Morse gains win on busy Sunday

For the second consecutive year, golfers playing in the BUY.COM Utah Classic faced unusually long delays and marathon days at Willow Creek Country Club.

When it was all over, 41-year-old Andrew Morse had earned his first victory after playing 32 holes on Sunday. John Riegger finished second, two strokes behind after a final-round 67, while Bo Van Pelt (69) came in third at 16 under.

Rounding out the top 10 were Tom Kalinowski (69) and Rob McKelvey (69), who tied for fourth at 15 under, while Michael Allen (69) and Vaughn Taylor (68) were another stroke behind in a tie for sixth and Tjaart Van Der Walt (67), Jeff Gallagher (68) and Sam Randolph (70) tied for eighth at 12-under-par.

"I knew I was a win or a couple of seconds away from getting into the top 15," said Morse, who is now 18th on the money list after collecting the $72,000 winner's check. "Every week you play to win and if you get a couple of good rounds going and get near the last groups that's basically what we strive for. On the back nine on Sunday, if you are within a couple of shots, that's even better, and it worked out this week.

"We were tied after nine holes. It became very exciting. I was very tired, in fact. I stuck with my routine, had confidence in my putts, made my share and just hung in there and came out on top."

Morse began the final round with a two-stroke lead over Van Pelt. Both players started their rounds off right with birdies, and Van Pelt moved to within one with another birdie on the third hole. McKelvey, the third player in final group, added two birdies of his own on Nos. 2 and 3 to keep pace.

Van Pelt joined Morse atop the leaderboard with a birdie on No. 4 but he bogeyed the next hole to drop back into second place. Meanwhile, Allen was on a roll and joined Van Pelt in second after his fourth birdie of the day on the seventh hole.

Morse birdied the eighth hole to move to 17 under but a bogey on the next hole, countered by Van Pelt's birdie, left the two golfers tied at 16-under-par at the turn. Morse gave himself an edge with birdies on the 11th and 12th holes to move to 18 under.

"Bo had a gimme for birdie (No. 12) so I felt like I really needed to make that putt," said Morse. "I felt like that would make these guys think that he's not going to let us catch him."

But Morse faltered on the next hole with his second and last bogey of the day to fall back into a tie with Van Pelt.

While Morse and Van Pelt battled for the top spot, Riegger was quietly sneaking up on the pair. Riegger made the turn at 12 under but birdied four of his first five holes on the back side to move to within one stroke of the leaders along with McKelvey, who eagled No. 12.

"It was a long week with all the delays and everything and I managed to stay focused throughout the whole week," said Riegger, who jumped from No. 38 to No. 19 on the money list. "I really hadn't putted well early in the week, and then on the back nine just all of a sudden I started to make some utts. I felt really pleased about that.

"I knew going into today that I needed to shoot 5 or 6 under to have any kind of a chance. As it turns out 19 under won so I still came up short."

Morse moved ahead for good with a birdie on the 15th hole and then padded his lead with another on the 17th. "Seventeen had been good to me all week," he said after making birdie in three of the four rounds.

Morse had a second-place finish in 1990, '91 and '92. He received a congratulatory call from 1991 BUY.COM Tour Player of the Year Tom Lehman Sunday after the round.

"Basically, my career has been one stroke short," Morse said. "Whether it be for a tournament or qualifying or the PGA Tour School. But paying enough dues has finally come on the other side of it. I'm two strokes ahead this time."

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