News And Notes

Hale Irwin has been the class of the Senior tour this season, winning four times and earning $961,431 in nine starts. But he can't shake Gil Morgan. On Sunday, Morgan won his second consecutive tournament, the BellSouth Senior Classic in Nashville, and crept to within $11,489 of Irwin, who tied for fourth, on the money list. Both golfers are more than $200,000 ahead of Isao Aoki, the tour's third-leading money winner.

For the second straight week Morgan, who has won three times this season, had to fend off a closing rush by Irwin. At the Ameritech Senior Open outside Chicago two weeks ago, Morgan defeated Irwin by a stroke. At the BellSouth, Irwin made two birdies and an eagle on his first seven holes of the final round to pull within two shots of the lead. Morgan, however, birdied two of his first three holes and was never in trouble thereafter, finishing two shots ahead of runner-up John Bland, four strokes ahead of Larry Gilbert and five better than Irwin and Tom Wargo.

He also remained close enough to Irwin to make a race of the player of the year award.

Amateur Opens Wrong Eyes with Performance

Clint Wolford of Chattanooga caught the eye of at least one golf fan last week when he finished five shots off the lead after the opening round of a local charity tournament at Council Fire Golf Club. Unfortunately for Wolford, that eye belonged to Judge Stephen Bevil, who gave Wolford a four-year suspended sentence last year after Wolford pled guilty to one count of vehicular homicide.

One of the conditions of Wolford's sentence was that the 27-year-old salesman could work during the day but had to spend the rest of his time at the Hamilton County workhouse. When Bevil called Wolford before him to explain his presence in the tournament, Wolford explained that he had played to cultivate a business relationship with a customer.

Bevil wasn't biting. He revoked Wolford's work release stipulation and sentenced him to serve the remaining three years of his term in Hamilton County Jail.

O'Grady Accused of Using Fighting Words

Since retiring from the Tour in 1990, Mac O'Grady has tried to repair his reputation for belligerence by turning to teaching. It has largely been a successful endeavor. He has helped rehabilitate the games of, among others, Steve Elkington and Vijay Singh. But as his recent foray into competition demonstrates, O'Grady remains a lightning rod for confrontation.

After a local qualifier for the U.S. Open on May 15 at Rams Hill Country Club in Borrego Springs, Calif., San Diego lawyer Graeme Reid, a member of O'Grady's threesome and part-time mini-tour golfer, filed a complaint with the USGA, accusing O'Grady of berating and harassing him throughout the round. While O'Grady denies Reid's most serious charges, he admits that he had several confrontations over what he calls Reid's "lack of etiquette and knowledge of the game."