Hale--but Not Entirely Hearty

Here is what was on a billboard last month at the Boone Valley Classic in suburban St. Louis:

Hail Trevino

Hail Floyd

Hale Irwin

There is no question about that, not in 1997 on the Senior PGA Tour, where Irwin has delivered the message as well as anyone ever has among this cart-riding, three-day-playing, no cut-enjoying, lots of money-making, over-50 set of players.

Irwin, who turned 50 only 28 months ago, has played the Senior PGA Tour as if he’s on his own private course. He won twice in his rookie year of 1995 and twice more in 1996, but it’s clear now that Irwin was only getting warmed up.

No one has won more money or more senior tournaments in one year than Irwin has this year. Not only was he the first golfer on any tour to go over the $2-million mark in prize money, he also has matched Peter Thomson’s 12-year-old Senior PGA Tour record of nine victories in a year.

In his 56 senior tournaments, Irwin has won 13 and finished second in 12 others. He has finished in the top 25 in 55 of the 56 tournaments and banked $4.5 million.

Irwin, who can pass Thomson at the Ralphs Senior Classic this week at Wilshire Country Club or at next week’s Senior Tour Championship, is clearly the dominant story on the senior tour in 1997, which eventually may be remembered as a year some of the other major events occurred off the course.

Four prominent senior players had cancer surgery in 1997--Arnold Palmer, Jim Colbert, Bruce Devlin and Larry Gilbert.

Palmer and Colbert had prostate surgery and returned to action. Devlin, who has kidney cancer, and Gilbert, who was found to have lung cancer, have not been able to return to playing competitively.

Colbert, 56, has won 18 Senior PGA Tour events and is a two-time leading money-winner. But he said the cancer has changed him.

“I feel like--and I’m pretty sure Arnold does too--a walking advertisement for prostate cancer awareness,” Colbert said.

On the golf course, the senior tour has experienced business as usual.

* Gil Morgan, in his rookie year, has won four times and made more money than any other first-year senior player. Morgan turned 50 in 1996, but he played only five times, which is one short of the cutoff that would have caused him to lose his rookie status.

What’s more, Morgan learned to avoid par as often as possible. Until the first round of the Raley’s Gold Rush last week, the last time he had played a round over par was the third round of the U.S. Senior Open in June--which, coincidentally, has been the only one of Irwin’s 21 tournaments that he finished over par.

* Graham Marsh won his first major at the U.S. Senior Open, but not until the final hole, where he edged John Bland. It was payback for Marsh, who finished second to Simon Hobday at the 1994 U.S. Senior Open.

* Irwin won the PGA Seniors by 12 shots.

* Bob Murphy and Jay Sigel set a senior tour record with a nine-hole playoff that decided the Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Beach. It didn’t end until Murphy holed an 80-foot birdie putt on the ninth playoff hole.

* On the par-five 15th hole of the third round at the Tradition, Terry Dill hooked his drive into a swimming pool of a nearby house. He knocked on the front door, walked through the house and saw his ball on the bottom, where it was resting on top of the drain. Because the pool was not out of bounds, Dill dropped a ball and took a penalty stroke, played a seven-iron and a wedge to the green and managed to save par. He finished tied for eighth.

* Dana Quigley won his first event, the Northville Long Island Classic, as a Monday qualifier. He beat Sigel in a playoff.

* Bud Allin, a Vietnam veteran, also won his first event, and felt it was a lot easier than his 18 months in Southeast Asia as an artillery officer.

Said Allin: “Let’s face it, trying to make putts is a heck of a lot less stressful than walking through land mines.”

* David Graham had a breakthrough year with three victories.

* Hugh Baiocchi followed the lead of fellow South African Bland on the victory trail.

* Dave Stockton, who hasn’t played as well as he would have liked, still won a tournament--his 14th since 1992.

* Sigel has won twice, doubling his senior tour victory total.

* Larry Nelson and Johnny Miller turned 50 and started playing--only twice for Miller; Nelson started making money in a hurry.

There has been more good news on the tour. Namely, the names were still out there, still playing: Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Ray Floyd, Lee Trevino, Don January, Gene Littler, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Billy Casper, Lee Elder, Bobby Nichols, Gay Brewer, Orville Moody, Tommy Aaron, Miller Barber, Calvin Peete, Charles Coody, Bruce Crampton and Bob Charles.

Does this tour remain vital because of who plays it? You couldn’t name a better reason.

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One Hale of a Year

A look at how Hale Irwin has taken the PGA Senior Tour by storm this year (rankings in paenthesis):

* Tournaments: 21 (78)

* Victories 9 (1)

* Top-10 Finishes: 16 (5)

* Scoring Average: 68.93 (1)

* Earnings: $2,131,364 (1)