LUTZ, Fla. -- When one aspect of Hale Irwin's game isn't working, he simply turns to another.
"I feel in my heart I have several 'A' games," he said.
Irwin, the career victory leader on the Champions Tour, finished
a second-round 68 Monday to slip past Morris Hatalsky and win the
rain-delayed Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am by one shot.
"It wasn't spectacularly played golf. ... I didn't drive the
ball well and I certainly didn't putt all that well, but I did what
I had to do when I had to do it," he said. "Maybe the bottom line
to that is experience."
Taking advantage of improved weather, which made the TPC of
Tampa Bay course less demanding than the previous three days, Irwin
played his remaining 12 holes in 2 under to end with a 36-hole
total of 8-under 134.
Hatalsky was one of only 22 golfers to complete the second round
Saturday, when the scheduled 54-hole event was reduced to 36. Heavy
rain Sunday washed out play after 68 minutes, pushing the
conclusion back to Monday.
Hatalsky's 7-under 135 was the score to beat. And Irwin, playing
the back nine first, pulled even with a birdie on No. 18. A birdie
on No. 3 gave the winner of last month's Turtle Bay Championship
the lead, and Irwin finished his 42nd tour win with six straight
pars.
"When I got up today and saw that the weather was so beautiful,
I just went: 'Darn,'" Hatalsky said. "In order for me to maintain
that position I needed the wind to blow hard and they needed
tougher conditions out there. Hale found a way to manage himself
around the golf course and get on top."
Irwin didn't get on the course at all Friday, when lightning and
heavy rain knocked the tournament off schedule. He played 21 holes
Saturday and three more Sunday, never finding a rhythm.
"It's very hard to go out and get a feel for what you're
doing," he said. "Three holes a day isn't quite going to do it."
Even though he pulled ahead of Hatalsky with six holes to go,
Irwin continued to play aggressively because he had no way of
knowing what the other contenders were doing down the stretch.
There were no leaderboards on the front side of the course, and
there wasn't a large enough gallery to gauge how others were doing,
either. He missed several chances for birdies, then clinched the
tournament by two-putting from 30 feet on his last hole.
"I'd love to have a 4-foot putt to win the tournament every
week, but not like that," Irwin said.
He stressed the importance of patience.
"You have to kind of eliminate all the other nonsense," he
said. "The guys who dealt with it the best are probably those guys
that were at the top of the (leaderboard)."
Defending champion Mark McNulty (68) birdied two of his last
four holes to pull even with Hatalsky, who spent Sunday relaxing
and watching college basketball before returning to the course
Monday in case of a playoff.
Vincente Fernandez (69) and Tom Wargo (68) finished two shots
back at 136, followed by Tom Pooley (68), Wayne Levi (68) and Jerry
Pate (67) at 137.
Irwin won $240,000 for his second victory this season, boosting
this year's earnings to a tour-leading $703,000 in four events. He
has won at least two tournaments in each of the 11 seasons he's
been on the senior tour.