Irwin to be key speaker

Hale Irwin is known as the only two-time champion of the Toshiba Classic. During the week of the 18th Toshiba Classic he’ll be known as keynote speaker at the annual Breakfast with a Champion, presented by the Allergan Foundation on March 13.

The annual event, one of the highlights during the tournament week, begins at 7 a.m. at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa.

Irwin, a World Golf Hall of Famer, is the winningest player on the Champions tour. The 66-year-old will share candid notes of his life and career from more than four decades on the Tour.

The breakfast also serves as a place to award two top Orange County high school students with a $10,000 scholarship from the Toshiba Classic Scholarship Fund, one of the Classic’s charitable arms comprised of Hoag Hospital Foundation and Toshiba America, Inc.

Irwin was one of the world’s leading PGA Tour players in the 1970s and 80s, one of only a handful of players to win three U.S. Opens (1974, 1979 and 1990). Following a PGA TOUR career in which he won 20 events and participated on five Ryder Cup teams, Irwin joined the Champions Tour in 1995 and saw even greater success in the second phase of his life. Irwin has amassed 45 wins on the Tour, including the 1998 and 2000 U.S. Senior Opens, three PGA Seniors’ Championships, and the 1998 and 2002 Toshiba Classic. He is also the all-time leading money winner on the Champions Tour. Nearly a quarter century after finding a spot in professional golf, Irwin was inducted into the 2002 class of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Golf legends including Tom Kite, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Gary Player, Fuzzy Zoeller and Chi Chi Rodriguez are all past guests of the breakfast, whose tickets sell for $120 per seat. Tables are also available; contact the Toshiba Classic at (949) 660-1001 to purchase.

The $1.75 million Toshiba Classic will award a $262,500 winner’s check to the 2012 champion.

Tickets for the Toshiba Classic are on sale now. Visit https://www.toshibaclassic.com to purchase, or call (949) 660-1001 to secure corporate packages.

— From staff reports