Morgan returns to field

Bryce Alderton

First he was in the field. Then he wasn’t. Now he is again.

With Jack Nicklaus’ stunning announcement last week that he would

make his Toshiba Senior Classic debut, Walter Morgan, for a brief

time, was on the outside looking in on this year’s tournament at

Newport Beach Country Club.

Fields for Champions Tour events are created using the following

two criterion in order: the top 30 golfers from the previous year’s

Champions Tour money list -- of those who are eligible and desire to

compete that week -- followed by the top 30 from the all-time money

list, which includes official money won on the senior tour, PGA Tour

and Nationwide Tour [after 1995].

Morgan ranks 70th on the all-time money list ($4.18 million), but with two other sponsor’s exemptions to hand out, Tournament Director

Jeff Purser invited the 62-year-old U.S. Army veteran to be one of

the 78 golfers who will tee off in Friday’s first round.

Purser has given out four of five possible exemptions. Morgan, a

three-time winner on the senior tour, joins Paul Hahn, NBCC’s head

pro, Jerry McGee and Gary McCord, the 1999 Toshiba champion, in this

year’s field.

*

Jim Thorpe, who claimed last year’s Long Island Classic and

Charles Schwab Cup Championship, has withdrawn from this year’s

tournament due to a bad back.

Thorpe withdrew before the first round of the SBC Classic Friday,

said Phil Stambaugh, a PGA Tour media official.

The bad back has been a problem for some time, Purser said.

Eamonn Darcy, who earned two second-place finishes last year, his

first on the Champions Tour, has been selected from the alternate

list to take Thorpe’s place.

As of Friday night, Purser hadn’t spoken with Darcy, an

Enniskerry, Ireland, resident.

“I just hope he can make it here by Wednesday for the pro-am,”

Purser said.

Rodger Davis, last year’s Toshiba Senior Classic champion, also

withdrew from the SBC Classic after suffering from severe allergies

during the first round Friday.

Purser expects Davis to be ready to defend his title this week.