Tied with Gil Morgan with two holes remaining in $1 million MasterCard Championship, Irwin told himself not to force matters, just let things unfold.
Patience was rewarded on the par-3 17th signature hole at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Hualalai PGA Resort golf course, resulting in a two-stroke swing and victory yesterday for the three-timeU.S. Open champion.
Irwin rolled in a 28-foot birdie putt while Morgan three-putted for a bogey. What unfolded was Irwin capturing the Senior PGA Tour's first event of the year.
''I couldn't be happier to start the year this way,'' said Irwin, who shot a 68 for a 54-hole total of 209 to top the 24-player field for 1996 Senior Tour winners only.
Morgan, who missed a six-foot birdie attempt at the par-4 16th hole that would have given him a one-stroke lead, finished at 211 after his final-round 70.
Bob Charles, who qualified for the event by winning the Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic last October, placed third at 212 with a closing 69.
Irwin and Morgan, two relative babes on the Senior Tour, were deadlocked after 52 holes.
It was a matter of who was going to throw the first punch in the match, according to Irwin, Kapalua's touring pro.
''I felt I had so many long putts on the back nine. I told my caddy oddly enough going down the 17th hole it's going to be time for one,'' Irwin said.
That time came at the oceanside, lava-fringed 17th green.
''Boy, if I can make this,'' Irwin told himself after Morgan putted first from 50 feet away and left his ball 10 feet short.
''Behold, there it is,'' Irwin said as his putt found the bottom of the cup.
''I either mishit it or misjudged it,'' Morgan said about the first of his three putts that led to the costly bogey. ''I took myself right out of it. That two-shot swing took my opportunity away on the last hole.''
''There was no way I was going left on my tee shot,'' Irwin said as he drove safely to the right rough on the finishing hole and safely got on in two. ''That's the luxury of a two-shot lead,'' added Irwin, who barely missed an inconsequential birdie putt.
That's what happens when you let things unfold.
Now Irwin and his wife Sally can enjoy the luxury of playing tourists for a couple of days before he competes in the Senior Skins Game this weekend at the nearby Mauna Lani Bay Resort.
''We're going to be Hale and Sally Tourists,'' Irwin said.
A couple of rich tourists at that.
With the victory, Irwin is now averaging $72,248 in the 36 events he has entered since joining the Senior Tour in 1995. Even more incredible, he has finished in the top 10 in 33 of 36 tournaments with five victories.
''He has been a good player his entire career,'' said Morgan, who remembered losing in a playoff to Irwin in the 1981 Buick Open.
''I'm not 100 percent disappointed,'' Morgan said.
''I played maybe a little too conservatively at times. But really, overall, it boiled down to my not making too many birdies this week. And (holes) 16 and 17 did me in.''
Morgan thought missing that birdie at 16 might have changed the complexion of yesterday's duel with Irwin, ''I thought it'd go left and it didn't,'' he said about the putt.
''Gosh, that was huge,'' Irwin admitted.
Last year's winner, John Bland, came to within a stroke of Irwin and Morgan by going 3 under. But the South African, last year's Senior Tour rookie of the year, bogeyed the seventh and double-bogeyed the eighth hole to fall out of contention.
Jay Sigel, who shot a horrendous 80 in the wind-blown first round, blistered the front nine with a 5-under 31 that included an eagle at the par-5 fourth hole.
He finished tied for fourth at 214 with Al Geiberger and Jim Colbert, last year's leading money winner.