Hale Irwin

Hale Irwin never led outright in this U.S. Senior Open Championship at Riviera (Calif.) Country Club until it mattered the most -- at the end.

He birdied the 16th hole from 20 feet to tie Vicente Fernandez, who had finished 40 minutes earlier with a 2-over-par total of 286, and then claimed the title by making a downhill 12-foot putt for a dramatic birdie on the final hole.

"This is the reason I continue to play golf," said Irwin, who became the seventh player to win both the Open and Senior Open titles. "This was too much fun… of all the tournaments on the Senior Tour, this is the one I wanted the most."

Of his winning putt, Irwin deadpanned, "I suppose a couple of feet from the hole I knew it was in, but I waited for a couple of more rolls before I got a little excited."

Just minutes earlier at the 17th green, Irwin thought he had made a 20-footer for birdie. When it slid just by the hole he reacted emotionally by falling on his back in disappointment.

"That was actually a better putt," Irwin said shortly after signing his winning scorecard, giving him $267,500 for first place.

Irwin's excitement was contrasted by the disappointment of Raymond Floyd, who led after the first three rounds and was looking to become the third golfer to win the Senior Open by leading from start to finish.

He birdied three of the final four holes Thursday to shoot a 1-under-par 70 and led by one over five players who shot even par. He matched his score Friday with helpful birdies on holes 15 and 16 to increase his lead to two strokes over Bruce Summerhays and Pennsylvania club pro Roy Vucinich.

Floyd, however, slipped to a 2-over-par 73 Saturday, but ironically increased his lead to three strokes over Irwin, Dave Stockton and Isao Aoki.

Paired with Floyd in the last group of the day Sunday, it took Irwin only seven holes to catch Floyd, gaining a share of the lead with birdies from 15 feet on the par-5 first hole and from a foot at the par-4 seventh. His birdies should have left him still a stroke behind Floyd, but Floyd bogeyed holes 3 and 5 after an opening birdie. The opening birdie would be Floyd's last birdie of the day, even though he came close with putts from 20-25 feet on the final two holes.

Irwin set a Senior Open record by coming from seven strokes back to win after the first day. He followed his opening round of 6-over 77 with a 3-under 68 getting him within five strokes of the lead.

On the weekend, it was Irwin's turn to make things happen on the closing holes. He birdied the par-3 16th and then chipped in at 18 to finish with a 71 Saturday, pulling to within three of the lead.

"I am very proud of the way it ended," said Irwin. Coming back from where I was to win; the manner in which I did, I am very proud of that. I proved to myself that you can dig your way out of a hole if you just have the belief and have a plan of going about it… I thought 68 was the score I had to shoot (Sunday)."

He finished with a 69, just ahead of Fernandez, two ahead of Floyd, and three ahead of Aoki and Brian Barnes, who incurred a two-stroke penalty for putting his ball from the wrong place on the 11th green. Barnes had moved to within two strokes of Irwin and Floyd before the penalty. He had 18 birdies during the week, seven more than Irwin, but he was in no mood to see the bight side of things.

"I suppose I have done this before, probably every golfer has, but I have never done anything this idiotic in a tournament the stature of the U.S. Senior Open," said Barnes.

Fernandez must have felt like a winner while waiting for Irwin to finish the final three holes. He made putts of 20 and 8 feet, respectively, to birdie the par-5 11th and the par-3 16th holes and was at 2-over 286, one stroke ahead of Irwin and Floyd at the time. First, Irwin birdied hole 16 to tie him at 2-over, setting up the dramatic finish.

"I got a feeling he was going to hole it," said Fernandez. And he did.

There were 18 rounds under par for the championship, and the lowest was a 4-under 67 by Jack Nicklaus. A day earlier he struggled to a 79, his highest round in senior golf competition.

The USGA accepted 2,895 entries for the Championship. It was the first USGA championship at Riviera since Ben Hogan won the 1948 U.S. Open there. The 36-hole cut came at 12-over 154, with 63 players advancing. Joel Hirsch of Chicago was the only amateur to make the cut.

Charles Smith of Delaware, Ohio, celebrated his 63rd birthday with a hole-in-one on the par-3 14th hole during the first round.