Tiger Woods might someday overtake Sam Snead’s record of 82 victories on the PGA Tour, and Annika Sorenstam could very well get past Kathy Whitworth’s mark of 88 wins on the LPGA. Both Woods (43 wins) and Sorenstam (61) seem hell-bent in their pursuit.

But at 42 victories and counting, is it possible that anyone will ever catch Hale Irwin on the Champions Tour? The next closest pursuer is Lee Trevino with 29, and the Merry Mex at age 65 doesn’t compete much these days. Either does the next-best guy, 74-year-old Miller Barber (24). Beyond those two, it’s even more of a reach.

Irwin, who turned 60 last Friday, has shown a penchant for longevity, including two wins this season. Amazing, considering most guys who ride with the Over The Hill Gang lose their stride by 55, as the window of opportunity on the 50-and-over tour is teeny-tiny in comparison.

So what is it that still drives Irwin like a Porsche rather than a Bentley?

“I don’t think there’s anything that has made me stop and pause about my success other than what my body will let me do,’’ said the Paradise Valley resident, whose resume boasts 81 wins worldwide, including 20 on the PGA Tour.

“Mentally, I still feel pretty capable of playing the kind of golf that I’ve played over the last several years.’’

It’s a mindset, a toughness, that goes back to Irwin’s college days at the University of Colorado, where he was a two-time All-Big Eight Conference football player. A highly decorated, hard-hitting defensive back, most people don’t realize that Irwin played on both sides of the ball, his other position being the team’s quarterback.

Just as remarkable, as a senior for the Buffs on his way to a marketing degree in 1967, Irwin also picked off another coveted athletic prize when he was the medalist at the NCAA Golf Championship.

“Oh, there’s no doubt about it,’’ said Irwin when asked if his football career proved to be a catalyst to his golf, a game he began playing with his father at age 5.

“Specifically, I think the positions that I played as a quarterback and defensive back, while still an integral part of a team concept, sometimes you had to act independently and make quick decisions -- independent decisions -- and I think that’s what golf is.’’

Lyle Anderson, the Scottsdale developer who has close ties to Irwin,

says there is only one player he can think of that rivals Irwin’s intensity on the course.

“Hale is a lot like Jack (Nicklaus), in that he does everything well and is an extremely good person,’’ noted Anderson, whose office is just a few doors down from Irwin’s at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale.

“Those two guys are the most competitive people that I know of.’’

Such a trait explains why Irwin has won three U.S. Opens and two U.S. Senior Opens. Almost as impressive, Irwin captured his three U.S. Opens over a 16-year period -- 1974 at Winged Foot, 1979 at Inverness and 1990 at Medinah, where he became the oldest winner of the national championship at age 45.

Ironically, it once again was his pigskin past that paved the way in the Opens, Irwin explained.

“I think (football) helped me establish the discipline I needed to play professional golf, and the confidence that I could do it. I think that discipline helped me at Winged Foot. Being outmanned on the football field, outgunned all the time . . . Winged Foot was pretty much like that in 1974.’’

Even though Irwin seems to thrive on pressure, it’s a different kind these days. And if the word “mellow’’ could possibly be used in the same sentence as Hale Irwin, there also is some truth to that.

“Well, I’m only going on what others say, but 60 must be a milestone,’’ said Irwin, who celebrated his birthday with his family at their summer retreat in Boulder.

“I think I’ve had a good buildup to the last decade of being 60. I don’t look at it as a period of time which is going to necessarily come to a screeching halt come tomorrrow. I look at it as a passing through, a time which may hallmark another decade of hopefully some more achievements.’’

Irwin, who like Nicklaus doubles as a golf course architect but on a lesser scale due to his full-time schedule on the Champions Tour, said there is no reason to think otherwise.

“I drive the ball probably about as well as I ever did,’’ said Irwin, whose $21 million in Champions earnings dwarf the $6 million he made as a junior.

“I think when my iron game is on, that’s probably the more consistent thing of all of the things I do. And I’m more attuned to what I can do and what I can’t do . . . so I’m probaby a more intelligent player now.’’

He even laughs at his main bugaboo these days -- putting.

“I have not gone to the belly putter yet,’’ he quipped. “As my belly gets bigger, it gets closer to my grip, so maybe in time.

“I’m open-minded about it. It’s just when you’ve played this many years and done what I’ve done one way, it sometimes doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to jump ship and start dancing with a different partner.’’