Irwin looks for repeat at Hualalai

2008-01-18

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KA'UPULEHU-KONA, HAWAII (TICKER) -- Hale Irwin will be looking for a repeat performance in the $1.8 million MasterCard Championship.

The season-opening event of the Champions Tour starts Friday at 7,053-yard Hualalai Golf Course. The tournament is the first of 29 official Champions Tour events for 2008.

Irwin captured an unprecedented 45th Champions Tour triumph at this event last year by posting a five-stroke victory over Jim Thorpe and Tom Kite.

After tying a Champions Tour career best in the second round with a 10-under-par 62, Irwin made eight birdies and one bogey on the final day to shoot 65 and finish at 24-under 193.

Irwin defends his title against 41 other players - the largest field for this event which includes eight first-time Champions Tour winners and first-time qualifiers in John Cook, R.W. Eaks, Keith Fergus, Scott Hoch, Bernhard Langer, Lonnie Nielsen, Denis Watson and Mark Wiebe.

Four other notables, including Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Lee Trevino and Lanny Wadkins, received special exemptions to compete this weekend.

The MasterCard Championship also is the first event of the Charles Schwab Cup, which Loren Roberts won a year ago by 165 points over Jay Haas. Roberts, who won this event in 2006, finished third here last year, six strokes off Irwin's pace.

Haas, the 2006 Charles Schwab Cup champion, was fourth here last year.