For 14 consecutive years, just before winter set in, Steve Irwin always knew he had a standing golf game with his dad, Hale — which was nice.
Oh, and it was also kind of neat that guys like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Ray Floyd were part of the festivities. And anyone in the country with a TV could join in the fun if they so chose.
But 2008 marked the end of the annual golf shindig. Until now that is.
After a three-year hiatus, the tournament now known as the PNC Father-Son Challenge is being resurrected, and Steve Irwin couldn’t be more pleased.
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Irwin, an Arvada resident and the 2004 CGA Player of the Year. “To be able to compete in that environment with dad, it’s a great experience. And hopefully we’ll win.”
The revived Father-Son Challenge will be played Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 15-16) at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. NBC will televise the tournament from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday and from 1-4 on Sunday.
Steve Irwin and three-time U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin (pictured together), both former University of Colorado golfers, are one of 18 teams entered. Another Colorado entrant this time around will be David Duval of Cherry Hills Village, who will compete with his stepson Nick Karavites.
The players in the field have won a total of 64 major championships, with Nicklaus (18), Palmer (7), Nick Faldo (6), Trevino (6), Floyd (4), Hale Irwin (3), Vijay Singh (3) and Larry Nelson (3) accounting for 50 of those.
Palmer will compete with his grandson, Will Wears, while Bernhard Langer and Fuzzy Zoeller will be alongside their daughters.
To earn an invitation into the field, the father must have won either a major or a Players Championship. And the partner must not currently hold a Tour card.
A total prize purse of $1 million will be on the line in the 36-hole scramble event.
The Irwins, who are paired with Lee and Daniel Trevino on Saturday, are the only team that has remained intact over all 15 of the Father-Son Challenges, held from 1995 through 2008, then returning this year.
Most notably, after being runners-up three times, the Irwins won in 2003.
“I remember vividly the year we won,” said Steve Irwin, owner of five CGA championship titles who now serves on the CGA Board of Governors. “We were finished and leading by two, and Jack and Jackie (Nicklaus) were coming up 18 at ChampionsGate (in Orlando).They hit a second shot 12-15 feet from the hole and had that putt for eagle.
“When you look back at every time Jack has a birdie or eagle to win a tournament, he makes it. So it was an agonizing wait. Jackie lips out his putt, then Jack, the greatest player in history, steps up. I could see how players were so nervous over the years in that situation. After he struck his putt, he did his (traditional) step forward and raised his putter, but somehow it lipped out. That first win is very sweet, especially after being second (in the previous years).”
Hale Irwin, of course, is no stranger to success. He’s won 20 times on the PGA Tour and a record 45 times on the Champions Tour, and he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame two decades ago.
That number 45 is special to Irwin in several respects, as his wife Sally noted for PGATour.com earlier this fall.
“Hale uses a TaylorMade golf ball with the number 45 on it for four reasons,” Sally Irwin wrote. “He’s had 45 wins on the Champions Tour, he was 45 years old when he won his third U.S. Open, he was born in 1945 and there were 45 years between the time he and our son Steve both qualified for the U.S. Open as amateurs.”
Steve, a former professional, played in his first U.S. Open last year, when he was named the CGA Mid-Amateur Player of the Year. The vice president of Hale Irwin Golf Services believes he and his dad can realistically claim title No. 2 this weekend after placing fourth in the last Father-Son Challenge, in 2008.
“A lot of it has to do with experience,” Steve said. “That helps with the comfort level of playing in a scramble. Thirty-six holes is a pretty quick tournament, so you need to get out fast.
“Are we favored? I hope so. Obviously there are a lot of very good teams, but we’re wily veterans.”
