It's Open Season Again for Irwin

By THOMAS BONK

July 27, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Pay attention, now. We already should know what it takes to win a U.S. Open or a U.S. Senior Open. Yes, you need to be lucky. Or good. Or Hale Irwin.

Here’s a guy who has closed the book on winning Opens. Irwin wins Opens nearly as often as your mail gets delivered. On Sunday at Riviera Country Club, Irwin won another one, this time the U.S. Senior Open, which he waited to collect until the last hole on the last round with the last shot of the day.

Once his 12-foot downhill, straighter-than-a-flagstick putt disappeared into the hole for a birdie, Irwin pumped his fist to celebrate and the accounting started almost immediately.

That’s four Open titles for the 53-year-old Irwin, a U.S. Senior Open to go along with three at the U.S. Open in a career that began in 1968. He won the U.S. Open in 1974, 1979 and 1990, but he wants you to know that this one was special.

“This, I guess, meant more to me because I wanted to be one of those few that did both,” he said.

It’s a pretty select list who have won both U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open titles--Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Billy Casper, Orville Moody and now Irwin.

Irwin’s closing 69 and 72-hole score of one-over 285 beat Vicente Fernandez by one shot and Raymond Floyd by two. Fernandez was watching Irwin from behind the television tower at No. 18 and waiting to see if Irwin would make par and join him in an 18-hole playoff today or make birdie and break his heart.

But Fernandez managed a wry smile when Irwin’s putt dropped.

“I got a feeling he was going to hole it,” Fernandez said.

At least he was right about that. Fernandez shot a 68 that would have been good enough, except that Irwin, who was far back at 77 after the first round, just wouldn’t go away. Coming to the 16th hole on Sunday, Irwin trailed Fernandez by a shot, but then he guided a 25-footer into the hole to catch him.

Then with a playoff staring him down with one hole left, Irwin smoked a four-iron to about 12 feet above the hole and all at once became frightened by what he saw--a straight putt. It was a reasonable reaction since you see straight putts at Riviera about as often as you see Kikuyu smile.

“I couldn’t see any break,” Irwin said. “I wanted to see a break. You just can’t believe greens around here have straight putts. But once I got that belief in my mind, I was excited. My heart was thumping and all that stuff.

“But I did find that inner calm of confidence. I suppose a couple of feet from the hole, I knew it was in, but I waited for a couple of more rolls before I got a little excited.”

The people who are really excited are the people behind the desks where Irwin banks. Already this year, he has won $2,002,750 and more than $6.5 million since he turned 50 and joined the Senior PGA Tour only three years ago. His payday Sunday was $267,500.

Irwin won nine times last year and has five more victories this year with two of them majors. He also won the PGA Seniors’ Championship in April.

Floyd said if that’s not impressive, he doesn’t know what is.

“He is the best senior player out here,” Floyd said. “He showed the world that. I’ve never seen a tour dominated the way he has done the last two years. It’s incredible.”

As for Floyd, the fact that he stayed as close as he did bordered on incredible since he had so many problems keeping the ball on the fairway. Floyd began the day with a three-shot lead, but couldn’t shoot straight and his lead was one after seven holes.

Floyd still managed to hang in there with a closing round of 74, but he knew somewhere along the way it wasn’t going to be his day. Over the last 36 holes, Floyd made two birdies.

“You can’t beat anyone in the world doing that,” he said.

Fernandez was one of the few players who made a challenge on the last day. Brian Barnes had a good day swinging his clubs, but a bad day thinking on his way to a 69 that included a two-stroke penalty for putting his ball from the wrong place on the 11th green.

Barnes had moved his mark to get out of Jose Maria Canizares’ line, then didn’t move it back before putting.

Barnes ended up tied for fourth with Isao Aoki at four-over 288. Dave Stockton found his 73 hard to swallow and finished four shots back.

It was left to 58-year-old Jack Nicklaus to produce the round of the day, which he managed with a 67--a mere 12-shot improvement over his 79 on Saturday. That left Nicklaus in a tie for 13th.

Fernandez was the unlikely protagonist in Irwin’s drama. The 52-year-old putting mastermind from Argentina and former caddie for Chi Chi Rodriguez took a one-shot lead when both Floyd and Irwin bogeyed the 13th hole. For awhile, it appeared it might hold up.

It didn’t work out that way, but Fernandez refused to be sad. That’s because of what happened 10 weeks ago when he suffered what can only be called a true Senior Tour injury. Fernandez fell asleep watching television, then ran into a table when the telephone rang and injured his hip.

“I thought I wouldn’t be able to play anymore,” Fernandez said. “That’s the reason why I am happy.”

Of course, Riviera has to be feeling pretty good right now. The average score for the four days was 77.65. There were 2,347 bogeys--and only 362 birdies.

“The golf course won,” Floyd said.

And so did Irwin. It was an Open, wasn’t it?

* PAK WINS AGAIN: First-year player Se Ri Pak birdies the final hole and wins for the third time in four LPGA tournaments. C10

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Top 5

285 (+1)--$267,500

Hale Irwin: 77-68-71-69

286 (+2)--$157,500

Vicente Fernandez: 73-71-74-68

287 (+3)--$101,537

Ray Floyd: 70-70-73-74

288 (+4)--$64,040