Michigan Golf Journal February 2021

PGA Tour Pro Hale Irwin Golf Q&A: Hale Irwin With Tom Lang World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin has just about done it all in the game of golf, which includes 20 PGA Tour wins – 3 of which were U.S. Opens – plus 45 PGA Tour Champions victories and 17 International wins. He won the Buick Open in 1981 in Grand Blanc and the Ford Senior Players Championship in Dearborn in 1999. Irwin, now age 75, added another record in the Champions Tour season kickoff in late January at Hualalai, Hawaii when he made his 25 th start at the event, the most of any player at one venue. He won the first event at Hualalai in 1997, and again in 2007 to establish his PGA TOUR Champions record with a 45th career victory . Michigan Golf Journal spoke with Hale Irwin one- on-one from Hawaii during tournament week: Q Do you have any particularly special memories of your Michigan wins or your trips to Michigan in general? A: “I always enjoyed Michigan. I think we had good golf courses (for events). And one of the things about some of the northern tier states is, because the winter times linger and the spring seasons might be a little late coming, the excitement level of getting into summer and golf and the outside activities that people enjoy is very strong. So, the support that we had throughout the golf community was very good. Playing in Michigan was always fun because you knew you were going to be in a sports-enthusiastic state with all the professional and college Continues on page 7 >>