Having turned 56 all of two weeks ago, Hale Irwin is getting close to an age when it's almost time to look for a rocking-chair catalogue. But the man who younger tour players insist on calling Mr Irwin - "I prefer Hale, Mr Irwin makes me feel like the oldest guy in the field" - showed there is plenty of life left in the old dog still when turning back the clock in the first round.
"There are times when I get up in the morning and things kind of hurt and ache. A lot of that is in the mindset. My mind is set to continue to play and try to be competitive. I'm not here to be ceremonial. I'm here to be competitive," insisted Irwin.
Those comments were uttered on Wednesday, the eve of the championship. Yesterday, he was as good as his word in demonstrating his competitive instincts by shooting an opening round three-under-par 67.
The start to his round was the stuff of nightmares. Bogey, bogey. "At that stage, I thought, `why are you here?"' he remarked afterwards. It's not in his nature to throw in the towel, though, and Irwin - who plays the most of his golf these days on the US Seniors Tour where he has amassed over $12 million in six years - responded to that disastrous start with back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth and moved on to even better things.
By the end, he could do little wrong. On the 18th, a finishing hole that had terrorised the field over the practice days, Irwin's drive left him some 198 yards from the flag with probably the most intimidating approach in golf. Slightly out of position, with a tree hampering his approach, he opted to hit a low, hard two-iron and the ball "kind of scooted" up the slope onto the green and nestled a couple of feet from the hole.
"It was nearly the perfect shot," he conceded. The tap-in birdie was his sixth of the round and rekindled times past.
"I'm not under any illusions. I know that I am capable of playing like this each day but this course demands that you don't get too aggressive," said Irwin, who has spent 33 years on the tour but who is more accustomed to the more genteel environment of the seniors' tour.
Irwin partly attributes his golfing longevity to the fact he comes from an athletic background and, until a couple of years ago, worked out strenuously. "Age is a three-letter word and sometimes we make too much of it. Once you keep yourself young at heart and think in the positive, then you can extend your career. It doesn't come without some sacrifice and I have worked hard to get here, but as long as you don't say, `I can't do it', then it is possible to keep going.
"Of course I have my aches and pains, my sore hands, sore knees and I couldn't exactly run up that hill in front of the 18th because of shin splints - but I wouldn't be playing here if I didn't think that I could win."
