Register today for early access to Rounds Golf membership.
Menu
Stories of Todd Hamilton, the former Asian Tour player who’s name adorns the Claret Jug following his playoff win at Royal Troon in 2004 or the unlikely winner of the 2003 PGA Champion Shaun Micheel ranked 178th in the world and in that same year, American Ben Curtis who walked out of Royal St George’s with the claret jug having come into the event as world number 396.
But what about the men who went 72 holes undefeated by anyone else in the field, only to be remembered as a footnote, a runner up, or worse, not remembered at all. Their big moment, their pinnacle didn’t quite summit in the way it did for Hamilton, Micheel, and Curtis. What of those 72-hole joint victors, what is the story behind the greatest 72 holes of their career, and what became of them?
Over the next few weeks, we’ll explore the stories of three nearly men, starting this week with the 1990 US Open. Held at Medinah Country Club in Illinois, the 1990 US Open saw Hale Irwin become the oldest US Open Champion in history at the age of 45. But who among us can recall the man that matched him all the way, not just for 72 holes, but for an incredible 90 holes, only to sadly fall short in the cruelest fashion on the 91st hole? For Hale Irwin, this would be his third and final major victory in a career that would eventually span 50 years.
A three-time US Open winner, a winner of 20 PGA Tour events, and the man who holds the record for the most Champions Tour victories (45 in case you were wondering). An illustrious career that rightly sees Irwin regarded as one of the greats of the game. His opponent standing on that 91st tee back in 1990, was a man ten years his junior featuring in only his twelfth ever major, with a record of 5 missed cuts and one top 40 finish to his name. Incredibly contained within those 12 majors was a course record-equaling 64 at Augusta just two months earlier. With his one and only PGA Tour victory coming the year prior at the 1989 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic, Mike Donald went into the US Open ranked 124th in the world and would go on to end that summer at a career-high 77th.
Born less than three hours drive from Medinah, in the town of Grand Rapids Michigan, Mike Donald opened his account at the 1990 US Open with a 5 under par 67 placing him in a tie for 4th, a position he never fell below all week. Hale Irwin by contrast never peaked above 5th until the 67th hole of the tournament, where even then he was still three shots adrift of Mike Donald, but more on that later. Donald’s golfing career began in Florida at Broward Community College where he won the National Junior College Golf Association title in 1974 before graduating from Georgia South University in 1978. By the time Donald entered the 1990 US Open he was well into his 10th season on the PGA Tour having gained his card in 1980.
At Medinah, Donald followed up his opening round 67 with a 2 under 70, leaving him two shots behind American Tim Simpson, who would eventually join Greg Norman and Mark Brooks in a tie for fifth. With his maiden PGA Tour title under his belt eleven months earlier, and having also lost in a playoff to Jim Booros at the Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic (now the Sanderson Farms Championship) that same year, Mike Donald was displaying a level of confidence in his game that prior major appearances had been lacking. Saturday would see Mike Donald rise further up the leaderboard his level par third round, was enough to see him spend his Saturday evening as co-leader alongside Billy Ray Brown on -7. Mike Donald would tee it up Sunday afternoon in the final pairing of the US Open. Going into the final round twelve players sat within 2 shots of the lead, it was anyone’s prize for the taking, notably Hale Irwin was not one of those twelve. Indeed, Irwin started his fourth round a full 4 shots behind Donald, and would soon find himself fall further behind as Donald opened his final round with a superb birdie, birdie start, laying a marker down and setting the pace for what would be an engrossing final days play.
At one point during that fourth round, Donald found himself a full 7 shots ahead of Hale Irwin. As Mike Donald rolled in his 9th straight par at 11, Hale Irwin was about to get motoring. Having recorded his first birdie of the day at 7, taking him back to level par for the round, Hale Irwin entered the back 9 at 3 under for the tournament, six shots behind Donald. As the closing stretches approached Hale Irwin took it up a gear recording birdies at 11, 12, 13, and 14 swiftly propelled himself to -7 for the tournament and into a share of second. Standing on the 16th tee at Medinah, Mike Donald now held a two-shot lead over Hale Irwin and Englishman Nick Faldo, who had started the day in a seven-way tie for 7th. Following a bogey at 16 and par at 17, Donald walked on the 18th tee now tied for the lead. Whether Donald knew this or not is unclear, for Irwin playing ahead of him had sunk a 45ft putt for birdie prompting him to run around the green high fiving the crowd and setting the clubhouse target to beat at -8.
A closing par, and a final round 71, meant Mike Donald and Hale Irwin would go head-to-head in an 18-hole playoff the next day. On the morning of Monday 18th, June 1990 having already battled it out for four days, Hale Irwin and Mike Donald tee’d it up in golf’s most grueling playoff format, 18 holes of head to head stroke play. Mike started the playoff as he had his final round, opening with a birdie 3, before immediately giving a shot back and then dropping a further shot on the 4th to go one over. Irwin by contrast had started with four solid pars before dropping a shot at the 5th all square on the 6th tee then.
With bogeys at 9, 11 & 12 for Irwin and just one dropped shot for Donald during that stretch, Mike Donald for the second time in 24 hours stood on the 13th tee of the US Open with a 2-shot lead. Irwin the day prior had used this stretch to record 4 birdies in a row and close the gap on Donald. That momentum was absent come Monday. But Irwin wasn’t out of it and when Donald recorded another birdie at 14 to get back to +1 for the day, Irwin stepped in behind him and followed suit, the two shot gap remained. Pars a piece at 15 meant Mike Donald with three holes remaining held a two shot advantage over his playing partner.
The long par 4 16th gave Irwin a lifeline, picking up just his second birdie of the day after a beautifully struck long iron uphill into 8ft. Hale Irwin was going to make Mike Donald earn his victory. The Par 3 17th, lined deep with fans in a perfect horseshoe all along the back portion, looked a menacing sight from the back tee. With the wind swirling Irwin stepped up first, anything centre of the green would put real pressure on Mike Donald. By contract Irwin’s 6 iron held in the wind barely covering the water hazard and landed just a few feet into the sloping rough that guards the front edge. Palpable relief from Irwin.
Mike Donald by contrast sent his low, piercing against the wind and stopping perfectly, pin high about 10 feet to the right, though not without its challenges, a tough right to left putt for birdie awaits. Irwin would go on to knock his uphill chip to within inches of the hole and Mike Donald’s precarious birdie putt would roll round the back of the hole to two feet. Both players escape a treacherous 17th hole with pars and for Mike Donald it would all come down to 18 once again. Irwin again would have the honour, his tee shot finding the centre of the 18th fairway, Mike Donald needing just one last good swing would pull his tee shot left under the over hanging trees. A tough 200 yard uphill right to left approach would run short into the greenside bunker guarding the pin. Irwin by contrast would clear that same bunker by just a few feet and secure a comfortable par, cheered audibly by the favouring crowd. Donald’s ensuing bunker shot was fat and left him with a 15ft right to left putt for the win, a putt which looked good right until the last two feet where the break cruelly ran out and left Mike Donald to card a bogey finish. Sudden death.
By the end of that 90th hole both players looked to be in a state of shock and exhaustion, Irwin undoubtedly the more relieved and Donald ruing what could have been. There’s no doubt as Irwin stood on the 91st tee he had to be feeling the more buoyant man, just 30 minutes earlier he was two behind with 3 holes remaining yet miraculously he was still in this. For Donald, one can only imagine the pains he was going through. For the second day in a row, the US Open was within his grasp standing on the 18th tee. A cruel 24 hours. When the players arrived at the 345-yard par 4 first hole, they faced the rather odd experience of staring at an empty green ahead. So efficient were the green staff, that following their departure five hours earlier the pin had been removed and had to be hurriedly found. Medinah’s opening hole playing downhill and downwind saw both players find the fairway, each facing a short pitch into the green below. Mike Donald went first placing his pitch 30 feet to the low side of the hole, Irwin pitching his pin high left to about 8 feet.
Donald’s birdie putt was a double breaker with plenty of green to cover, his attempt saw his ball roll out 2 feet right of the hole, advantage Irwin who proceeded to stand over his left to right breaking 8-foot putt and drop it dead centre. Mike Donald could only look on as Irwin celebrated his 3rd US Open win following an exhausting 91 holes of golf. Many of you will recall the drama of the 2008 US Open playoff between Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods, the David and Goliath battle that also ended up going 91 holes, let it be known that the 91 holes of drama at the 1990 US Open are every bit its match for drama, heartache, and excitement. Mike Donald’s PGA career reads 550 events, 250 missed cuts, 31 Top 10’s, and that solitary win in 1989. A journeyman in the truest sense, whose greatest race ran just one hole short. Mike Donald went on to play in only 4 more majors after Medinah, missing three cuts before finishing T33 at the 1993 US Open, his 16th, and final major appearance.
After losing his PGA Tour card in 1996, Mike continued playing various Pro circuits before joining the Champions Tour in 2005. Unfortunately, he never fared any better than T24th, making only 25 starts and ending his professional golfing career in 2012 after 43 years. Nowadays, aged 66, Mike spends his time pulling weeds and edging cart paths at Eagle Trace Country Club in South East Florida, choosing to play 9 holes a day and enjoying a “pretty simple life” as he put it in a 2020 article with Len Ziehm. A philosophical Donald reflects back to that summer of 1990, believing had he won, he would have joined the likes of the aforementioned Hamilton, Curtis, and Micheel as a “fluke” winner. But in going to the 91st hole of a major, it’s hard to believe that after all that golf, any win could really be considered a fluke? Anyone inspired to go back and watch the closing days play can do so compliments of the USGA’s YouTube channel. A fascinating battle hard to not to become engrossed in, even when you know the outcome.
