Gil Morgan
Cards 67 to Win Ninth Annual BellSouth Senior Classic
By Web Webster
In an afternoon of tournament highs and lows, Gil Morgan
overtook fellow SENIOR PGA TOUR pros Jay Sigel and rookie
Fuzzy Zoeller to win the ninth annual BellSouth Senior Classic
at Gaylord Opryland with a 67.
The
career pro's 67 matched his 1997 final round score and netted
Morgan a $240,000 payday. After a birdie on #1, a string
of pars was broken by a bogie on 5, making him even for
the round.
Soaring
over hole #6 with an eagle, Morgan then went on to shoot
par or better for the next eight holes to pull ahead by
four stokes on the round and 13 strokes for the tournament.
After bogeying the par 3 15th hole, a pair of birdies followed,
allowing Morgan to pull ahead by three strokes. A short
pitch from the rough left him an easy three-foot putt to
finish out the afternoon and then tournament at five under
on the day and a total three-day score of 202.
The
win also marked Morgan's first tournament win in one year
to the day, when he defended his Instinet Classic title
by going wire to wire and edge out J.C. Snead and Tom Jenkins
by two strokes with a 63.
Trailing
by three strokes on the day, Bruce Fleisher and Dana Quigley
carded 69s.
The
par-4 2nd hole proved to be the tournament's toughest, averaging
almost a half-stroke over par, while the par-5 10th was
the most forgiving, allowing players to average almost a
half stroke under.
