GARY BAINES: A Matter Of Perspective

Irwin Deserves a Spot
in Golf’s All-Time Top 20

CU graduate’s illustrious career will stand test of time

     Hale Irwin brushed off the question when it was posed to him 10 years ago, and he might still. But given the inevitable march of time, and the effect it has on all athletes, I recently reflected on something I asked the three-time U.S. Open winner a decade ago as he visited Colorado the day after he won his first U.S. Senior Open.

     How would Irwin rank himself among the top players of all time in golf?

     For at least a couple of reasons, the former Boulder resident didn’t give a direct answer. First, it’s better form to let others speak about you rather than talking about yourself. Second, at that point Irwin wasn’t nearly done forging his imprint on the game.

     Nowadays, the question may be more appropriate to consider because Irwin’s career is winding down. He hasn’t won on the Champions Tour in 15 months, matching the longest such stretch in his senior career. Last month at the Ginn Championship, he shot in the 80s (80 exactly) for the first time in his 13-year Champions career. In six weeks he’ll turn 63, and the record for oldest Champions Tour winner is 63 years old, to the day.

     If anyone is able to break that record, it’s Irwin, but it’s fair to say the great majority of his career highlights have already been accomplished. Such is the nature of aging when it comes to elite-level sports figures.

     In 1998, this is the answer Irwin gave to my aforementioned question: “As to my final place in history, I don’t think about it and I don’t worry about it. That’s something for after your career, and I’m not through yet. I don’t like to think about what was, but what is yet to be.”

     Irwin may have been reluctant to do any such ranking, but we aren’t. After all, he’s the top golfer to ever come out of Colorado, and there aren’t many players in the history of the game who have had a better career. It all deserves some perspective.

     He won 20 times on the PGA Tour, the last victory coming at the 1994 Heritage Classic shortly before turning 49.  The obvious highlights of his career are his three U.S. Open titles, though a whiffed putt in the 1983 British Open cost him a shot at facing Tom Watson in a playoff. To this day, Irwin remains the oldest winner of the U.S. Open (45 years and 15 days in 1990).

     The former CU golfer finished in the top 10 on the PGA Tour’s money list for six straight years (1973-78), and during that period he once made 86 consecutive cuts. He played on five U.S. Ryder Cup teams and captained the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup squad in the first year of the competition, 1994. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.

     Starting in 1995, Irwin dominated the Champions Tour like no one else ever has, eventually winning a record 45 times, 16 more than the No. 2 player on the list, Lee Trevino. Those victories include seven major championships for the over-50 set.

    With Irwin’s wins in three U.S. Opens and two U.S. Senior Opens, only three players own more USGA titles in their lifetime: Bobby Jones (9), Jack Nicklaus (8) and Tiger Woods (8).

    In addition, Irwin won the 1967 NCAA Championship while at CU.

    So, in the grand scheme of things, where does Irwin rank among the greatest male players in golf history?

     I’d put him at No. 19.

     The players that deserve spots above Irwin are: Nicklaus, Woods, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Gary Player, Walter Hagen, Tom Watson, Gene Sarazen, Harry Vardon, Trevino, Nick Faldo, Billy Casper, Seve Ballesteros, Phil Mickelson and Cary Middlecoff.

    Arguments can be made for Ray Floyd (22 wins, four majors), Vijay Singh (31 wins, three majors), Jimmy Demaret (31 wins, three majors) and others in the top 20, but based also on what Irwin did before and after his PGA Tour career per se, I’d give him the nod.

    Two lists published very early in this decade likewise rate Irwin highly. Golf Digest in 2000 ranked Irwin the No. 17 male in their list of greatest players of all time. And a 2001 book by Robert McCord puts Irwin at No. 22. Both were published before Mickelson and Singh had made the mark they have now. (A guy named Woods was already ahead of Irwin, in both cases.)

Monday, April 21, 2008