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U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 11, 2013Michael AllenOMAHA, NEBRASKA THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, welcoming Michael Allen to the media center, 67 today. Very good round. Let's go through some of your birdies and your eagles, since it was a little all over the place today on the round. MICHAEL ALLEN: A lot of disparity out there. THE MODERATOR: I'll go through it. You start on the back nine, birdies on 11, 13, and 14. MICHAEL ALLEN: 11, I just made kind of‑‑ played a terrible hole on 10, my first hole. So 11 I just kind of got the ball, nice little 7 iron to the back of the green and made about a 25‑, 30‑foot putt with a lot of breaks. That was a nice way to get started. Let's see. 12, I had a good putt. 13, I hit a nice 4 iron and a lob wedge to about, I don't know, three feet, two feet. So that was comfortable. And then 14, I hit a driver and a hybrid to about 15 feet behind the hole, and I was able to two‑putt no problem. THE MODERATOR: You go to the front nine. You pick up quickly with a birdie on 3. MICHAEL ALLEN: The birdie on 3 was kind of nice, kind of got things going. I had struggled, making some bad bogeys on my first nine there. So I hit a good 6 iron short of the green. And then there were a couple of sprinklers in front of me so I would have putted it, but I had to chip it over the sprinklers. I was able to chip in there. I was probably only about 20 feet from the hole. THE MODERATOR: And the 6th, hole you made an eagle. Jay Don Blake was here earlier. He eagled, and you eagled there as well. MICHAEL ALLEN: I hit a pretty good drive on a pretty good line, and it ended up just in the rough. From there, I shanked it out of there. I hit a 7 iron, and I just came through there a little forward. So I had about 25 yards to the hole from just a little short right of the bunker. The ball came out beautifully. The fact it went in was just a blessing. THE MODERATOR: So a bonus. So two chip‑ins there on the front nine, not too bad, and you closed with a birdie on the 9th hole. Drove it in the rough and were able to make birdie out of the rough. MICHAEL ALLEN: Yes, exactly. I was able to hit just a nice little 9 iron in there. I hit it to about six, seven feet and was able to make that no problem. Made for a nice finish. THE MODERATOR: You won earlier this year in Mississippi, and you've had a fourth place finish at the Senior Players and then fifth at the Tradition. You've been knocking on that door in the senior majors. What do you think it's going to take to pull through here at the Senior Open this year? MICHAEL ALLEN: It's always tough to say. I know for myself I have to really kind of control myself and play well and keep myself in position out here on this golf course. I know I can make a lot of birdies out here, but I also know that bogeys can come pretty fast and furious too. If I can drive it well and keep myself in position, I think I should have a pretty decent chance come the weekend. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Michael Allen. Q. Michael, does 67 reflect what you should have shot today out here? MICHAEL ALLEN: You know, probably, if I hadn't screwed up some little wedges and didn't chip in, then it probably would have been about the same, yeah. If you can get the ball in play, there's a lot of wedge holes out here, and you can make some birdies for sure. And the par 5s, if you're driving it straight, you can reach most all of them. So there's plenty of birdies to be made out here. I feel like I can do better, but I also know that I can do worse. So hopefully keep her in play. Q. This is your first week with a lot of heat on Tour. How do you handle that personally? And how do you handle it? MICHAEL ALLEN: Well, I rest a lot, number one. Yesterday I just got in the car over at the Champions course and played out there in shorts, kind of take it easy. Actually, my buddy told me to go out and get some Pedialyte, so I'm drinking baby food. Q. Michael, you grew up playing at the Olympic Club. A lot of those fairways cant, and you get uneven lines, and you get a ton of that out here. How much does that experience help you on a golf course like this? MICHAEL ALLEN: Just being able to play those shots above your feet and below them and different positions. I always enjoyed that. It makes it a challenge to just sitting there with 168 yards with a flat lie and hitting a 7 iron. It's nice to kind of have to play it back and choke it up, you know, to play shots. I think that kind of comes out up here. You have to be able to adapt a little bit, and I've been able to do that for a long time. Q. Michael, you bogeyed the 10th. That's playing as the second hardest hole today. The greens in regulation right now are at 7 percent. How hard of a hole is that to start off a round, and just how hard was it in general? MICHAEL ALLEN: It's an extremely hard hole to start with. And it's just awkward because if it was just a little shorter, if you could hit a driver and hit it past the water, it's not a bad hole from there. If you can hit a good drive, it's a 6, 7 iron in. So it's nice. But they've got it just far enough back that you think, should I hit a hybrid off there? And you've got kind of a hybrid into the green. It makes it a very awkward decision off the tee is really the hardest, at least so far. I haven't hit it off the tee very well yet. When I get on the fairway, I'll tell you more about the second shot. So it does make it a very tough shot. Just where that water's positioned. It's a really good hole, I think. What's the hardest hole? Q. 8. MICHAEL ALLEN: Wow, I'm surprised. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Michael Allen? Round of 67, very good. Best of luck tomorrow. MICHAEL ALLEN: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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