CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Hale Irwin couldn't have played a better final round. He couldn't have played a worse playoff.

Irwin shot a 7-under-par 65 on Sunday to force a playoff with Bob Gilder, then hit a handful of terrible shots on the first extra hole to give away the SBC Senior Open.

A three-time winner of this event and the best player on the Senior PGA Tour, Irwin began the day six shots behind Gilder. He tamed the Port course at Harborside International, which was hosting this event for the first time, and took the lead into the clubhouse at 12-under 204.

"I wish I could have gone right from playing to the playoff instead of sitting around for 35-40 minutes," said Irwin, who had to catch a flight and spoke to the media from his cellular phone. "That's the hard thing."

Gilder pulled even with a five-foot birdie at the short par-4 16th. He had a chance to win in regulation but lipped out an eight-footer at 18, completing a 1-under 71 and putting him in his first Senior Tour playoff - and the first in the tournament's 14-year history.

"I thought my putt at 18 in regulation was in," Gilder said. "It was the best putt I hit all day."

The par-4 18th bends right and has water along its left side just before the green. Both players landed their drives in a fairway bunker, then played out across the fairway, finding a cart path while trying to avoid the water.

"I knew I was going to be in that bunker off the tee," Gilder said. "There was no fairway for me at 18. I'm not a hooker."

Irwin's second shot hit the cart path and bounded up a hill into high rough beneath a bush. Gilder was slightly better off, landing in thick rough on a slope below the cart path.

"Hitting it in the bunker wasn't so bad, but being by the lip, I hit a lofted club and the wind took the shot and it hit the cart path," Irwin said. "Maybe I could have played a different shot, but I didn't think it was that bad."

Irwin tried to hack out onto the fairway but hit the ball just two feet. Now clear of the bush, his punch-out hit the cart path and skipped across the fairway into the water. Clearly disgusted, he took a drop before finally dropping his approach -- his sixth shot -- onto the green.

"Hale got a bad bounce in the playoff and got it up in the hay," Gilder said. "You hate to have that happen in a playoff."

With the better lie, Gilder played it safe, punching out of the low rough onto the green. He two-putted from 50 feet for a rare tournament-winning bogey.

The 2001 Senior Tour Rookie of the Year, Gilder collected $217,500 for his third career tour win and first since the season-ending Senior Tour Championship. He eclipsed $1 million in earnings for 2002.

"It's hard to know when you're going to win," Gilder said. "You play your best and whatever happens, happens."

One trend overpowered another for Irwin. He has had great success in the Chicagoland area, winning a U.S. Open and Western Open on the PGA Tour in addition to his titles in this event in 1995, 1998 and 1999. But he dropped to 0-4 in Senior Tour playoffs, one of the strangest stats on the circuit.

"Maybe the older I get, I'll have more chances and I'll learn how to play these better," Irwin said. "Yes, it's disappointing."

Irwin could take solace in a bogey-free round and the second prize of $127,600 that boosted his 2001 earnings to $1,683,306.

"All in all, I'm pleased with the day," Irwin said. "I drove the ball well, hit some good irons and putts."

Gilder shot a course-record 63 on Saturday, when conditions were ideal. But it was hotter and windier Sunday, pushing scores higher.

"It was tough to put the ball close to the hole today," Gilder said. "It was a hard day to do things right. This course can really bite you."

Bruce Fleisher fired a 66 and was alone in third at 10-under 206, one shot better than Rodger Davis, who carded a 70.

John Mahaffey and Dick Mast teed off tied for third and shot 72s to finish tied for fourth with Terry Mauney and Tom Wargo at 208.

Bobby Wadkins began the day one shot off the lead but stumbled to a 4-over 76 and finished six shots back at 210.