Hale Irwin is looking to keep alive his 1-2 punch in the Senior PGA Tour's major tournaments.
If it seems like there was a major held recently, there was. The U.S. Senior Open was last weekend and the Senior Players Championship was to start today at the TPC of Michigan.Irwin won The Tradition in early April, and finished second at the PGA Seniors' Championship later that month. He finished second to Dave Stockton last week at the Senior Open.
Irwin - whose final-round 67 allowed him to get within two shots of Stockton at the Senior Open after he began the day eight strokes off the pace - said the timing of consecutive weeks for the majors couldn't be better.
"We have our fourth major coming up and the good news is I'm sort of out of my slump," said Irwin, who leads the senior money list with $1,045,725. "I think I'm in excellent position to go out and give it a run.
"You know, I have had first and seconds in the majors this year, so it's not all bad."
Most of the players said the back-to-back majors shouldn't be a problem, especially since they're allowed to ride carts at the Senior Players Championship after being forced by the USGA to walk all 72 holes at the Open last week.
Stockton, who won the Senior Players title in 1992 and 1994 - was considered the man to beat by most of the field and those who didn't he would win went for Irwin.
Jim Colbert, who won the Senior Players Championship in 1993, pointed at himself.
"I'm the only one who's won three times out here this year," Colbert noted.
But, whoever ends up winning the event at the 6,876-yard TPC of Michigan, which was designed by Jack Nicklaus, they'll have to do it against the strongest field assembled all year. The Senior Players Championship includes the top 76 money winners since last July's tournament as well as two players - David Graham and Billy Casper, who accepted an invitation after it was declined last week by Arnold Palmer, - offered exemptions by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem.
"This is the best field we see all year because you strictly get in by what you've earned," said defending champion J.C. Snead, who beat Nicklaus in a one-hole playoff last year after they tied at 16-under-par 272. "The field here is tougher than the one that was at the Open. There were a lot of club pros and amateurs there last week who aren't part of the Senior Tour.
"Even on the regular tour, the strongest tournament is The Players Championship because you've got the top money winners there and they're the best players. Even the Masters and the PGA Championship don't get the top players."
The strength of Snead's title defense hinges on his back. Two weeks ago, his game was solid enough to claim a share of fourth place at the Kroger Senior Classic, a tournament he led after 18 holes thanks to a blistering round of 62. Sciatica flared after that event, though, forcing him to withdraw from last week's Open.
He'll have to play four rounds this week, rather than the accustomed three that comprise most senior events. At the same time, though, Snead sees that as an advantage.
"In a three-round tournament, if you don't have one very good round, it's really tough to win unless you can come back really low at the end," he said. "In a four-day event, you can come back, even if you have a bad round.
"If you're in the lead, it's harder to hold on," added Snead, who held a one-shot lead over Stockton after 54 holes of the 1995 Senior Players Championship.