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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AMFebruary 7, 2008Michael AllenPEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA STEWART MOORE: We thank Michael Allen for joining us. Great playing today, 68. You started on the 10th hole. Birdie there, eagle at the 18th, your ninth. Really played well today. Talk about the conditions and about getting to play the golf courses fairly dry. MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, it was nice. It was a little chilly this morning, but overall it was an awfully nice day. Normally I get Poppy Hills on the last day and it's all footprinted up. I played very nicely today. I actually hit a few putts -- I made a couple today. It was nice. STEWART MOORE: I think the last time we spoke was at the Turning Stone Resort Championship where you had the runner-up finish and really secured your card for this year. You played well last fall. Any momentum that tends to carry over from the end of 2007 into early 2008? MICHAEL ALLEN: I don't know, I mean, it was nice to get some time off. My mother was sick, so I was able to go down there. She had a surgery, so I was able to go and spend some time and help her out a few times. It was nice not to go to Tour school and all that. I came out a little rusty but overall feeling pretty good and healthy. You know, it's been nice, nice to get back, and it's always great to get back out to California and play golf. Q. As a Bay Area guy, obviously playing in this tournament and playing well must mean something special, and I assume as a kid you came down here before you even played it. MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, I mean, I used to spend as much time here as I could when I was young. Pebble Beach is still my favorite golf course in the world. I mean, I always loved playing here. I'd love to have a great tournament here. As a kid you came down and watched the guys play, and now it's my opportunity. It's always a pleasure to play these great golf courses here. Q. And also, you've had to qualify several times, I think, seven, eight, nine times. You've been very persistent. Is that just part of your makeup, just keep coming back and coming back and fighting things and never quitting? MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, I guess. I guess it's also kind of survival (laughing). I mean, for me I've never been a star, so I played for like six years or seven years and then quit for a while, and trying to go out and get a job and stuff, you realize it's not that easy. I mean, I just didn't come back, I tried a few different things. But it's kind of -- I realized I'm probably better at golf that most other things like trying to get a job in the real world. It's something I love doing. I appreciate it now more than I ever have. Q-school is just survival. I've got to take care of my family somehow, so this has kind of been my chosen field. Q. What were those time periods you were talking about when you looked elsewhere, and what were kind of the employment opportunities that you were pursuing? MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, I guess I played through like '95 or '96, and I worked at Winged Foot for a year as a club pro. I worked out in Sunridge Canyon in Phoenix. But I also -- I built a couple homes up at Troon North, I tried doing that, and even in that market I was still able to lose money somehow. And then I tried getting a job selling implants like hip joints and knees and stuff like that, which I loved doing the surgery, it was really amazing to me. But I couldn't get a job doing that, either. I tried a lot of different things, but it was tough. Q. Do you think that after being such a veteran player that -- things go in cycles. Do you think you're kind of figuring things out now? MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, I would hate to jinx myself by saying that for sure. I'm enough of a veteran to know not to jinx myself by saying that. I think Mike Mitchell has helped me out with my golf swing so I'm a better player than I ever was. I do, I think my best times are still coming, and I'm really enjoying playing out here right now. Q. I'm trying to remember, didn't you win the Scottish Open? MICHAEL ALLEN: Yes, I did, in '89. Q. So 19 years ago -- MICHAEL ALLEN: (Laughing) thanks, Art. Q. But at the time it looked like, okay, I've done this and I'll go from here, and then what happened? MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, I came back, I got my TOUR card, and I did well in a few early tournaments and was leading in the LA Open and teed it up and hit it on the tents over there out of bounds. I remember that. I don't know, 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 I thought. This TOUR, you know, you're either a great player or you're not. It brings out the best. You see a lot of these Europeans come over and have a hard time, and the good ones stay and are really quality players. This is a tough TOUR. Q. You played at Olympic, right? MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, I'm still a member after 35 years, yeah. Q. And in '89 when you won the Scottish, where was that? MICHAEL ALLEN: That was at Gleneagles. STEWART MOORE: Michael, great playing today. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. End of FastScripts |
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