Michael Allen, who will defend his Senior PGA Championship title next month at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, knows all too well what “senior” golfers can accomplish if they put their minds to it.
He’s seen Tom Watson come within a stroke of winning the 2009 British Open two months shy of his 60th birthday. And he’s watched 50-year-old Fred Couples lead the 2010 Masters after the first round and go on to finish sixth, while Watson placed 18th.
But Allen’s own story is remarkable as well. Here’s a journeyman player who has never won on the PGA Tour , but after unexpectedly receiving a special invitation for the 2009 Senior PGA Championship, he captured the oldest major on the senior circuit. Not only that, he joined Arnold Palmer (1980) as the only players in history to have won the Senior PGA while making their debuts on the Champions Tour.
“It helped get me the recognition that I feel I’ve always worked for,” Allen said Monday following a news conference in Parker for the 2010 Senior PGA, which will be played May 27-30 at Colorado Golf Club. “I guess that comes with winning. When you see your name on a trophy with Sam Snead (as well as Palmer, Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen), it amazes me. My father cherished some of these people and loved them. For him to have actually seen my name on a trophy like that, he would have been crying. It would have been so phenomenal. Whatever I do the rest of my career, my name will always be there.”
Which brings us back to Watson and Couples and their distinctive accomplishments in the last year. Allen would love to become the first player to notch his first PGA Tour victory after winning on the Champions Tour. The 51-year-old Allen has two runner-up finishes in 352 PGA Tour starts, but no victories so far.
“Obviously it’s been my mediocrity on Tour — that I’ve never actually won — that’s given me this opportunity after 350 tournaments to be the first guy to ever win a Tour event after a Champions,” he said. “Most people don’t get that. They either quit or they have won. Not many people stick in there like me and are bullheaded.”
Actually, Evergreen’s Craig Stadler posted a PGA Tour victory after winning a Champions Tour event in 2003, but he had claimed a dozen prior wins on the PGA Tour. In 2007, Fred Funk pulled off a similar feat, with his eighth PGA Tour victory coming after Champions Tour success.
But Allen does have a chance to match the accomplishment of Stadler and Funk. The Scottsdale, Ariz., resident still plays more on the PGA Tour than the Champions circuit, and he finished fifth at the PGA circuit’s Farmers Insurance Open in late January.
In fact, even though he turned 50 almost 15 months ago, Allen has competed in just five Champions Tour events (No. 6 will come at this week’s Legends of Golf). He’s clearly conflicted as to which tour he should concentrate on. On the one hand, he’s still exempt on the PGA Tour — he’s been in the top 125 on the money list each of the last three years — and is reluctant to give that up. On the other hand, he isn’t exempt on the Champions Tour beyond the 2010 Senior PGA, but he knows he has a better chance to win against the 50-plus crowd.
Allen recounted a conversation he had a few years ago with Bernhard Langer. Allen pointed out to Langer that the German was still very competitive on the PGA Tour.
“He said, “˜Yeah, but when I go on the Champions Tour, I’m going to have a chance to win a lot, not just once in a while,'” Allen recalled. “And I think it’s going to help Fred (Couples) a lot, too, winning these (Champions) tournaments and competing each week to win instead of just competing for a check (on the PGA Tour).”
Another victory, or finishing in the top 30 on the Champions Tour money list (he currently stands 19th despite playing only two events so far this year), would give Allen a regular spot on the Champions circuit.
“It’s kind of a matter of playing enough,” he said. “I know I can do it. I’ve just got to play enough to do it.
“My body is telling me I have to go there soon — sooner rather than later. It gets harder and harder (on the PGA Tour). Your knees hurt, your back hurts. You’re in therapy more and more. It’s hard to keep doing this every day walking. I guess that’s why they made it 50 (for the Champions Tour). Your body starts going, “˜It’s time to get in a cart once in a while.'”
Senior PGA Championship Notes
A total of 130 players out of the field of 156 for the Senior PGA are set. Included are 24 winners of major championships and nine members of the World Golf Hall of Fame: Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Larry Nelson, Nick Price, Curtis Strange, Lanny Wadkins and Tom Watson. For a current list of player commitments, CLICK HERE. “¦ Tickets for the Senior PGA are available at seniorpga2010.com, at King Soopers stores, or by calling 1-800-PGAGOLF. Weekly passes start at $125, while single-day tickets are $20 for each practice day, and $35 for each of the championship rounds. Youngsters age 17 and under will be admitted free with a paying adult, and active-duty military personnel with I.D. can purchase 2-for-the-price-of-1 daily tickets.
