Morgan Is Just Along for a Ride This Time

As the latest member of an exclusive over-50 club, Gil Morgan is right there in line, following behind such players as Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin and John Bland on the Senior PGA Tour’s most-likely-to-make-a-lot-of-money list.

Morgan, who turned 50 last week, began his new golf career at the Vantage Championship and finished tied for 16th. He discovered that while the birdies were limited, the questions were not. Mainly, Morgan’s new peers wanted to get something straight right away.

“The first thing anyone asked me was if I was going to take a cart,” Morgan said.

He decided to ride. Maybe Morgan will pick up the pace when he tees off today in the $800,000 Ralphs Senior Classic, a 54-hole event at Wilshire Country Club.

Bland’s victory last year was worth $120,000, but it’s going to be even more in 1997 when the tournament returns to Wilshire with a purse of $1 million.

Maybe by then, Morgan will have his spikes firmly on the ground. The senior tour probably will require an adjustment period for the non-practicing optometrist from Wewoka, Okla., who won seven times in a PGA Tour career that began in 1973.

“Everything is so new to me,” Morgan said. “But while it may be different, a lot of it is the same. You still have to get the ball in the hole, putt and chip.

“Next year, with a full year behind me and with some time to practice, I think that I should be able to play the tour well. But right now, I’m not going to put a lot of pressure on myself.”

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Golf at a Glance

RALPHS SENIOR CLASSIC

* Site: Wilshire Country Club

(6,575 yards, par 71)

* Schedule: Today-Sunday.

* Purse: $800,000.

* Winner’s share: $120,000.

* Television: Channel 9 (Saturday, delayed, 8 p.m.; Sunday, delayed, 3:30 p.m.)

* Last year: John Bland, a South African making his second PGA Tour start, finished with a 6-under 65 for a one-stroke victory over Jim Colbert. Bland, who has three victories this year, had a 12-under 201 total.