Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990 TAG: 9006250062
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HARRISON, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium
"I have other, more pressing matters to attend to next week," the U.S. Open champion said Sunday after he made the Buick Classic his second victory in six days.
And just what are those more pressing matters?
"Going home and being with my family," Irwin said.
"I'm excited about the double. I'm very, very pleased. But I'm quite exhausted," said Irwin, who came to this event after winning his third U.S. Open title in a 19-hole playoff Monday.
"It's been a very, very tense week - a lot of work. But these are the days you look forward to. There aren't many of them. And, at this stage of my career, I probably appreciate these two more than any others. I'm proud of myself in the way I reacted after such an emotional week at the Open."
Paul Azinger, who was two strokes behind in second, was simply amazed.
"It's hard to follow up any win," Azinger said. "I can't imagine what it takes to follow up an Open victory."
It took four consecutive rounds in the 60s, capped by a bogey-free final round of 66 and a 15-under-par total of 269 as Irwin became the first player since Billy Casper in 1966 to follow up an Open triumph with a win in the next tournament.
"It shows there's still some life left, still some fun left," said Irwin, who had gone five seasons without a victory before his Open triumph.
Azinger, who at one point trailed by one stroke, was quick to attest to the life left in the 45-year-old Irwin, the oldest man ever to win the Open.
"Being behind, I figured I'd have to shoot a good score to have a chance, and I certainly thought 65 would be good enough.
"But I'd have had to shoot 63 just to catch him. I did as good as I can do," said Azinger, who will defend his title next weekend at nearby Hartford, Conn.
Rookie Kirk Triplett came on with a 66 and was third at 272. He was followed by Ken Green at 67-273.
Blaine McCallister, who shared the third-round lead with Irwin, took himself out of the title race over the first nine holes and dropped into a tie at 274 with Jim Gallagher.
McCallister matched par 71 on the hilly course in the northern suburbs of New York, and Gallagher shot a 67.
Just as he did in celebration of a 72nd-hole birdie in the Open at Medinah (Ill.), Irwin trotted to the ropes restraining the gallery around the 18th green and slapped high-fives with spectators after a last-hole birdie.
But it was a much more restrained visit to the gallery than the joyous romp at Medinah.
"I'm going to have to think up something new," he said.
Keywords:
GOLF
by CNB