Page 16-Saturday, August 9, 1980-The Michigan Daily
Sports
Morgan up by one
Nick laus closing in after second round
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Gil Morgan slogged
through a late-afternoon rain shower to a round of par
70 and sole control of the second-round lead yesterday
in the 62nd PGA national championship.
Morgan, a non-practicing optometrist and winner
of four titles in seven years of Tour activity, compiled
a 36-hole total of 138, two shots under par on the Oak:
Hill Country Club course.
But hisposition was far from secure as the difficult
old layout, playing much longer than its listed 6,964
yards, proved Jack Nicklaus a prophet:
"The course will get its revenge," Nicklais said af-
ter nine men had broken par and 10 more matched it
in the first round.
After two rounds of play, only three men remained
under par.
And Nicklaus was one of them.
Nicklaus, who re-asserted himself as a major force
in the game he once ruled, alone in his recent,
dramatic U.S. Open triumph, birdied the last hole for
a 69 that left him a single stroke back in his quest of a
record-matching fifth PGA national championship
and a 17th major professional title.
He was tied with Lon Hinkle, who gained his
greatest fame in the "Hinkle-tree" incident in the
U.S. Open last year. Hinkle, like Nicklaus, birdied the
last hole for a 69 and a 139 total.
While Nicklaus and Hinkle were performing their
last-hole heroics, however, the course and the wind
and the heat extracted their toll from some of the
game's premier players.
Chief among them were Tom Watson, first round
leader Craig Stadler and defending David Graham.
Watson, the British Open champion and the out-
standing player in the game for the last four years,
struggled to a 74 that left him at 149 and - for a while
- in danger of missing the cut for the final two roun-
ds. He made it at the cut-off figure.
"I have no excuses," said Watson, the season's
leading money-winner, holder of five 1980 U.S. Tour
titles and the pre-tournament favorite. "I just played
poorly.
"I'm disappointed, of course. It just wasn't my
week. But there's always next year."
Stadler, who held the first round lead alone, slipped
to a 75 that put him at 142, three shots back.
"I got about what I deserved," Stadler said. "I'im
not in bad position, but I sure could have been in a
hellova lot better position."
Graham, who was within striking distance of the
lead after an opening 69, went to a 75 - including a
triple bogey,-that put him at 71-141.
The group at 142, in addition to Stadler, included
Bill Rogers, Artie MCNickle, Howard Twitty, Gary
Koch and Dave Eichelberger.
Eichelberger had a 70. Koch, Rogers and McNickle
had 71's in the muggy heat. Twitty's 74 included an
"8" on the par-4 fifth, one of the holes that had been
re-designed for this tournament and probably the
most difficult on the course.
Lee Trevino, who scored the first victory of his
career here in the 1968 U.S. Open, had to birdie three
of the last five holes for a 71 that left him at 145. South
African veteran Gary Player was 74-146. Arnold
Palmer had another 74 and a 148 total.
Morgan, playing with Nicklaus in one of the late,
starting times, had to work hard over'the last eight
holes to gain the lead.
"I started kind of shakey," he said. "His card
showed it. He bogeyed two of the first three holes, on-
ce from a bunker and once after a hooked drive.
He was three over par for the day after 10 holes, the
birdied the next two holes with putts in the 12-15 foot
range.
And he took sole control of the lead with a five-iron
shot that stopped only four feet from the flag on the
16th.
Nicklaus, who has played well and putted uncer-
tainly most of the season, had a surprisingly erratic
round - but got out of it with ope of the three subpar
rounds of the day.
"One of the worst rounds I've played in a long
time," said the 40-year-old man generally acclaimed
as the greatest player the game has ever known.
"It was a struggle. It seemed like I was out there
more than one day. I hit it all over the golf course. But
I just kept saving par. It was a struggling round, but
it's nice to have one of those and get away with it for a
change," he said.
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SPORTS OF THE DAILY:
Dickey's a Colt
BALTIMORE (AP) - Curtis Dickey, the fleet running back from Texas A&M,
agreedto a three-year contract yesterday with the Baltimore Colts.
A formal announcement of the agreement, ending weeks of negotiations, was
delayed while Colts officials and Dickey's agent, Jerry Argovitz, hammered out
the final wording.
TERMS OF the contract were not disclosed under a confidentiality clause in
the agreement.
"I'm happy to get the whole thing over," Dickey said at an impromptu news
conference at the National Football League club's training camp. "I'm anxious to
get out on the field andstart practicing."
Because he was late reporting to camp, Dickey probably will remain at half-
back and not be asked to learn the wide-receiver position.
Dickey is a world-class sprinter who competed on the Texas A&M world-
record relay team. He finished his collegiate career as the second-leading ground-
gainer in Southwest Conference history, behind only Earl Campbell, now of the
Houston Oilers.
Suspension delayed
NEW YORK (AP) -Bobby Cox is free to manage the Atlanta Braves, at least
for the weekend, following a hearing yesterday before National League President
Chub Feeney to appeal his indefinite suspension for a spitting incident involving
umpire Jerry Dale.
A spokesman for Feeney said a decision would be forthcoming sometime next
week, "probably Monday or Tuesday." Cox's suspension was stayed until
Feeney's ruling on the appeal and the manager flew back to Atlanta for last nigt's
game with the San Francisco Giants after Feeney warned him to "take it easy."
COX SAID both he and Dale reaffirmed their conflicting versions of Wed-
nesday night's incident to Feeney in the 55-minute hearing. Under oath, Cox said,
both continued to charge that each was spat upon by the other.
Cox said Feeney did not agree to his request for a lie detector test, which was
relayed to the league via telephone by a member of the Braves' front office Friday
morning. "Chub said he's never done that," Cox said.
Feeney viewed tapes made by an Atlanta television station but Cox said the
tapes did not include the spitting incident and only showed him arguing with Dale
vocallyafter he had been ejected for throwing his cap to the ground. He also drew
an automatic $100 fine.
Jaeger advances to final
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Andrea Jaeger, the 15-year-old wunderkind of
women's tennis, shocked No. 2-seeded Evonne Goolagong 6-4, 6-2 yesterday in the
semifinals of the $350,000 U.S. Open Clay Court tournament.
Jaeger advanced to today's nationally televised championship match against
the winner of last night's semifinal between top-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd and No.
6 Ivanna Madruga.
AP Photo,
JACK NICKLAUS responds to the crowd yesterday after he birdies the 18th
hole during the second round of the PGA. Nicklaus' birdie gave him one un-
der par for the 36 holes and puts him one stroke behind the leader, Gil
Morgan.