Morgan & Wargo share first day lead

Defending champion Gil Morgan and Tom Wargo shot 8-under-par 64s today to share the first-round lead in the Senior PGA Tour's Comfort Classic.

Morgan had four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine, while Wargo birdied four of the first five holes and four of the last five on the Brickyard Crossing course.

``I'm off to a pretty good start for trying to defend,'' Morgan said. ``I wasn't anticipating that, because I was off a couple weeks and couldn't practice much because of my lower back.

``I still felt a little tentative with my back, bending over and putting. I didn't try to hit too hard. It was timing. I had good timing.''

Wargo pointed to the soft conditions for the low scores.

``You give guys conditions like this, and they're going to make birdies,'' Wargo said. ``All you can do is go out there and play your heart out. But you've got to make birdies.''

Bruce Fleisher, the tour's leading money winner, opened with a 65, and Jim Colbert was another stroke back at 66. David Lundstrom, who had a hole-in-one on the seventh hole, and CBS announcer Gary McCord topped an eight-player group at 67.

Morgan, showing no ill effects from the back injury that sent him home to rest the last two weeks, two-putted from 45 feet for birdie on the sixth hole and hit great approach shots to set up birdies on Nos. 10 and 11.

He two-putted from 110 feet on the par-5 12th to reach 6 under, birdied No. 14 with a 20-foot putt after leaving his approach shot short, then used a pitching wedge on the par-4 16th hole to get close enough for his eighth birdie.

One of the day's more interesting rounds belonged to Graham Marsh. After shooting a 40 on the front side, the Australian played Nos. 10-17 in 7 under, then finished with a double bogey for a 71.

Another weird round belonged to Lundstrom, who eagled the par-5 second hole before hitting a 6-iron 194 yards for his ace on No. 7. He shot a 31 on the front side.

``It was probably one of the most bizarre rounds I've ever played,'' Lundstrom said. ``I hit a lot of crazy shots. I was 6 under after seven holes, with a bogey. I made two miraculous pars on 17 and 18. The round was a lot closer to being worse than better. Hopefully, I can get it figured out on the range.''

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