Hale Irwin won for the first time since turning 60 in June, shooting a 4-under-par 68 at Pebble Beach on Sunday for a one-stroke victory over three players in the Champions Tour’s First Tee Open.
Irwin, a three-time winner this year and the tour’s career leader with 43 victories, finished with a 13-under 203. The three-time U.S. Open champion is the first player 60 or older to win since J.C. Snead in 2002.
“I relish the challenge of playing and going out at the age of 60 to play like I did when I was 50,” said Irwin who attended the University of Colorado and earned $300,000 from the $2 million purse.
Irwin made a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and closed with a par to hold off 2004 winner Craig Stadler (67), Morris Hatalsky (67) and Gil Morgan (69). Stadler and Hatalsky, playing two groups ahead of Irwin, missed birdie putts on the 18th hole.
Irwin, who began the final round tied for the lead with Morgan, had seven birdies and three bogeys in the final round. The 1984 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am winner, Irwin is the 12th player to win PGA Tour and Champions Tour events on the same course.
“I hit a lot of very good golf shots this week,” Irwin said. “I’m not going to beat up my short game, but I had some putting difficulty. But I’m not complaining.”
Jim Thorpe (66), Bruce Fleisher (66) and Dan Pooley (68) tied for fifth at 11-under, and Mark McNulty (65) followed at 10-under.
Arnold Palmer, likely playing his last competitive round at Pebble Beach, shot an 82 to finish at 29-over.
PGA: John Rollins holed a bunker shot for an eagle on the 18th hole to set a back-nine record with a 28 and matched his career-best round of 63 at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Mass.
Rollins was at 10-under 203, and no one could pass him.
Hometown favorite Billy Andrade started and finished with birdies and made 16 pars in between for a 69. Jason Bohn birdied his final four holes for a 67, Carl Petterson had a 68 and Olin Browne recovered from a tough start for a 70.
The five-way tie for the lead going into the final round involved the most players on the PGA Tour since a five-way tie in 1983 at the Colonial.
Kent Jones, who also shot 63, and Joey Sindelar (69) were one shot behind. Fourteen other players were within four shots of the lead.
Tiger Woods had his round fall apart when he hit a 3-wood into the bushes and made a double bogey on No. 5, bogeyed the next hole and never quite recovered. He shot 72 and was separated by seven shots and 35 players from the lead.
LPGA: Pat Hurst won the State Farm Classic on Sunday with a three-shot victory over defending champion Cristie Kerr in Springfield, Ill.
Hurst ran off birdies on her first five holes, then overcame a shaky back nine on her way to a 2-under 70 to finish at 17-under. It was the fourth career victory for the 1995 LPGA rookie of the year.
Hurst was five shots up after 11 holes, but dropped three strokes on her next two holes with a double bogey and bogey. A par saved her from another bogey on No. 15 after she hit her second shot in a greenside pond.
Kerr birdied three of her first four holes, but never moved closer than two shots in the closing round at the Rail Golf Club.
Kerr shot a 69 to get to 14-under 274. Natalie Gulbis finished four strokes back, tied with first-round leader Heather Bowie.
European PGA: Sergio Garcia won the European Masters by a stroke in Crans-sur-sierre, Switzerland, chipping in for a birdie on the 16th hole in a 3-under 68 to hold off Sweden’s Peter Gustafsson.
Garcia entered the day ahead by a stroke and finished at 14-under 270. Gustafsson posted the day’s best round, a 64 that left him at 271. Paul Casey of England (66) was third at 272, followed by defending champion Luke Donald of England (69) and Garry Houston of Wales (70) at 273.
Retief Goosen shot an 8-under 64 to win the China Masters in Beijing, with U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell six strokes back as the runner-up.
