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Irwin Withdraws From Championship
By Kevin McManemin, USGA
Toledo, Ohio -- Hale Irwin withdrew from the 2003 U.S. Senior
Open at 11:50 a.m. Monday citing a back injury. The 58-year-old
Irwin, a two-time Senior Open and three-time U.S. Open champion,
withdrew during the first day of practice rounds at Inverness
Club in Toledo, Ohio.
Recurring back spasms have hampered Irwin throughout the
last month, forcing him to withdraw from the mid-June U.S.
Open in the first round.
The pain in his back first flared up two weeks before the
U.S. Open while practicing in Phoenix. He received ice and
stimulation treatment to quell the spasms, but later said
that his back "hadn’t responded the way I had hoped."
Irwin also concentrated on stretching exercises..
Despite the lingering pain, Irwin decided to hope for the
best and make his 33rd consecutive start at the U.S. Open.
It turned out to be a mistake. In the first round, Irwin seized
up on his tee shot on the par-4 12th. He’d later
say it was the most pain he’d ever felt on the golf course.
While he tried to struggle on, he found he could not make
a full motion to complete his swing for the next shot, and
informed the USGA official of his withdrawal. Irwin spent
the next hour receiving treatment in the medical trailer.
Irwin, the 1998 and 2000 Senior Open winner, currently stands
in the No. 1 spot on the Champions Tour money list for 2003,
with one victory for the season (the Kinko’s Classic of Austin).
With 37 lifetime wins on the Champions Tour, he was certainly
considered among the favorites in the field at the 2003 Senior
Open at Inverness.
He came to Toledo with the hope that his back may be in good
enough shape to allow him to play in his first full tournament
since the Senior PGA Championship in early June.
Alternate Ed Whitman of Blairstown, N.J., who earned an alternate
spot in sectional qualifying on June 11 in Gibsonia, Pa.,
will replace them Whitman shot a 70 at Deer Run
Golf Club, one behind medalist Rick Rhoden. Whitman,
50, will be playing in his first U.S. Senior Open.
Kevin McManemin is a writer for the USGA.
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