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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

February 9, 2008

Michael Allen

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

NELSON SILVERIO: Michael Allen, thanks for coming and spend a few minutes with us here in the media center, a 71 today. How were conditions out there today?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Man, if you like sunny weather and a beautiful golf course and great scenery, it was really good.
NELSON SILVERIO: Why don't you just get us started by taking us through your round.
MICHAEL ALLEN: I started on the back nine and it was really breezy earlier in the day, and I hit a lot of great, solid shots, didn't make any putts, and then finally on 18 I hit a little drive right in the bunker and I had to hit a little wedge out and I hit a 6-iron on the green and finally made about a 15-foot putt. That was kind of -- the front nine it was really just solid. I could have made four or five birdies, but I didn't, and I ended up 1-under.
Then got out there on the next hole and was feeling my oats, I guess, kind of hit it a little left and I ended up making bogey, I missed a short putt there.
Other than that it was just kind of a lot of good birdie putts, a lot of good 10-, 15-footers and I couldn't make them, and then I finally two-putted the par-5, I guess it's No. 6. So kind of a blah, not much going on, but nice, solid day, nice to be under par at Pebble Beach.

Q. Not many guys are going super-low out here. Do you feel like even not going real low with 71 that you have a chance to win the golf tournament?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, only because it sounds like the other guys haven't really run away. No one has really gotten hot out there. This year I'm very surprised because the conditions are very nice. On all the courses the greens are very puttable, and that's usually one of the problems that people have coming here; the greens are pretty rough at times, but they've been spectacular this week.

Q. Could you give us some Q-school lore? You've been to Q-school a few times. Tell us a little bit about that.
MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, it's one of those things where for me, it's always a tough week because even when you're playing well, you've got good friends that aren't. Even when you do great, it's a tough week.
I don't have many stories because that's one week I don't really do much of anything. I go to a movie every night and just -- I don't want to hear anybody's bad stories, that they made triple on some hole and you get out there and look at it. It's one of those weeks where you don't have another week. I'm all-time leading money winner, so we'll just leave it at that.

Q. Has anybody that you know of ever graduated more times than you have?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I don't know that anybody has ever put themselves through it that many times to be honest with you. No, I don't think so. The stories of Mac O'Grady when he was young changing his name so he could get in, but I know a ton of guys that have gone, but I don't think -- I guess Dicky Pride has made it four or five times. A few of us guys that have had the long road have made a career out there.

Q. You don't have your own parking space there, do you?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I think I do, actually.

Q. Talk about what it was like not having to go there.
MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, it's always nice. I mean, this year was very nice because my mother had some heart surgery so I was able to go out to see her two or three times to be with her. It was very nice this year. It would have been extremely tough this year.

Q. We were talking about it, you've been down here dozens and dozens of times. Is this about as nice as you've ever seen it, the weather?
MICHAEL ALLEN: This is. It's like this heat wave or something. Normally you come here in the summertime, we played the state am here, and it was foggy and cool, the way it was kind of meant to be. It's a real pleasure.

Q. Where is your mom living?
MICHAEL ALLEN: She's actually living over in Marin now. She got married two years ago at 75 -- go get 'em.

Q. You had your best money year last year, right?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Yes, uh-huh.

Q. You're a relatively advanced stage golfer. Do you feel like you're sort of learning the game and getting better at age 48?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, my mother always said I'm a slow learner. I didn't realize how slow I was (laughter). She didn't say you're exceptionally slow; I guess I am. But to me after stopping playing and coming out, I mean, I love being out here every day. I love practicing and working out and being in shape, and it's helped my life in a lot of ways, too, just to be able to stay fit and go through life.

Q. Obviously just a year from the Champions Tour. Do you find that at your age there's any change in your game where you can't quite hit it far enough or your putting, concentration? Obviously you hit that big payoff at the end of last year. I guess age doesn't make any difference, huh?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I don't think so. I guess when I grew up I was always trying to find a way to play the game. I've been working with this guy Mike Mitchell down in Palm Springs and he's helped me phenomenally the last three years. Now I maintain my body. I can play the best golf of my life right now. Obviously going to Tour school that many times, I was never that good to start with.
I'm having fun right now. I don't play great every week, but when I do play well I love to be able to play against the best players in the world. I love that.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MICHAEL ALLEN: I know, I don't want to tell you a lot of them, but they're not for public -- exactly. I remember one time I came down and I was in the final of the Nor-Cal Match Play, and me and Casey Boyns were playing, and we came over here and sat up on the porch above 18 and drank like a 12-pack of Heinekens and just had a great time, and then we went out and had a great match. It was a great week for me then.

Q. That was at Spyglass?
MICHAEL ALLEN: That was at Spyglass. But we came over here, the Heineken was cheaper over here.

Q. What courses did you play around here?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I'm still a member of the Olympic Club for 35 years.

Q. You played that growing up, too?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Since I was 14. I never played a great deal of like amateur golf. I played a city tournament and Junior World. I was into rock climbing and mountaineering and football and whatever else we did. So I grew up, I played San Mateo Muni, I'd go sneak on at Crystal Springs, kind of wherever I could. Burlingame, I couldn't get more than three holes in there before they got me.

Q. At any time along the way, because you've had ups and downs and times where you didn't make it through Q-school and stuff, was there any point in time where you hit a low spot thinking maybe this was not the job for you?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Oh, yeah, I've been through that. I think I played until '95 or '96. I played like six or seven years, and I was just terrible, so I quit. I got a job at Winged Foot, worked there for a little bit, built some homes up at Troon North, just tried doing some other things, see if I could make a living elsewhere. Went through PGA school, tried to get a job. It didn't really work out. It's hard to make a living in the real world.

End of FastScripts

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