UBS WARBURG CUP

November 17, 2002

Hale Irwin

GORDON SIMPSON: Fantastic display today, Hale. Your golf was pretty special.

HALE IRWIN: I think getting the day in -- or yesterday in was pretty remarkable. And getting today played in the fashion which I think appeared to be, at least looking at the board, some very good golf. It was not an easy day to play. Somewhat reminiscent, I think, of several weeks ago in Oklahoma City. So those of us that were playing what used to be the Senior's Tour, now the Champions Tour, in Oklahoma City, witnessed a bit of this kind of weather.

I think Rodger and I both, considering the conditions, played fairly well. He hit some wonderful golf shots today, just didn't get the putts down as he might have ordinarily. But I did just the opposite. I had a couple of loose shots, but I putted extremely well today.

I made the comment on the television just earlier that I felt that, not that it was necessarily a turning point, but certainly the bleeding could have been much worse had I 3-putted the 9th hole, which it appeared that I was going to, being one down, and made a very nice, what 15 -, 18-foot second putt for a par at the 9th hole which really kept it in there.

Going two down, the way Rodger was hitting the ball would have been not fatal, but certainly much more difficult. And then getting 1-up at the 14th. And after he hits a great bunker shot at the 15th for a pickup four. I holed it from the bunker to go 2-up. So I guess we sort of matched shot for shot.

I putted certainly better. I think he hit the ball better than I. We've said many times, it comes down to who's making the putts.

Q. Eagle at 15?

HALE IRWIN: I hit a driver, I hit a 3-wood in the right bunker and followed my teammate, Paul Azinger, into the hole with a three. I thought that was -- being just 1-up at the time, and Rodger hit a nice drive and hit a fairly good second shot that just missed carrying the bunker, and both of us were very nearly equal distance from the hole down there in the bunker, and the referee indicated he thought Rodger was away, and he hit it up there. He had an excellent shot.

My bunker play, at least in my opinion, has not been sterling, but that one was sterling. I knocked it right in the hole. And it goes from what appears to be a potential birdie for Rodger and a possible win, to a loss with only three holes to play. That's kind of tough.

I was opportunistic and took full advantage of what I had today.

Q. Measure the performance today given the conditions and the fact that I think you were two under through 17. How does that stack up? Is that the best?

HALE IRWIN: Pretty good. If we had started the day and someone told me that my opponent would be two under par, I think I would have said, "Well, good match." And I would have stayed inside. I wouldn't have bothered to go out, because I just don't think that was a day that you can expect to go out and play under par.

But then again, we did see the tees up. It was really a different golf course. Moving some of the tees forward, which we very certainly had to do on a number of occasions, or we would still have the first match out there on the golf course. We would never have finished.

Q. (Inaudible.)

HALE IRWIN: USGA. Yes, this is the best age. Thank you all for coming out. It was a miserable day for one and all, for sure.

Q. Someone wrote several years ago -- it wasn't me -- that the Senior Tour is getting old. By that, they meant once you reach that age, 50 to 52, that's where all the winners come from. Here you are at age 57 winning another money list.

HALE IRWIN: Is that how old I am?

Q. Is that right?

HALE IRWIN: I don't know. I don't pay any attention. Do you?

Q. If I'm right, I do; if I'm not, I guess I don't.

HALE IRWIN: I don't give a whole lot of credence to your birthdays. You quit counting them after a while. You enjoy what you've got. Do what you can with it and not get hung up on the numbers.

Q. Who wants to play with 40-year-olds, anyway?

HALE IRWIN: Well, we did this week. (Laughter) Who wouldn't want to turn the clock back. But I have no regrets. I've had a wonderful career. I've met some fabulous people and I have continued to have pretty good health and my game is still in good shape so I'm enjoying it and just trying not to get hung up on this, "Oh, you can't do this." When someone tells me that, then it becomes something I seem to rally towards.

Q. No one is suggesting you can't. But the point is that you do.

HALE IRWIN: People say, "Well, you're not supposed to do this." And I say, "Well, why not." Show me why not. And I'll show you how to do it and you show me why you can't do it.

Q. What's the biggest challenge you face?

HALE IRWIN: Getting up in the morning.

Q. I mean playing at this level, once you get up in the morning.

HALE IRWIN: I think the biggest challenge certainly is internal. It's keeping the motivation going, it's keeping the intensity level at the appropriate level and not letting it get too far out or letting it die. I think anybody that has experienced what these guys in this field have. These are all very, very good players. That level of achievement and what comes with that is hard to put aside. It's part of your life, part of your system, and there's no drug quite like that, that ability to go out and achieve and succeed in doing something that you really enjoy doing. And that's why I think it's hard to stop. But once you realize that maybe you can't do it anymore, then I think your success level just plummets.

Q. Is that what separates you from others who haven't --

HALE IRWIN: You'll have to go ask me. I'm not worried about them. I take care of me and not worry about others.

Q. Is there a secret?

HALE IRWIN: It's in my next book. You can buy one.

Q. Have you started writing it yet?

HALE IRWIN: No. There's no secret. I've been in and around sports my whole life, and that label of being a competitor, I don't take that as -- some people may think of that as something that's not good. I look at it as something I'm very proud of. You will find me -- if I'm on your team, I will go battle till the cows come home for you. I will be with you forever and you'll always be my teammate. And the same goes for an integral sport like golf. I don't find it. I think you can certainly find it in match-play several occasions today where that don't-give-up spirit came forward. It's not in me to give in. I will not win every time. I lose frequently enough, but it won't be from a lack of effort.

Q. What kind of goals do you set for yourself each year? And secondly, do you ever see a time when you decide not to play anymore, will it be a gradual thing, or do you suspect you'll decide, that's it, I've lost that desire day in and day out, and so I'm going to cut off completely?

HALE IRWIN: The first question is relatively easy. The goals I set, for the most part, I achieve with the exception that I did not win a major championship this year. Disappointed in that sense, but all in all it's obvious I had a very, very good year, a banner year, a record-breaking year. All the things that one could describe of this year, I had. In no way am I dismayed with the year, other than the single disappointment of not winning a major championship.

The second question is I don't know. As long as I can continue playing like I'm playing, if I can make myself a factor, keep myself a factor in the game, if I can continue hitting the type of golf shots that I think I can still hit and maintain that competitive composure and all those things that are cliches, possibly, but certainly are appropriate, I will play.

But I can only surmise that if that level of achievement or that intensity level drops, then I'm going to have a very difficult time keeping it going. And that's when I think, the proverbial go off the cliff. I think you just -- the great players don't accept mediocrity. I'm not labeling myself a great player. I think I'm still learning the game, but I do not accept mediocrity.

Q. You had a round in the 60s, opening round in one major this year, and I forget what it was. So I don't have to look it up, can you tell me?

HALE IRWIN: A Senior Tour major?

Q. No.

HALE IRWIN: A regular major? The only major I played was the U.S. Open at Bethpage, and I was in the 60 at about the 13th hole.

Q. I thought you were in the Masters?

HALE IRWIN: No, Hootie didn't see fit to invite me this year. But I had my wife with me. She's a woman, so we have a problem there. I only played in the U.S. Open this year.

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