Persevering Allen in his element at Pebble Beach
By Art Spander, Special to PGATOUR.com
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Michael Allen is a golfer. Who has been a home builder. And a surgical implant salesman. But who always returns to the sport he enjoys.
And at times plays it beautifully.
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Thursday, in the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, in weather that was a bit chilly but wonderfully clear, when the pine trees sparkled and the surf rolled enticingly, 49-year-old Michael Allen was one of those times.
Allen was in his element and was on the leader board.
He's been coming here for years, having been born in San Mateo 100 miles to the north, as a spectator, as an amateur and for more days than he wishes to remember as a pro.
"I've always loved playing here,'' said Allen. "I'd love to have a great tournament here.''
He had a fine first round, a 4-under par 68 at Poppy Hills, which along with Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill is used the first three rounds. He had an eagle 3 on the 502-yard 18th, three birdies and only one bogey.
He had memories of bygone rounds. "Normally I get Poppy Hills on the last day, and it's all footprinted up,'' said Allen.
And thoughts of future rounds. "It's always a pleasure to play these courses.''
The Monterey Peninsula, two hours south of San Francisco, is a place of magic and mystery, a place Robert Louis Stevenson called the finest meeting of land and water anywhere.
It's a tourist's reverie. And a golfer's dream, especially a golfer who as a kid came down to watch the very event -- then known as the Crosby -- in which he is competing.
"Now,'' emphasized Allen. "It's my opportunity.''
That's what Michael Allen has always wanted, an opportunity. He grew up playing San Francisco's famed U.S. Open course, the Olympic Club, and still holds a membership even though he has moved to Scottsdale.
His career has been marked by persistence. Thirteen times he has been to qualifying school, and late last year he had already paid his entry fee for a 14th.
Then in late September, Allen, who had only one finish as high as second in his two decades on and off the TOUR, stormed to runner-up in the Turning Stone Resort Championship. The $648,000 prize lifted him over $1 million for the first time ever and into 95th place on the money list, fully exempt for 2008.
"I've never been a star,'' said Allen. What he's been is unrelenting. Or as he phrased it, "a kind of survival.''
Allen turned pro in 1984, and after a while decided to see what the alternatives might to be missing cuts.
"I quit for a while,'' he said, "and tried to go out and get a job. You realize it's not that easy. I kind of realized I'm probably better at golf than trying to get a job in the real world. I appreciate it now more than ever. I've got to take care of my family somehow, so this kind of has been my chosen field.''
In the mid-1990s Allen worked at Winged Foot as a club professional. Then at Sunridge Canyon Club in the Phoenix area.
"I also built a couple of homes up at Troon North (in Scottsdale), and even in that market still was able to lose money, somehow. And then I tried getting a job selling implants like hip joints and knee, which I loved doing, involved in surgery. It was really amazing to me. But I couldn't get a job doing that, either.''
It wasn't as if he was helpless on a course. Playing the European Tour in 1989, Allen won the Bell's Scottish Open at Glenagles by two strokes over Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal. Shot a 30 on the back nine.
"I came back, got my TOUR card and did well in a few early events,'' he recalled. "Was leading the L.A.Open, teed it up and hit it on the tents over there, out of bounds. I remember that.
"I was like 50th in the world when I came back, and the TOUR was very tough. I wasn't as good a player as a I thought. This TOUR, you're either a great player or you're not. It brings out the best. You see a lot of the Europeans come over and have a hard time. The good ones stay and are really quality players.''
Allen is a stubborn player. An educated player. He's endured. He's learned. He's persevered.
"I'd hate to jinx myself by saying that,'' was his response if now he's figured things out. "I'm enough of a veteran to know not to jinx myself.
"But Mike Mitchell has helped me with my swing. I'm a better player than I ever was. I do think my best times are still coming.''
Maybe, in fact, they've already begun.
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