History: Verizon Heritage  PGATOUR.COM Contributor No matter the location, players have fond memories of the tournaments and courses where they triumphed for the first time. 
In Hale Irwin's case, there's a double dose of fondness. Four years after becoming 1967 NCAA men's champion, Irwin withstood a closing-holes charge from a group of players that included Jack Nicklaus to make the third-year Sea Pines Heritage Classic his first career title. Skip forward two years, to 1973, and he cobbled together a reprise with a five-shot victory at Harbour Town GL, breaking the tournament record by seven strokes thanks to tying the course's 18-hole mark in the third round. "I have a very great loving for this course," Irwin said after becoming midway leader in 1973. "Itıs like meeting an old friend, coming home." Irwin established himself as a player of note with those victories just as Harbour Town would eventually gain a reputation as one of the TOURıs most demanding tests. A collaborative effort by Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus, Harbour Townıs tight fairways wiggle their way through dense stands of pine trees before the 17th and 18th meet the Calibogue Sound. The course teaches many lessons, among them the value of patience, accuracy and an unerring short game. Irwin made his first appearance at the Heritage, now sponsored by Verizon, when the tournament was contested during Thanksgiving week as a holiday wrap to the long season. He took his lumps -- an opening-round 80 in 1970 -- as an eager, young journeyman. Irwin arrived at Hilton Head Island in 1971 a different player than the one who tied for 39th the year before. He arrived refreshed thanks to taking a month away from competition. He'd pushed hard for the better part of two years, since losing a season-opening 1970 playoff to Billy Casper at the Los Angeles Open the previous January. Too hard, in fact. "I finally learned what all the good players know, when to make myself get off the tour and rest," Irwin said of playing 67 events in 22 months. "I hadn't played but three rounds of golf since the Sahara Invitational at the end of October. "I came here mentally alert but not knowing what to expect with a layoff, but I started getting a feeling that this was my week, the way drives kept bouncing off trees and back into play." The Heritage was expected to develop into a showdown for the season money title between Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer (who won the inaugural Heritage in 1969) and Lee Trevino. Instead, it was Irwin who grabbed the attention on a cold and windy Thanksgiving with an opening 68, buffed to a gleaming shine with an incoming 32. Irwin's short game crumpled in the second around as Benson (Mac) McLendon shot 67 to take the lead, but Irwin needed just 26 putts Saturday and vaulted to one ahead of Bob Lunn and McLendon, two of Nicklaus and three of Palmer. The performance was all the more remarkable considering that course officials, concerned about appearances, had sprayed green paint on the putting surfaces, making them crusty. Undaunted by the thousands of trees lining the holes, Irwin recovered by hitting from behind or around six trees. At the second he hit an 80-yard wedge shot over one tree to make a birdie. On the back nine he saved pars by shaping a pair of 4-wood shots around oaks draped with Spanish moss. Irwin intended to leave little doubt the last day, making three birdies in the first five holes and making the turn three ahead of Lunn. But an errant drive at the 10th struck a female spectator and ended up in her blouse; after a drop he made bogey, then another at No. 14. Nicklaus tried a game late charge with birdies at the 14th and 15th but at the 188-yard 17th his 6-iron shot sailed over the green on an unexpected wind gust and he bogeyed. Irwin wasnıt certain of where he stood until the 18th, when a routine two-putt from 25 feet gave him the victory. It made him the seasonıs 11th first-time winner and ended thoughts of the playoff loss to Casper, which kept intruding through the round. "Winning is what this is all about," he said. "I donıt think you have to lose first in order to know how to win, but if you havenıt experienced defeat and victory you donıt know what itıs all about." Irwin finished second or third on a half-dozen occasions in 1972, including becoming the last man out in a four-way playoff with Lou Graham, David Graham and Larry Ziegler in the Liggett Meyers Open. He also tied for 17th in his first chance as a defending champion, six strokes behind Johnny Miller. In 1973, he again made the Heritage his return to competition after a one-month break as the tournament moved to September, with its switch to March 1974 in the offing. Irwin intended to return to competition the week preceding the Heritage but broke his glasses playing tennis at home and couldnıt get replacement specs in time. This time Irwin dominated Harbour Town and his peers from the start: 69-66-65-72. The first two rounds were played in steady rain, a nuisance for Irwin despite wearing a visor, while the last was in hot temperatures. By the final day Irwin cruised from atop a seven-shot lead. Two years earlier, he'd been an untested product arriving at Hilton Head, but now his closest pursuers knew they'd been relegated to the second flight. |
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