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LEGENDS RENO-TAHOE OPEN

August 5, 2009

Michael Allen

RENO, NEVADA

THE MODERATOR: Michael Allen, couple of top 10s here couple of T-9s in '07 and '04. And obviously you made your victory this year at the Senior PGA Championship. Just talk about that a little bit, what it meant to you and your position on the PGA TOUR and the Champions TOUR right now.
MICHAEL ALLEN: You know, that was obviously just a great thing for me to go out and not get run over by the guys who have beaten me my whole life. That was fun.
I'm totally looking forward to that, set me up to just look forward to winning out here now. That's my main goal, to win here. Where I went to school, it would be just a wonderful thing. That's really why I'm here. I want to come out here and compete and beat all these guys out here.
THE MODERATOR: If you were to win here, you would set a record. You would be the first to win a PGA TOUR event after winning a Champions TOUR event. There's a handful of guys that have done it the other way. But what would that mean to you?
MICHAEL ALLEN: That would mean I've finally accomplished the goal I've always set out to do, which is to win on the PGA TOUR. It's just interesting how circumstances set 'em up, it's taken me winning the Champions TOUR event first. My mother said I was a slow learner, just didn't tell me how slow. (Laughter)
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Folks are saying the course is in as good of shape as it's ever been. What do you make of that?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I've been out there just walking a few holes. The golf course, from tee to green, looks just phenomenal. The greens look like they have a little poa on them.
But the place looks just fantastic. I've never seen the place look so quite lush. And the fairways are spectacular. Looks like it's going to be a wonderful week, especially with the wind blowing, it's going to be a real challenge.

Q. One of the neat things about this tournament being in Nevada, you have a handful of UNLV guys and a handful of Wolf Pack, is there a rivalry between the two groups of guys because they date back to their college days, they competed against each other?
MICHAEL ALLEN: It's not friendly at all. We want to kick their butt, are you kidding me? Most of the guys out here, you're friends with all the time. But you've got to try to defend home turf here, us Reno guys. It's important. We want to win out here, certainly beat the UNLV guys.

Q. To follow up, there's four UNR guys in the field. Do you know if there's ever been a UNR golfer that made it to the PGA TOUR?
MICHAEL ALLEN: God, I don't know. I know Mike Bogden -- no, he went to ASU, even though he lived here, he played on TOUR for a year, I think. At least that's what he told me when he was helping me out when I was in school here.
I'm not sure. I've kind of thought about it over the years. Yeah, there's a few guys that tried to make it and played maybe Nationwide, but I don't think that anybody else has gotten to the TOUR. Are there more UNLV guys?

Q. Three in the field.
MICHAEL ALLEN: Probably been a few more that have gotten their card over the years. They've had some good teams over the last few years.
Are we beating them this year college-wise? Last year we beat UNLV?

Q. No, I don't think so.
MICHAEL ALLEN: They've still got a good team.

Q. Top 10, 15, yeah. If you could talk a little bit about caddies here. From what I understand, there's a lot of local people who can get caddie jobs here. Do you travel with your same caddie? Do you consider getting one here?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I have been working with a guy Michael Maroni for about four years now also. And this is a hard week in that if you're not from here, there are just so many numbers that you don't normally get. Normally you get the front, the pin. Maybe a little elevation. But then you get that here. And then you get the altitude. I mean, it's a mathematical friggin' nightmare out here. You're trying to add all these things up. Add the wind in, with the downhill, with the elevation and altitude and a lot of numbers going on.
You've got to get someone you really trust with that. I think this week, more than most, it's very important to have a caddie you really trust and have been around quite a bit.
But I'm sure a lot of guys can get caddies here because there's a lot of guys that maybe don't play every single week that are just getting in.
THE MODERATOR: Two weeks to go before the FedExCup playoffs start. You're 138th currently. You need to get into that 125. These two weeks are very important for you.
MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, I've had a great summer. I had four out of the last five weeks off. That's my goal, get into the FedExCups and play as many of those as I can. It's an important thing. They're big tournaments. That's my goal right now, besides winning this, make sure I get into those. I've been working hard for it all year. Things haven't gone as well as I would have liked, but I've been in the ball game every week.
I gotta finish a few of these tournaments off coming in.

Q. They tinkered a little bit with the way the FedExCup points are being done this year. Did they do it right this year? What do you think the is maybe the good or the bad about it?
MICHAEL ALLEN: If I'm 138 -- 144 would have been a lot better. I mean, overall they're trying to make things better. I think they're getting closer. We'll see how these points add up when we start playing the tournaments.
I guess for someone like me it was kind of nice last year, I think I went into 130 and made the cut. You're in the next one. This year it will be a lot harder to get into the next one. So I guess in the end, if you said everything, it is probably better that the whole year counts a little more.
So you earn your way up into those spots. I mean, it will be harder to get past. But it won't be ridiculous, I don't think, theoretically, like it was the first year, where unless you finished top 3 in the tournament you couldn't get into the next one, if you were back a little bit. You couldn't move more than five or ten points or spots. So hopefully it's going to work out nice.
It's certainly something that's under construction every year. They're trying to figure it out. And we'll see.
THE MODERATOR: What do you anticipate next year now that you have options? I mean, playing the PGA TOUR or Champions TOUR, a bit of both, what's your outlook of that?
MICHAEL ALLEN: I think for me once I can win here and get some more options, then you know for the most part I would like to play here. This is where I'm going to focus most of my attention.
I will play a little bit out there. I've had fun playing out there. It's been a good time. But I love playing the PGA TOUR. I worked my whole life to play on this TOUR and this is where I want to be. I wasn't to compete out here against the best players in the world and that's why I get up every morning and work hard.
THE MODERATOR: What was the acceptance factor like going out there and winning your first event out there? Was there some feedback from the other guys out there?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, number one, they were kind of happy for me. But they were thinking I should stick a lot more time out here. So that was good.
And then these guys out here think I should go over there. So it's been really nice. I mean, everybody's been really happy for me. I've been out here a long time. They've seen it, too. So they're all happy for me.
And it's been really a wonderful thing everywhere.

Q. Do you have any rituals or things you do, like put your shoes on the right way or any kind of superstitions when you get ready for a tournament?
MICHAEL ALLEN: Not really. I never start with 3s. I like 3s. I never start with them. I only use white and pink tees. But other than that I'm pretty much, you know, I change my underwear every day and stuff like that, yeah.

Q. When you go out for your last round, what do you look for from the course, what do you look for?
MICHAEL ALLEN: As far as this practice round? Well, I'm really looking to see how the course is playing, how the greens are chipping to and how fast they are. Up here, you've got to keep trying to figure out how far the ball's flying with different types of shots and obviously how the greens are releasing. It's a nice opportunity to be able to go out and see how the course is playing. So that's what I'm really trying to do mostly today.
THE MODERATOR: We appreciate you coming in.

End of FastScripts

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