NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For months, Gil Morgan had been troubled by a couple of bulging discs in his neck and a tear in his right rotator cuff.
Well, he's feeling better. And on Sunday he won the BellSouth Senior Classic by three strokes for his first victory this year and his 21st on the Senior PGA Tour.
"I think it started last week," the 55-year-old Morgan said. "I started playing a little better at the (Senior) PGA Championship. I didn't open very well. I played three really good rounds closing."
Actually, he scored better than anyone else over the final 54 holes but couldn't overcome an opening 76 as he finished tied for sixth. That was Morgan's best tournament since March when he turned in his only other top 10 finishes.
"This year I got off to a bad start physically and just hadn't played very well. Now that my game kind of came around the last couple weeks, I'm feeling better about it. Maybe it'll keep it going," he said.
It didn't hurt that he was playing at Springhouse Golf Club, where he has never finished worse than fifth. Morgan won for the second time on this course after shooting a 5-under 67. The man who won seven PGA Tour titles now has won six tournaments twice.
"He didn't struggle this week," Bruce Fleisher said. "He certainly likes this golf course."
Morgan trailed by a stroke when the final round started, and he carded an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys for a 14-under 202 total.
Fleisher (69), Mike McCullough (68) and Dana Quigley (69) tied for second. Leonard Thompson (67) and Monday qualifier Morris Hatalsky (69) finished four strokes back. Rodger Davis (67), Bobby Wadkins (68), Butch Sheehan (69) and Fuzzy Zoeller (72) were five shots behind Morgan.
Jay Sigel led after each of the first two rounds, but he struggled on the greens for a second straight day. He shot a 76 to drop into a tie for 21st at 210.
Morgan birdied the opening hole to grab a share of the lead. He lost the lead briefly when he bogeyed the fifth, where he hit every shot poorly from driving into a trap to a second shot off the back of the green to a chip that came well short of the hole.
He rebounded almost immediately. He knocked his 3-wood 4 feet from the hole on his second shot and eagled the par-5 No. 6.
"That really helped my confidence at that point in time," Morgan said.
He shared the lead with Hatalsky and Fleisher when they each birdied No. 10 to reach 11 under. Morgan also birdied No. 10 but worried when he settled for par on No. 12, the final par 5. His drive landed in an old divot deep in the grass.
"I kept watching the leaderboard," Morgan said. "It didn't look like anybody was moving. It was kind of stagnant there."
HY-VEE CLASSIC: At Johnston, Iowa, Lori West three-putted the final three holes of regulation in losing a two-stroke lead, then made a 3-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win the Hy-Vee Classic.
The victory in the senior event was the first professional win for the 46-year-old West, who has played the LPGA Tour since 1984.
West finished with a 2-under 70 to join Patty Sheehan (71), Jan Stephenson (70) and Elaine Crosby (68) at 4-under 140 after 36 holes on the Hyperion Field Club north of Des Moines.