U.S. OPEN : Morgan Gets Home Before Dark With 66 : Golf: He saves par on 17 and birdies 18 to move one in front of Strange and two ahead of Pate, Dillard and Mickelson.

Gil Morgan no longer practices optometry, but his eyes were sharp when he sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to take the first-round lead Thursday in the 92nd U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Morgan had a six-under-par 66 and finished his round in the gathering gloom of early evening.

Curtis Strange shot a 67 hours earlier on a cool, overcast day with minimal wind and was the leader until Morgan made his birdie putt.

Steve Pate, Andy Dillard and Phil Mickelson, making his pro debut, were tied for third place at 68.

Morgan, 45, a two-time winner of the Los Angeles Open, hasn’t distinguished himself on the PGA Tour this year except for a seventh-place finish in the AT&T; Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.

“I’ve been playing good and bad coming here,” Morgan said. “I haven’t been able to put four rounds together.”

He had eight birdies and two bogeys in his round and said the key to his 66 was his putting. It seemed as if his par putt on the par-three 17th would lip out of the cup, but it stayed in and then he made his birdie putt at 18.

“The putt at 18 had a left-to-right break about six to seven inches and it looked like it might not get there, but it curved in at the last second,” Morgan said.

Asked if winning a major event such as the Open is a goal for him, Morgan said: “All of us point to a major championship as a goal and it would be icing on the cake, but it’s not a life-or-death thing.”

It might be for Strange. He said that he lacks motivation at times and he can’t explain such lapses. However, he doesn’t have any motivational problems when it comes to the U.S. Open.

Strange hasn’t won on the tour since he won the U.S. Open in 1989, his second consecutive Open victory.

Now he’s at another Open and the competitive juices are flowing again.

“My motivation comes and goes at times and I’m not proud of it. It happens and I don’t know why. It’s scary,” Strange said. “What does motivate me, number one, is the U.S. Open. It’s our national championship. The other three majors are right behind it.”

Strange said he has spent a lot of time at home the past year and a half, balancing tournament commitments against a home life.

“But nothing gets my blood going like coming down to the last hole in the U.S. Open,” he said.

Strange has always been regarded as one of the most competitive players on the PGA Tour--if he’s motivated.

“After the Opens in 1988 and 1989, there was somewhat of a letdown,” Strange said. “Looking back on it, I probably let it get to me more than it should have.

“But I’ll be back. I want to get back.

Strange is no stranger to major competition, but Dillard, who admitted that he has been a struggling pro, reduced to playing on the Texas Tour, was a surprise on the leader board.

He opened his round with six consecutive birdies to tie an Open record. George Burns had six birdies in a row in the 1982 Open at Pebble Beach. Dillard’s streak ended with a par at the seventh hole.

Dillard, 30, got into the Open through local and sectional qualifying.

He played on the tour from 1986 through 1988. He played on the Hogan Tour in 1990. And he has been scrambling ever since.

“It has been a hard struggle, a tough grind,” Dillard said.

Someone asked if had enough to eat while struggling to make some money in golf.

The 5-foot-9, 210-pound player from Tyler, Tex., looked down at his ample stomach and said, “Obviously.”

Dillard said he wasn’t necessarily nervous, nor did he feel any pressure even though he was playing in his first U.S. Open.

Mickelson, 22, was playing in his first event as a pro, but he is already a celebrity, having won the U.S. Amateur championship in 1990, three NCAA championships and the 1991 tour stop at Tucson as an amateur.

“I was a little nervous on the first hole, but a birdie calmed me down a little bit,” Mickelson said. “It made for a fun day.”

Strange had seven birdies in his round, with bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes.

It seemed that he would get another bogey at the par-five, 548-yard finishing hole.

His third shot was a five-iron that went into the bunker near the sea wall. He blasted out to within five feet of the cup and made the putt to save par.

“I don’t care what round it is, or what tournament it is, it makes you feel good to finish like that on 18,” Strange said.

“I can’t tell you how pleased I am with the way I played today. I struggled at the end, but at Pebble you’re going to struggle somewhere.”

Golf Notes

Payne Stewart, the defending Open champion, shot a one-over-par 73. . . . Eleven eagles were recorded in the opening round, including one by Ted Schulz on the par-four, 464-yard ninth hole, when he holed a seven-iron from 183 yards. . . . Steve Pate, the former UCLA star who shot a 68, said he has played the Pebble Beach course at least 100 times, adding that he usually doesn’t get off to a good start. He was relieved to get a par on the first hole, then he got birdies at the second, third, ninth and 16th holes for his 68. “The last three holes I played one under and I could have easily played two over,” he said.

Said Andy Dillard: “I played in front of more people today than I have since 1988 combined” . . . Dillard, a former Oklahoma State player, said his nickname is “Bib”. “That’s the name of the Michelin tire man,” he said, smiling. . . . Davis Love III, the leading money-winner on the tour, shot a par 72. Masters champion Fred Couples was three under after eight holes but finished with a 72. . . . Mark O’Meara, who has won the regular Pebble Beach tournament four times, had to settle for a 73. . . . Tom Watson had a 75. His playing partner, Jack Nicklaus, had a 77.

First-Round Scores

LEADERSGil Morgan: 66

Curtis Strange: 67

Phil Mickelson: 68

Steve Pate: 68

Andy Dillard: 68

Tom Lehman: 69

Eight are tied at 70

OTHERSDavis Love III: 72

Fred Couples: 72

Payne Stewart: 73

Mark O’Meara: 73

Hale Irwin: 73

Tom Watson: 75

Jack Nicklaus: 77