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CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

October 26, 2005

Hale Irwin

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

DAVE SENKO: You've won this won in the past and you've come in with check with two wins in your last four starts, maybe just take a look at this tournament.

HALE IRWIN: Well, I think obviously there's 40 of us that are absolutely delighted to be here.

There's been a lot ups and downs as far as my year goes. As Dave mentioned I've had A very good run here the last month. I had a very good run the first month. Disappointing I must say, in between. I didn't really play all that well this spring and summer. I had a few issues with my back that kind of kept from that happening but just part of the process I go through no as I never know what Kind of game I was going to get. First year I had good health, good results, I've had relatively good health the last month and I've had good healths. One more week to go, if I can just stay the way I'm going to feel very happy.

But any major, it's been a great year, but I think if you look at the statistics, and I'm not a big statistics person, but I think it does point out some of the reasons why I've not played as well overall as I perhaps would like to have done, is I think almost every category, the poor ones, putting, scoring I'm down from last year. And that I think that tells some of the reason why I didn't fair as well through the summer as I needed to.

Now, will there be a great deal of focus on that event, no u I'm not just going to kind of sit back and try to get myself back in shape again and remember, because I remember that I'm perhaps not as young as I used to be and try to I involve my workout routine into something that was better before me than what I was doing before my back became an issue.

But leading up to this event, there's one guy out there that's has had a very good event throughout the year and that has excelled. But we've got one more week and I'm sure Dana is equally prepared. He had a good week last week, so we'll see. I haven't been on the golf course. From what I hear, the other players have indicated it's in great condition. If we can get a break in the weather unlike last year, I think we'll be in really good shape.

Q. Does this favor a particular type of player as far as shaping shots and irons?

HALE IRWIN: I think the shaping shots is almost a forgotten art anymore. With today's technology, you it's so hard to shape a shot, you just blast it now. I think I still react to the shaping shot syndrome. I still like do that. It's much more difficult to do that than just hitting straight because that's the way technology has the game now, you just blast away and the art of moving it is lost.

Having said that, I think this course does require good skills in management. I think you really have to manage yourself well around here. I don't know what the rough is around here, I presume there's going to be some, with this weather, it could be very, very rough this week. So I'm driving it well, it's going to be exceptionally important. These greens, while they are not terribly different difficult to hit, they are hard to getting close to the hole, they are not very large greens, so your targets, which I like, are very well defined but your hole location really kind of dictates where you kind of want to put the ball.

There are some putts that can get away from you. I think it's important, for all of us, depending on how we are playing of course, and it is a four round event, we shall not in a three round event, so don't think that you have to put that pedal to the medal; that one, medal to the pedal, you don't have to get it going quite as quickly in round one or round two because you do have 24 hours to praise yourself rather than trying to explode in three. I think for many of us, we have six events during the course of the year that are four round events. And this is the sixth one of those.

Q. You obviously mentioned the win total, how important is this Charles Schwab Cup event?

HALE IRWIN: It's very important. I'm not trying to downplay this one bit. In fact, having won this twice, having known the financial reward, I'm not going to belittle that, that's very attractive, it really is. I think in the end when I go to my home and I go back into my trophy room and I see those two gold Cups there, that tells me something, and those go gold cups couldn't have money but they have a lot of pride and prestige and I'm very proud of that. So it is important.

Q. Dana was talking about the triple points and maybe your you're don't like that as much if you're No. 8 or No. 10, how do you feel about triple points as opposed to double?

HALE IRWIN: We've screwed around with this formula for so many times, it would be nice to settle on one and be done with it. I do think this event, while it's extremely important, last year I think when we traveled all of the majors or something like that, whenever whatever it was, I'm not I'm not comfortable with any of the format so far.

I understand that coming down to the tail end and you have your No. 1, you can still be caught by No. 6 or 2 or whatever, but that's certainly the excitement of it. But at the same time, I'm not certain the trouble is appropriate even earth.

Q. Is it really fair?

HALE IRWIN: Let's talk about Mr. President, let's decide, what's fair. What's fair? The whole game of golf is not fair. Is it fair that the umpires have been calling the way they have in the (World) Series? Like the way the other players have said about the umpiring, that's part of the game. Fair, unfair, why want to get into fair.

What I think, this event is culminates in a very exciting finish and whatever the point total, there's going to be something out there that will change that standing that is at the year's end unless somebody else establishes and has a year that no one at the end has.

Q. Do you believe trouble points can catch them and that's not going to happen.

HALE IRWIN: There's always something at that time the ends that does have some influence on the ultimate outcome. Whether it's double, or triple, or straight across, if you talk to some of our staff that have gone through all of those numbers, they will tell you it doesn't matter how they did it all works out in the same way. You have to run that one by me because I don't quite follow that one. But it does make it exciting and I think for the Schwab company, that have done so much for us on the Champions Tour and provided opportunities like this to have tournaments at the year's ends and to have a finish like this, it is very appropriate.

Q. What do you think of the year that Haas has had and keeping his foot in both tours?

HALE IRWIN: It's too hard to do. It's a different mental, different entirely a different level. You're going back and forth between players, at least I found, after awhile, you lose the sort of personality of that tour, there is a personality at the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, the LPGA has, there's an environment, a micro environment and doing in and out of that I think is difficult now.

If you are going to play in 20 or 21 or 22 events, and you're going to play half and half, well you've got to figure out, okay, that means 10 or 11 on each Tour. I am going to get in results at year's ends. Now if you're going to play 36, now maybe you go 16, so, now I can make a year hear happens out of both.

I've never been those 36. I've never been a Dana Quigley. I can't play, I don't want to play every week, so for that's what I found is there for with the limited involvement, limited, let's say a defined involvement, I'm going to have where, is it going to you. So that's really kind of hard to quote, fit in.

Q. How would you describe the personality of this tour?

HALE IRWIN: The regular tour, these are guys that are young kids, families, their focus is just for this, what they are doing right now. That event. And their intensify level is very strong. Now, let's take the Champions Tour. Okay. The children over Champions Tour are grandchildren. You've got for the most part, not cut events, three rounds versus four. You have approximately half the field, so the format is a lot different. You might say, well, it's easier. Well, it may be easier, but if you thrive on that intensity level, maybe you like it over there. So you think you kind of have to know who you are at the age of 40 and what you want to do.

In Jay's case, he was trying to make the Ryder Cup Team and that's why he had that going. And I talked to Jay, earlier this year, and at the Senior PGA and he was done. His game was down he wasn't playing well, because he had reached that goal and now his goal was, what? Even he didn't know. With his son playing over there, and he kind of just split it

But I think he's coming around to, hey, it's kind of fun to play well and win. Jay, like I said last night at the draw party, go back there, he and Loren particularly could go back to to the regular tour. I think it's great to have Jay and Loren over here and it's great to see hem win they are bringing great credentials and it's just fantastic stuff.

Q. Just real quickly, what did you do at 50?

HALE IRWIN: Well, I suppose way back, because I turned 50 in June, so I kind of 60 had six months. I kind of hoped prior that that I could have been a Ryder Cup Captain so and I could have dedicated is that six month thing to become the Ryder Cup at that point can that didn't happen. So had I turned 50, well, I'll play a few on the regular tour and give the six month shot to the Champions Tour simply because I wanted to get sass u get stat us meaning on the Money List. I wanted to get up there as high as I could, so I played more Champions Tour events hand I did regular tour events and then I found that when I did go back and play a little bit on that other side, the other side, it was more difficult simply to make the change. To say, okay, now I have a cut to think about, well, I haven't made cut to think about in six months, and I have guys that come on the Tour and see what their names or, their wives and children who I have never seen before this is a very short period of time, you've got a new class coming out. So it just got to be more of a hassle.

What was I going to go do on the regular tour that was going to enhance my career? Where did I really belong? What could I do it help golf? In a r that may sound trite but that was part of it, but it was how could I help influence somewhere. I think that's what drives some of us, but not what can we can or ourselves but can we do for the greater whole.

End of FastScripts.

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