Hale Irwin called it “the worst round I’ve ever had as a professional.”

And that’s saying something considering the World Golf Hall of Famer and former University of Colorado athlete has played in 1,132 events between the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions in his 50-year pro career.

Following up a first-round 79 at the U.S. Senior Open — his highest score ever in a USGA championship — Irwin shot an ever-so frustrating 15-over-par 85 on Friday at The Broadmoor, where he won the Broadmoor Invitation 51 years ago while still a Colorado resident.

To put that into perspective, not only did the 85 feel like his worst round as a pro to Irwin, it was indeed the highest score he’s ever shot in a PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions event.

His previous highs were an 84 on the PGA Tour (first round of 1990 USF&G Classic, ironically less than two months before winning his third U.S. Open) and two 82s on PGA Tour Champions (both in 2015).

“Coming into this event there was a lot I was doing. This has been a crazy week,” the 73-year-old said in an interview with coloradogolf.org. “I was ill-prepared for this for a variety of reasons. I haven’t played in an individual tournament since March and Wes Short and I played in the Legends (team event) in April. I haven’t played, and it showed — big time.

“My priorities this week are my family. I don’t get to see them all the time. That has made my week, so everything else is (secondary). It sounds a little trite — I don’t mean it to be — but that’s from my heart. What I wanted to see more than anything was my family together. That’s where my life is now. It isn’t necessarily predicated on, will I play golf. The golf really came secondary (here), and it showed.

“I just didn’t have it — and maybe I don’t have it. But I’m not going to continue playing like this. Unless I see something happen in the next month or two. …”

Even before going 79-85, missing the cut and finishing at 24-over-par 164 on a demanding Broadmoor East course, Irwin had said this “could be” his final U.S. Senior Open, and therefore his final USGA event. That’s definitely notable considering he’s won five USGA championships — three U.S. Opens and two U.S. Senior Opens.

Irwin, who grew up in Colorado and played golf and football at CU, has now competed in 23 U.S. Senior Opens in addition to 34 U.S. Opens. Only fellow former CU golfer Dale Douglass (26) and Arnold Palmer (25) have played in more U.S. Senior Opens.

Asked again after his round on Friday if this is his last U.S. Senior Open, he said, “I don’t know. The odds say yes, but I don’t know. If I can help push the needle in the direction of positive golf — not my golf (but golf in general, like) USGA golf, junior golf, golf — I’m happy to do that. And that might be where my role is. I don’t know. We’ll have to sit back and analyze how much playing is left in 2019.

“I’ll play out my plans (in 2018). Whether I play the Senior Players in Chicago (in two weeks), I don’t know. I need to make that decision. I will play the Senior British (next month at the Old Course at St. Andrews, where his son Steve will caddie for him) and probably The First Tee event (in late September) because I really enjoy being with those kids out at Pebble Beach. That’s fun.

“You got me at a down time and kicked me — or maybe I kicked myself.”

Irwin, named the male player of the century in Colorado during the CGA’s centennial year festivities in 2015, has won a record 45 times on PGA Tour Champions and 20 on the PGA Tour. But he’s only competed in eight PGA Tour Champions events each of the past two years and five so far in 2018.

Between age taking an ever-increasing toll on his game, and wanting to spend more time with his family, competitive golf obviously is not near the priority it used to be.
 
That was apparent in his very un-Irwin-like round on Friday. He made just two pars on the day and was playing bogey golf through 11 holes. He didn’t make a birdie until finishing up with one on the ninth hole, his 18th — at least going out this week on a minor high note.

“I was just way off on my golf game,” Irwin said. “There was nothing, nothing. On this golf course where you have rough like this and you’re not driving it well … And my irons — oh my gosh — I bet I didn’t hit four or five greens all day. I didn’t get it up and down. I had three-putts all over the place. I made two really good putts to keep from four-putting this week, so I felt really good about that.”

At least Irwin can still joke about it.

And he used the circumstances on Friday as a life lesson of sorts for grandson Dylan Meyer, who was caddying for him at The Broadmoor. (The two are pictured at left.)

“It’s like I told my grandson when we were playing 18: ‘This is the time it would be so easy to quit and walk right in, but we don’t quit. We’re going to finish it off.'” Irwin said.

An experimentation with new irons definitely didn’t help this week. In an effort to conteract the effect of age, Irwin went with lighter irons with different shafts.

“They’re lighter thinking I’ve lost some of my strength. But I can’t feel the club,” he said. “You don’t come into a U.S. Senior Open and play new irons. Well, I did.”

That certainly didn’t help, but Irwin by no means blames his poor play primarily on that.

As to what the future holds as Irwin devotes ever-less time to tournaments, there are some business matters, and he still does some course design/redesign work. That includes helping out with the new course at City Park Golf Course in Denver. And he’s ready to start a project in the Los Angeles area where an old 18-hole course that has gone to seed will be made into a new 12-hole course with a modernized practice facility, with much of the rest of the land being developed. And there’s a possiblity of another project in the Bahamas.

“There’s not that many jobs around, but I’d like to do a couple to help absorb my time and competitiveness,” he said. “I want be the best designer. There’s some things out there I’d still like to do.

“You always try to contribute, then you’ll always be competitive — whatever that word means. I’ve not known something different than being competitive.”

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For all the essentials regarding this week’s U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor, CLICK HERE.

The USGA accepted 2,738 entries for the tournament — including 106 from Colorado — with 75 being exempt from qualifying. The entry deadline for the event was Wednesday.

Joining Irwin (20 PGA Tour victories, including three U.S. Opens) among World Golf Hall of Famers who have entered the championship at The Broadmoor’s East Course are Tom Watson (39 PGA Tour wins), Vijay Singh (34), Davis Love III (21), Tom Kite (19), Mark O’Meara (16), Fred Couples (15), Bernhard Langer (3, including two majors) and Colin Montgomerie (41 international victories).

Besides Irwin, players who grew up in Colorado and are in the field are 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones and fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe.

In all, 11 U.S. Senior Open champions have entered the event at The Broadmoor: Irwin (1998 and 2000), Kenny Perry (2013 and ’17), Langer (2010), Montgomerie (2014), Jeff Maggert (2015), Peter Jacobsen (2004), Fred Funk (2009), Gene Sauers (2016), Olin Browne (2011), Brad Bryant (2007) and Roger Chapman (2012).

Others among the exempt players who are planning to play at The Broadmoor are John Daly, Mark Calcavecchia, Steve Stricker, John Cook, Tom Lehman (who won the 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club), Corey Pavin, Lee Janzen, Billy Mayfair, Rocco Mediate, Gil Morgan, Jesper Parnevik, Tom Pernice Jr., Loren Roberts, David Frost, Jay Haas, David Toms, Scott Hoch, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Scott Verplank and Kirk Triplett.

The Broadmoor is hosting its second U.S. Senior Open and its eighth USGA championship, with winners at the resort including Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam and Juli Inkster. The Broadmoor is celebrating its 100th anniversary on the Friday of the championship, June 29.

Thirty-four qualifying tournaments for the U.S. Senior Open will be held starting Monday. The Broadmoor will host a qualifier on May 28, with Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway among those competing.

In all, the U.S. Senior Open field will feature 156 players.

One golfer with strong Colorado ties who won’t be playing is Colorado Golf Hall of Famer and former Aurora resident Mark Wiebe. Wiebe said on Twitter this week that he withdrew from the exempt list due to a lingering neck injury.
 

Bernhard Langer, the second-winningest player in PGA Tour Champions history — behind former University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin — will compete in a Senior Open at The Broadmoor for the second time. The German tied for sixth place in Colorado Springs in 2008.

Joining him in the exempt field for this year’s event — set for June 28-July 1 — will be fellow World Golf Hall of Famers Fred Couples and Vijay Singh. Another Hall of Famer, Davis Love III, was previously announced as a competitor, and Tom Watson has also indicated he plans to play at The Broadmoor. Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen has likewise entered.

As for the entrants announced on Monday, they have 52 PGA Tour victories among them, including six majors. Singh has 34 PGA Tour wins, with a Masters and two PGA Tour Champions titles. Langer won three times on the PGA Tour — including two Masters — plus has claimed 36 PGA Tour Champions wins. Couples owns 15 PGA Tour victories, with a Masters, plus 13 wins on PGA Tour Champions. Langer (pictured with Couples) won the U.S. Senior Open in 2010.

All three are in the field for this week’s Masters.

Online entries for the U.S. Senior Open are being accepted through May 16.

It was announced Thursday that the part-time resident of Lakewood will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame next spring. Stacy was selected through the veterans category.

She’ll be inducted, along with Phil Mickelson and possibly others, on May 7 in St. Augustine, Fla.

When LPGA commissioner Mike Whan and World Golf Hall of Fame chief operating officer Jack Peter called last week to tell Stacy the news, “I was so shocked because I never thought that my mom (age 83) would live to see me get in because of the politics of being elected to the Hall,” Stacy said at a press conference in Orlando, Fla., site of the LPGA Tour’s 2011 tournament finale. “I had conditioned myself not to think about it because I think (not being in) did bug me a little bit because I had won four majors. … But I was so shocked and overwhelmed when I got the call. It was quite exciting to say the least.

“To be part of the Hall of Fame is a dream come true.”

Stacy (pictured above last year at the Broadmoor with World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam) won 18 times on the LPGA Tour, but it was her USGA record that really set her apart. She claimed three U.S. Women’s Open titles  — only Mickey Wright and Betsy Rawls, with four each, have won more — along with a record three U.S. Girls’ Junior championships.

Stacy, 57, will be just the fifth person with major Colorado connections to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Already in the Hall are former University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin, a three-time U.S. Open champion; Colorado Springs resident Judy Bell, the only female to serve as president of the USGA; Paul Runyan, the director of golf at Green Gables Country Club from 1972 until the early 1980s; and former Colorado resident Babe Zaharias, who like Stacy won three U.S. Women’s Opens.

Stacy, who moved to Lakewood in 1995, splits her time pretty evenly each year between residences in Colorado and Florida.

“The lack of humidity makes it so beautiful here,” the Savannah, Ga., native said in an interview with COgolf.org this year.

Stacy notched all 18 of her LPGA Tour victories between 1977 and 1991, and she posted 82 top-10 finishes from ’77 to ’83. All four of her victories in major championships came in a seven-year stretch starting in 1977. She claimed U.S. Women’s Open titles in 1977, ’78 and ’84, and the Peter Jackson Classic in 1983.

Stacy outdueled some of the greats of the game to win her majors. Nancy Lopez was runner-up in the Women’s Open in 1977, while JoAnne Carner was second in the ’78 Open and the ’83 Peter Jackson. And in the last of her three consecutive U.S. Girls’ Junior titles — all won 1-up — she overcame Amy Alcott (another World Golf Hall of Famer) in a 19-hole final match in 1971. Stacy was 4 under par in that finale against Alcott.

USGA events “have been a huge part of my life,” Stacy said over the summer while officiating a U.S. Girls’ Junior qualifier in Aurora. “Back in Georgia in the ’60s, the only golf tournaments a little girl could play were events on a national level. There were four tournaments I could play in every year, and one of them was the U.S. (Girls’) Junior.

“Those tournaments have always been a part of my life. I was never intimidated by the USGA because I grew up with them. I think that’s why I did so well in USGA championships.”

All told, Stacy has one of the best records in USGA history. Only six players have won more USGA titles than Stacy’s half-dozen: Tiger Woods (9), Bobby Jones (9), Jack Nicklaus (8), Carner (8), Carol Semple Thompson (7) and Anne Quast Sander (7).

Stacy has fond memories of all her victories, but the two that really stand out among her USGA titles are the 1969 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 1977 U.S. Women’s Open.

“The first in both the Juniors and the Open were probably the highlights,” Stacy said. “I had worked so hard as a junior and played against so many of my now-friends. My first win in Dallas stands out and my win at Hazeltine (in 1977) does too. You always dream about winning a U.S. Open, and when you do that …”

Stacy plays an active role in the USGA to this day. She’s served on the USGA Girls’ Junior Committee for the last nine years, and she played an active role — both officially and unofficially– this year when the U.S. Women’s Open was contested at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

“Hollis was always known as an extremely competitive player with an impeccable short game and one of the most creative golf minds of her time,” Whan said. “More importantly, she will long be remembered as a truly nice person with a passion for golf and life. She is an ambassador for women’s golf and we could not be more proud of her.”