Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990 TAG: 9006190114
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MEDINAH, ILL. LENGTH: Medium
"God bless him, I almost wish he had won," Hale Irwin said, biting his lip and holding back tears. "He's a great guy."
Donald, too, was near tears as his dream ended.
This was not just any golfer who lost. This was one of golf's good guys, if not one of the great golfers, a bachelor who has devoted his life to the game, who committed to all but two tournaments the rest of the season because he has nothing he would rather do.
He said before Monday's playoff he considered himself a winner but just wanted to be the big winner. Instead, he becomes the first man to lose a sudden-death playoff in the U.S. Open.
He had it in his hands, too.
He led by two strokes with three holes to play and knew "if I made three good, solid pars, I'd be all right, the championship would be mine."
Even after Irwin birdied No. 16 to get within a stroke, the tournament was Donald's to lose as he stood on the 18th tee.
Did he feel the pressure?
"Yeah," he said, but he added, "My heart wasn't pounding. I've been a lot more nervous trying to make the cut sometimes.
"I was just trying to tell myself, `One more good tee ball.' "
That wasn't to be. Using his short driver, he hooked the ball into the trees, played a low-running 5-iron under a limb into a greenside bunker and hit out of the trap short, 15 feet away. Still, he had a chance. The par putt for the tournament looked good, but two feet from the hole it became obvious it would slide just by on the right.
"I kind of gave him a chance on 18," Donald said. "It was just a routine, lousy-looking bogey."
Irwin made his own par, two-putting from 25 feet, and they went back to No. 1 for sudden death, but it was anti-climactic. After birdies there Saturday and Sunday and to start Monday's playoff, Donald missed a 30-footer for birdie, then watched as Irwin sank the winning 8-footer.
Thus ended a classic underdog story.
Some will say that Donald was not just choked up, that he choked.
In truth, he lasted far longer than anyone could have expected.
This was the guy who shot a 64 to lead the first round of the Masters and fell apart with an 82 the next day.
This was the guy who had been on the PGA Tour for 11 years and hadn't won until last year in the Anheuser-Busch Classic in Williamsburg, Va. - in a sudden-death playoff, it should be noted.
"Nobody remembers who finishes second," Donald said. "Five years from now, they won't remember I was here."
Nevertheless, this was only a tournament lost. It may have been a career found.
"If I can't be happy with a week like this, then it's stupid to play golf," said Donald, who earned $110,000 as runner-up. "The challenge is what it's all about.
"I didn't take a 10 on the last hole. I didn't shoot 78 out there. I played a respectable round.
"Most people probably respect my game a little more than they used to. They probably think I've moved up another level," he said. "For the time being, I've gained some respect."
by CNB