that left-hand bunker, and I fortunately made a par, but I think we all started losing our legs a little bit toward the end of the day. That's a long way around, and when your legs go, your game goes, and I think I probably speak for everybody. Think we're all looking to sit down.

Q. (Inaudible).

HALE IRWIN: Well, the hope was to do exactly that, to get myself in position to where the final 18 holes would be -- I could perhaps make some noise, and I did, although it sort of blew up in my face there at 5 and 6. I got off to a good start, birdieing 2 and 4, and I felt like I was going places.

Although Tom and Peter were also birdieing, but that's okay because we had a lot to go, and I felt like if I could stay in front and post the scores, then they'd have to look at it, and they did, and it didn't work. But maybe next time.

Q. Your shot hit the flag on the fly, right?

HALE IRWIN: Yeah. After hitting it in the water, my third shot hit the flag. That was the worst thing it could have done. When you hit what you're aiming at, it's a bad deal.

Q. Kidding aside, how disappointing is that going to the next shot knowing you could have had that?

HALE IRWIN: You better not be disappointed very long because you can lose it a lot. That ball was about a quarter of an inch from going back in the water, so that would have been catastrophic. You get out of there, you make the 5, go to the next hole and birdie it, which I did, put one foot in front of the other and climb back in it. They're very hard to come back from, those double bogeys.

Q. You mentioned just trying to keep pace today and post your scores hole by hole and not thinking about the other guys. Were you thinking about 11-under, 7-under for the day would be what you needed to do?

HALE IRWIN: I felt today I needed to go 67, 67, 8-under, close to that. That would have been the number. After the morning round, I felt very good going into the afternoon, and it just -- one shot short. You know, forget the double bogey. I missed very makeable birdie putts after that, a short one at 8, short one at 11, so I had chances.

Q. This is a disappointment for you, but the crowd response out here and the size of the crowds and the atmosphere --

HALE IRWIN: You just can't understand how much the players appreciate what we've seen this week. This is what we had hoped to have here at Bellerive for a long time. This championship was -- other than the rain, was so well attended, well organized, the golf course is in superior condition. Unfortunately the greens got very soft and it was throwing darts. Had they been firmed up, boy, we would have been a championship plus, but that's what happens.

This is what I hope the future of golf is like in St. Louis. This is terrific, absolutely wonderful. Every player was talking all the time in the locker room, at the mealtimes, walking down the fairways, how great it is to see all the people out.

Q. A little emotion after that birdie putt on 17. Can you describe that?

HALE IRWIN: Yeah, it was supposed to break left and it broke right. That was the emotion (laughter). It was more of a surprise.

Well, again, I had to birdie the last two holes. I knew that. That's why that was a good putt because I knew that 18 would be a very difficult birdie. You drive it in the left bunker -- you have to put it in the fairway and I didn't put it in the fairway. That's one of the few fairways I missed. I drove a lot of fairways this week, but you just can't miss it on the last hole, and I did. From there you're not going to birdie where that hole location was.

Q. Did you think it had a chance on 18?

HALE IRWIN: No, I pulled it. I was trying to play it up to the right, but you can also be stupid and leave yourself one of these coming down the hill. You don't know what's happening behind you, so you don't want to get too crazy because what happened -- you saw what Tom did. There's no guarantees that Peter was not going to do something similar.

Q. How much were you aware of Jacobsen --

HALE IRWIN: I was watching television.

Q. At like 14, 15 --

HALE IRWIN: I didn't know, just when the scores went up. Sort of like when I birdied 17, they bogeyed wherever, but that's what happens. That's why I thought if I could birdie that one more hole and post it, then they'd have to look at it. That's the advantage of playing in front. The real advantage was playing in the rear because you've got the lead and that's what you like to have.

Q. This was your 7th Top 10 in nine Senior Opens. You've always played well in this tournament.

HALE IRWIN: I find that this championship has brought out some of the best golf in me. It goes beyond the ordinary that we might have on a week-to-week basis, and I like that. I appreciate the efforts put forward to have a championship quality golf course, four rounds, a cut. You know, you really have to play. It gets back to really sound tournament golf. So, more than anything else, I needed to balance out my trophy case with another Senior Open. Maybe the little second place medal will tip it a little bit.

Q. You said coming in that this was a special tournament, leaving it so close, how does that feel?

HALE IRWIN: Well, if I had a sister, I'd kiss her. It wouldn't be all bad (laughter). I don't feel bad. I played well. The first day I really didn't get anything going -- I probably played better the first round than any of the other rounds and shot 71. If you look back and say, well, what was the turning point? Well, the turning point was only one birdie on the first day. The lack of birdie production today was not the problem. Unfortunately I produced a few more of those ugliest, but it was the first day not getting the putts in the hole.

I knew the scoring would be low as it was because we had the rain and the conditions were soft. You just know that you're going to have to shoot in the 60s just about every round under these conditions with these players. Otherwise you just don't have a chance.

Q. Assess your chances knowing you had to come in playing 36. You're among the oldest on the leaderboard.

HALE IRWIN: Yeah, these are all squirts. We've got Jacobsen barely 50. He's just a puppy. Kite is a wily veteran. I played with Peter his first senior event in. Los Angeles this year. He's big, he's strong, he's playing well. He's going to be a formidable player. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. We still have some good players that may be older than Peter.

End of FastScripts.

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