Morgan, 60, holds off Irwin, 62, at Wal-Mart First Tee Open PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Gil Morgan won his 25th career Champions Tour title Sunday, closing with a 5-under 67 for a two-stroke victory over Hale Irwin in the Wal-Mart First Tee Open. ![]() Gil Morgan broke a tie with Miller Barber and is now in solo third place on the all-time Champions Tour win list. (Steve Grayson/WireImage)
The 60-year-old Morgan won at Pebble Beach 15 years after a disappointing finish in the U.S. Open on the historic course. In 1992, Morgan was 12 under after seven holes of the third round, the lowest anyone had been in a U.S. Open, but played the next seven holes in 9 over and ended up tying for 13th. "Pebble Beach is finally going to let me survive," Morgan said. "I kept thinking, 'It's going to give me a reprieve.'" Morgan finished with a 14-under 202 total, birdieing four of the first six holes Sunday and adding another on No. 16. He opened with a 70 at Pebble Beach and shot a 65 on Saturday at Del Monte. "I was able salvage some par putts and I think that was the difference today," Morgan said. The 62-year-old Irwin closed with a 69. Irwin who began the round tied for the lead with Morgan and Smyth, opened with a double bogey and missed a 3-foot birdie put on the 15th hole. "It's a long way to come back. You just can't come back from double bogeys, particularly when it's right out of the box," Irwin said. "It was such a reverse momentum, I knew I was in a big, big hole." With the victory, Morgan broke a tie with Miller Barber for third place on the Champions Tour's career list. Irwin is the leader with 45, and Lee Trevino has 29 wins. Tom Watson shot a 69 to finish third at 10 under. Scott Simpson, the 2006 winner, had a 67 to join Des Smyth (73) and Don Pooley (67) at 8 under. Bernhard Langer shot a 71 to tie for 10th at 6 under in his Champions Tour debut. Morgan earned $300,000 from the $2 million purse. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. |