Irwin rolling right on course

Bryce Alderton

Even with a persimmon wood circa 1938 Hale Irwin knocked his drive

straight down the middle of the par-4 first hole’s fairway at Newport

Beach Country Club Thursday.

The 11th Toshiba Senior Classic kicks off with today’s first

round, but Irwin, the event’s only two-time champion, grabbed onto a

little nostalgia with the commemorative shot that coincided with the

PGA Tour’s Drive to $1 Billion charity campaign.

“Am I really going to hit this?” Irwin quipped as he strolled to

toward spectators sitting in the bleachers directly behind the first

tee. He extended the club toward a man in the first row, eliciting

some laughs among those gathered.

“The last time I hit a persimmon, I hit as high as a fleeting

quail would go. This brings back fond memories. You had to be a shot

maker to play this.”

He might have metal woods in his bag now, but the shot making

remains for Irwin, the PGA Champions Tour’s all-time leader in

victories (42) and earnings ($21,321,566).

The three-time U.S. Open champion enters this year’s Toshiba on a

tear, winning two of his first five tournaments while adding a second

and fourth in two others.

This after playing one round between Dec. 1 and mid-January to

rest an ailing back and assorted shoulder and neck pain.

“My back had gotten torqued with the flurry of activity at the end

of last year,” said Irwin, who won twice while placing among the top

10 in 14 of 23 Champions Tour events in 2004. “Since I didn’t

practice that much, I was in tune with the basics of how I think I

should swing a golf club. It was like I was practicing in my head.”

The rest allowed Irwin, 59, to visualize proper swing motions,

which he has translated into two victories already this year.

“Last week [at the SBC Classic, where he finished tied for 14th]

there was a little, knock on wood, light at the end of the tunnel,”

Irwin, who holds the 54-hole scoring record at Toshiba with a

17-under-par 196 in 2002, said. “I am able to hit the shots with more

commitment than I’ve done in the past year and a half.

“I’ve hit quality shots, made putts and produced enough birdies.”

Irwin, who leads in seven of 13 key statistical categories on the

Champions Tour this year including scoring average (68.29), birdies

per round (4.93) and putts per round (28.50), changed the graphite

shaft in his driver to align with his other metal woods and slightly

altered its flex point.

On Thursday he wore a red vest.

A red number on the leaderboard generally equals a birdie.

Appropriate for a player who holds at least seven Toshiba records,

including best round by a winner (62 in 1998), largest victory margin

(five strokes in 2002) and most top-five finishes (five).

“There’s really no secret,” Irwin said. “I’m applying myself to

what I am doing. I’m keeping it basic.”

Irwin’s success -- he has captured at least one major championship

in six of nine Champions Tour seasons -- has also been chronicled

among his fellow competitors as a tribute to his fitness level.

“You have to be healthy, the Champions Tour can be tough

competition,” said Hubert Green, runner-up to Irwin by a stroke in

the 1998 Toshiba. “Hale is lucky to be healthy. He is a tough

competitor.”