Is it time to cue Cinderella theme for Allen?
CLEVELAND - After some 334 installments, could this be the time the dream comes true for Michael Allen? Talk about your long-running unrequited love soaps. Allen's got one real bad, as they say, only this is the kind you can't turn off by punching the remote button. This is about not being able to win, not in 334 tries on the PGA Tour. And he's needed 11 cracks at the tour's qualifying school. He's been one of golf's wandering souls since 1988 - not quite good enough to succeed, but not quite bad enough to fail.Not that victory was totally alien to him. He did win the 1989 Scottish Open, and he did win the Greater Austin Open when the Nationwide Tour was still the Nike Tour. These weren't exactly what he had in mind when he spoke of not winning.
And now Allen, who turned 50 in January, is willing to settle for a win as a senior. He is playing in his first Senior PGA Championship, which also happens to be his first tournament as a senior, and the arrival of the event, at Canterbury Country Club, found him to be in something of golf's twilight zone. He's barely cutting it on the PGA Tour, where he's been barely cutting it for years. He would like to slide gracefully onto the Champions Tour (nee Senior tour), but he doesn't qualify under the various whereases. He'd be good for a year if he won this Senior PGA. But it wasn't easy for him to make the step down to this level.
“It's always hard when you're playing the PGA Tour for $6.5 million and come and play [here] for two,” Allen said.
Bummer. There's always something.
“But,” he said, “I thought it was very nice of the PGA to invite me. I've never had an invitation to a tournament before, so I was kind of honored.”
The PGA of America's always loved a good story, and Allen could turn around and give them one by winning here. And he's within distance of doing so. He shot a 4-under-par 66, tying the competitive course record, for a two-round total of even-par 140 that kept him within reach while the day grew cool and windy.
It looked like any of a million days for Allen until, after eight straight pars, he got to the par-3 ninth and stuck a 7-iron to 18 inches.
“It was like, well, I got this one read,” Allen said. It was his first birdie in 22 holes, dating back to his first-round 74.
Things were still looking routine after another birdie at the 10th followed, of course, by a bogey at the 11th. Then came a burst of three birdies from the 14th, and Allen perked up, as did his possibilities.
“My iron play is always pretty good,” he said. “I've been lucking enough a few times to hit it in the rough and have a shot and a decent lie. I feel once you get the ball in the4 fairway, it's hard to get the ball close, but you can still get it on the green.”
Which he did with rewarding regularity, hitting 16 of the 18 greens. Another day like this should have the maestro cueing up the Cinderella theme.
“I work hard on my game,” Allen said. “I'm prepared every week. And that's why I came here. I was hoping to get myself in the heat and have a good chance to win, and hopefully I can make that happen.”
Allen did have a choice this week. He had another game, if he'd wanted it. “I love the Byron Nelson [Championship], but I've never had great luck there,” he said. “So this was a nice week. They gave me an invitation, so again, I was honored, but I do plan to keep playing the PGA Tour the rest of the year.”
Given his track record, Allen figured to be a bent and broken man. But he isn't. His outlook remains bright, like that of a seaman who knows that the promised land lies just beyond the horizon.
“You know, I feel confident,” Allen said, which is a good sign, but not necessarily.
“I feel confident every week,” he added.
NOTES - While first-round leaders Tom Purtzer and Scott Hoch were battling away, Scotland's Ross Drummond slipped into the early lead with a 66-136 … Chris Starkjohann, teaching pro from Escondido, Calif., ran off four straight birdies from the 13th in his 68, and also established himself as one of the bombers of the senior ranks … He hit a 354-yard drive at No. 4 in the first round, but only 315 Friday, and noted, “I hit only five fairways [Thursday], but I hit it better in the fairway today” … Jon Fiedler (74-146), teaching pro from Camarillo, Calif., on his feelings waiting for the cut number: “Anxiety” … 10-time winner Tom Kite (70-139), on whether he has a game plan: “No. I just play the course. Just play the golf course. That's all you can do” … Fuzzy Zoeller, after bogeying the last three holes for a 76 and a 148 total: “Lord, but this is a humbling game.”
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