Morgan Barely Misses a 59

Walter Morgan beat the score he was going for and just missed golf’s magic number.

Morgan tied the Senior PGA Tour record with an 11-under-par 60 on Saturday--just missing birdie putts on the final two holes--and moved within two shots of co-leaders Tom Jenkins and Morris Hatalsky after two rounds of the Canada Senior Open.

“I wasn’t really thinking about shooting a 59,” said Morgan, who is 61. “I was just trying to shoot my age.”

Morgan had 12 birdies in bettering the Essex Golf and Country Club record of 63 tied by Jenkins in Friday’s opening round of the $1.6-million event.

He matched Isao Aoki’s senior tour record of 10-under 60--set in the second round of the 1997 Emerald Coast Classic--and had two chances to match golf’s magic score--59.

Morgan left an eight-foot birdie putt on the lip at No. 17 and barely missed a 13-footer for birdie on the final hole.

Morgan, who had an opening-round 73, had one blemish on his scorecard Saturday--a bogey on the par-four 14th.

Three players have shot a 59 on the PGA Tour--Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval--and Annika Sorenstam is the only player to do it on the LPGA Tour.

Morgan’s last victory came at the 1996 Ameritech Senior Open.

Jenkins and Hatalsky each were at 11-under 131, one stroke in front of Bruce Lietzke, who had a 62 on Saturday, and two in front of Morgan and Bruce Summerhays, who had a second-round 65.

Hatalsky’s second-round 64 featured eagles on Nos. 10 and 13, both par fives. Jenkins had two bogeys in his 68.