RALPHS SENIOR CLASSIC NOTEBOOK : IN LAND OF STARS, WILSHIRE CREATES SENIOR HEROES.

Wilshire Country Club has bumped up against celebrity in the 76 years since the Los Angeles course first opened for play in 1920.

Howard Hughes used to tee it up between drill bits from his Hughes Tool Company. Mae West used to own a hotel across the street. Tommy Smothers still plays there.

Wilshire also has been a starting point for PGA Senior Tour celebrity. In each of the two years the Ralphs Senior Classic has been played at the par-71, 6,571-yard layout, the tour has produced a first-time winner.

Last year, it was South African John Bland, a Monday qualifier who emerged victorious in his second Senior event. Sunday it was Dr. Gil Morgan, also a winner in his second try as a senior.

``I got a little edgy at the end since I was new out here and haven't won since 1990 on the regular tour,'' Morgan said.

His nerves held up, despite hard charges by Jim Colbert and Chi Chi Rodriguez, as Morgan survived a final-hole bogey for a one-stroke victory.

He fared much better than Bland, who could get nothing going all week in a 70-71-69-210 effort that left him tied for 19th.

Fame can be fleeting, even in the neighborhood of the famous.

Call him Ace: Bob Goalby had the low score of the tournament when he recorded the 12th hole-in-one of the 1996 tour on Saturday, acing the 141-yard 10th hole with a 9-iron.

It was the fourth Senior Tour ace for Goalby, who earned $2,000 and a trip to the 1997 Aruba Aces Championship in January.

The tournament also produced six eagles - by Bob Betley, Al Geiberger, Dick Rhyan, Rodriguez, Rocky Thompson and Harry Toscano.

Still the king: Arnold Palmer, who finished fourth from last with a total of 12-over 225, still drew some of the biggest crowds of the tournament - on and off the course.

He signed nearly 100 autographs Friday after opening with a round of 77 and accommodated a similar gathering Sunday after completing his tournament with a 76.

Scores, it seems, are soon forgotten, but golf fans have never forgotten the way the biggest name in the game never forgets them.

Ouch: Monday qualifier Frank Groves, who realized an everyman's dream when he was paired with Palmer in a twosome on Saturday, showed up late for his 7:30 a.m. starting time Sunday and was disqualified.

Cybergolf: Palmer officially stepped into cyberspace during the Ralphs Classic with the announcement that he will have a website on SportsLine USA http://palmer.sportsline.com.

Features will include information on his golf career, playing lessons, news of Palmer-designed courses and a ``pro shop'' enabling cybersurfers access to Palmer apparel. There also is an E-Mail question-answer section that might prove the most popular option: The Palmer website went online Thursday and had 500 e-mail questions before noon.

Sunday blues: Raymond Floyd, who has struggled in the final round much of this year after excelling while in contention on closing day much of his career, entered Sunday three strokes off the lead. But he could shoot no better than 1-under 70 and finished tied for fourth.

Floyd did, however, turn in one of the day's more remarkable holes. After pulling his tee shot into the rough near water on the par-5 14th, he got relief from a television cable, pitched back to the fairway, hit his next shot into a greenside bunker and nearly blasted out for a birdie. He settled for a tap-in par that had to be the hardest par of the final round.