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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KITCHENAIDMay 23, 2012Michael AllenBENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN KELLY ELBIN: 2009 Senior PGA Championship Michael Allen, joining us at the 73rd Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Michael, two wins this year on the Champions Tour, No. 1 on the Money List, congratulations, welcome to Benton Harbor. It's been a great year so far, you must feel good about your chances coming in this week. MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, I think coming in I have, obviously, played well so far this year. Mike's here with me this week, so we're kind of working pretty good at the game, keeping it sharp. Had a couple nice weeks off and I like the golf course a lot and I think it's going to be really a great week. KELLY ELBIN: Mike is with you. Who is that? MICHAEL ALLEN: Mike Mitchell, the guy I kind of work with. So he's out here with me this week. Which is pretty rare. Sometimes it's not always a good thing. (Laughter.) Sometimes you start thinking about your game a little too much. But we got a big stretch coming up too for the next six, eight weeks, so I want to make sure I'm playing well going through that. KELLY ELBIN: Open it up for questions. Q. Looking back at Canterbury and just how that whole week unfolded, with the surprise invitation that at first you didn't even believe it, and then you end up winning. Can you just talk about what the last two years have been like and what that event meant for your career? MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, I mean it was a ‑‑ at the time, it was at the time when I was doing pretty well on TOUR, keeping my card, but coming out here was going to be tough. And so it gave me a real foothold to come out here and kind of earn my way out here, which has been a wonderful thing for me. Once you win it's nice to sit there, like last night with Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus and you just go through all the names of the great players that are part of this game, and to be sitting in there on that same trophy with those guys and be a part of it all, it is a nice feeling. It's something where you sit there and being a little guy in the game basically my whole life to being now a part of these great names is something that certainly I'm very proud of. And I know my father looking down would be proud and it's been a great thing. And the PGA of America's something I've been a member of for 35 years or something and so it's nice to be associated with the whole thing. Q. Can you share your impressions of the golf course with us. First overall everybody's kind of first time, so to speak, seeing the course, and in particular, your thoughts on hole 10. We have had a number of players talk about that one hole. MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah. Overall I think the golf course is beautiful. The views, the settings of it are just fantastic. You get up to that hole by the water, I guess it's five or six, gorgeous hole, through the trees. The course is, to me, off the tee, it's not extremely difficult. I don't want to jinx myself, but it gives you plenty of room out there. Whereas then, like most Nicklaus courses, they're always second shot courses. And this is certainly that. I think the only green I am a little weird with is really like 17. I don't know how many pins you can put there. But overall you get out there and you look and there's certainly areas that you can play balls off of slopes and if you can really be accurate with short irons, there's a lot of short irons, there's a few longer ones, but there's a lot of short irons where you got some really small areas to hit to. But if you can hit them ‑‑ and you got back stops‑‑ if you can use the course well to your advantage, I think you can score decent out here. I know I'm going to say that and be jinxing myself and swearing a few times at myself for a ball coming up in a place I can't play it hardly, or not feeling that I got the best out of it. But that's golf too. (Phone ringing.) MICHAEL ALLEN: Oh, I'm sorry. That's my fans. (Laughter.) But, so I personally, I have truly enjoyed it. Let me just get rid of this, I'm sorry. I'm not very good at putting things on vibrate. But like the 10th hole for me is, I think it's a hole that I can reach. Yesterday, even into the wind, I was able to get it right to the front edge. But if they use those back pins, it's a hole I probably would not go for, unless I can actually get it up there in a good position, just because it's a nice hole where you got, if you just lay it back to a nice number, that left pin's got a nice back board that, you hit it a little long it will come back; a little short, it releases; and the same with the right side, there's a nice back board there. Probably your biggest danger really would be spinning it back a little too much. So, but I think there, it's a nice strategic hole where guys can reach it for sure, especially if it's not into the wind, but do you really want to go for it? I think if you go for it that's where you really put yourself in a position where you'll be out of position and have some very awkward shots. So I don't really see myself going for it for the most part, except for maybe a front right pin or something. Q. Would you still consider it a scoring opportunity hole for a par‑5? MICHAEL ALLEN: Without question I do. I think it's a great scoring opportunity. I always believe that any time I get a wedge in my hand it's a scoring opportunity. And that's, I think it's a nice hole strategically, I really do. Q. What's your process for assessing a new course like this? Is it intuitive out there when you go out and play or take notes, how do you and your caddie assess a course like this? MICHAEL ALLEN: I start out really with the tee shot. Is it a hard awkward one. I try not to be too aggressive with my tee shot because I always believe that my second shot is where I'm going to score. So how do I get the ball in play where I'm not going to be putting myself in position to make bogey right off the tee. So we start with that and obviously you work to the green. What kind of shot do we want, angle do we want, to different areas. Like a good hole would be No. 2 or 3, the little short one. It looks like you want to approach the green from the front and so I teed off yesterday there and I like to hit a 4‑ or 5‑iron there which would be nice, because there's no danger on the tee shot at all. But then you got a really awkward side hill lie and I don't think the green sets up, I think the green sets up better from that right side. So I'll be taking it over towards that right side with a hybrid or 4‑iron or something like that, depending upon the wind, and I just believe that's like your best angle. The back side of the green seems to slope more towards you. And so I try and find out the golf course how I want to play it from obviously your second is what kind of shot do we want in, and then how do I set that up. And then for me, like this course, I don't think it's that difficult off the tee, but I think it is very difficult around the greens. But I believe there's always areas to hit it to. The next hole, number 4, really if you hit it in that back right bunker as a safety net I think you could play to basically any position on the green. The back right pin is very easy to play to. The front part, you have to hit it over that one little knob on the middle left pin, but other than that it's a relatively safe place to be bailing out to. So you kind of look at things like that and where you can score. And for me when I go through a course I used to write it down what holes I'm going to have wedges to and I consider all par‑5s wedges, unless it's Olympic Club, 16, maybe that was when I was 16, I don't know. (Laughter.) And then what holes are going to be long irons in, a 5‑iron or more. And you kind of add those up and usually wedges, two wedges to every long iron is usually a birdie. So you should be under par. Q. Do you record that? Do you take those notes down or just kind of chat about it and recall it with your caddie? MICHAEL ALLEN: I used to a lot more. I used to actually kind of write them down when I was all nervous when I was playing on the PGA TOUR. Now I'm just having fun. So I'm pretty aware of it and try and make sure I set myself up into those situations. Q. Wondering if you could talk about whether you have a different attitude now toward becoming a TOUR professional. When you leave home for an event now do you know you can be a contender, that probably wasn't the case for a lot of years on TOUR, and how that's changed. MICHAEL ALLEN: For sure now especially out here. Really in my last three or four years on TOUR I thought I could, maybe not compete, where I was always going to win, but I always thought I had a good chance to come out and play really well. I come out here now and I'm playing against all these great players that have beaten me for so long, but for some different reasons now I'm one of the better players out here, I certainly believe. Certainly for my time for the next few years I should be competitive most weeks if I'm playing well. Yeah, that in itself changes everything. You come out looking forward to it. I'm not scared like I used to be with, am I going to hit a big hook or be able it putt all right, am I going to be able to ‑‑ you always question those things when you're young and hence it leads to a lot of doubt. And now I know I'm not perfect by any means, I'm not the best player in the world, but I feel like I'm going to play well, I have confidence in what I'm doing. I come out here and I enjoy myself. I have friends out here now a lot more so than on TOUR. And I enjoy coming out here and hanging out and being a part of the whole thing. And you guys actually want to talk to me now. You never used to. So you know. Q. You bought us champagne once. MICHAEL ALLEN: And I would like to do it again. KELLY ELBIN: Can we hold you to that? MICHAEL ALLEN: You can. Yes. Hold me to a good bottle. A bunch of bottles, yes. Q. We weren't going to bring that up. MICHAEL ALLEN: It was the best they had. Q. Wondering if you had ever heard of Benton Harbor, Saint Joseph before coming here, your thoughts on the community and bringing a tournament of this caliber to this area? MICHAEL ALLEN: I have always ‑‑ well I have known of Benton Harbor since I played in the Point O Woods one year in the Western Am, which I always thought was the best amateur tournaments in the country. I thought it was better than the U.S. Amateur. It was the best fields, it was a great format and a ton of golf, of course I never made it that far. But I came into Benton Harbor and I wasn't that impressed with it, but I met Willie Wood that week and he had a beautiful, was staying with some friends and had a beautiful house on the lake and I thought it was spectacular, the views around here. I don't know where we stayed or how far Point O Woods was, but I remember being here. I'm glad to see this whole project here because to me it looks beautiful. And I don't know what the whole, I hear there's been some protests about it or this or that and to me it looks a whole lot better than the industrial waste that used to be here. Hopefully it's good for the community. We come here and enjoy it. I hope everybody does. Hopefully the golf and the PGA of America and the KitchenAid I think that has a lot invested here and they mean to do well by the community. So I hope it's a win/win for all. And I have enjoyed it. I've eaten at a couple good restaurants so far and it's been a nice stay so far. It's nice to get out of the heat of Arizona. Q. When you go out like for a practice round how is your approach different here where you're unfamiliar with the course versus someplace maybe you've been a bunch of times? MICHAEL ALLEN: To be honest these days I have to play a pro‑am, so that's usually it out here. Once I have ‑‑ my first year like on TOUR when I haven't seen a course I'll play a practice round and get to know the course and then the pro‑am and so I'll play two or three rounds. So normally I do. Now once I'm on TOUR and I played the course a few times and a few events on it, I feel like I know the course, I'll go out and play four or five holes and maybe nine holes and just see how it's playing. And that's really about it. And that's nice. On the Champions Tour, we get a cart and we can go out late or we can do the pro‑am and so you can come in late enough and don't have to worry about it too much once you've been there a few times. This course, it's always tough in these things because so many people are trying to play. We don't have many fields that are 156 or 144, and so there's so many people out trying to play it's difficult to get out there. And it's a very, very difficult walk as well. I guess between the tees, we'll see how that all works with the shuttles, but, so I played the pro‑am that will probably be all I'll do. Play four or five holes maybe this afternoon. But that's really about it. Q. The shuttles, after you're accustomed to walking every hole you develop a rhythm and particularly between green and tee. Having these shuttles now, is it going to be a bigger challenge to try to maintain your rhythm and your focus and make it seem like it's a regular course? MICHAEL ALLEN: Shuttles are, they can be distracting for sure. If you're playing well and making birdies and, hey, let's sit down and have a nice ride, you know. If you're not you're like pissed, I want to go walk to the hole and I don't want to talk to anybody. I just want to ‑‑ it's always kind of your time to rectify things one way or the other. So the other thing is hopefully it's not too hot and sweaty, because I hate sitting in shuttles when I'm really hot and sweaty. But, so it is a little bit of a distraction, but it's better than walking the .8 miles it is to the next tee on some of these holes, so, you know, I mean, yeah, I'll be happy they're there, but it is a distraction. But it's a part of the game and we got to overcome a lot of things and hopefully that's the least of them. Q. Have you ever played a course that has this many gaps of that much distance? MICHAEL ALLEN: I never had a cart that would go this far. (Laughter.) Honestly. God, what is it nine miles around this thing? Yeah. So, no, I haven't. I guess there's one course up in Pearl Canyon and kind of in the San Francisco area that supposedly had them like that. But this is, it's interesting. Luckily it's a pretty spot to be, so it's not too bad. And we're playing for good money, I'm happy to be here. I would play in the parking lot if I had to. KELLY ELBIN: You mentioned the Champions Dinner last night. Anything particular stand out from that event last night, now that you've been to a few. MICHAEL ALLEN: Yeah, I was, I don't know if it's true or not, but when Tom got up there the way his voice cracked a little bit, I felt that he was probably a little bit nervous too to speak in front of everybody. Which made me feel better. I did it the first time and I never even had been to anything like that. So that was very nerve wracking to me. I'm not a very good speaker. I'm okay with questions, I'm not a very good speaker sitting there holding the microphone talking. So it seemed like he was a little nervous to start with, which was kind of nice. But then the next few parts he handled it very well. He was an expert, a veteran. So, but it was very nice. It was nice to see him talk and see his perspective on things and nice to be around the PGA guys. I don't see them that often. They are such a big part of the game and I had some great conversations with some of those guys and their lives and it was nice, it was a very nice evening. KELLY ELBIN: Michael Allen, thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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