Michael Allen left TPC Harding Park on Friday afternoon after a double bogey on the final hole, the sort of finish which might stay with a man. Not, however, with Allen, who as a teenager played Harding in events less significant than the current Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Allen, 51, then went out Saturday and shot a 10-birdie, no-bogey, 10-under 61, by three shots the best competitive score ever at 85-year-old Harding and low enough to get him into the 54-hole lead.
Heading into the final day of the final event of the 2010 Champions Tour, Allen is at 14-under 199 and a shot ahead of defending champ John Cook, who had a 67 for 200.David Frost, with a 65, is at 201.
Bernhard Langer -- who shot 67 and virtually has wrapped up the season-long Schwab Cup points chase and $1 million annuity -- is tied for fourth with Tom Lehman and Russ Cochran at 203.
There's a lot of history connected to the several San Francisco courses -- Harding, the muni, Olympic Club, San Francisco Club and Lake Merced -- grouped within a mile or so on what once was dunes land along the Pacific Ocean.
Ben Hogan' last great chance for a U.S. Open was stolen at Olympic by a driving range pro, Jack Fleck in 1955. When he was a Stanford student, Tiger Woods never could make it through Open qualifying at Lake Merced. The last duel in California was fought in 1859 near the seventh green of Francisco, the classic A. W. Tillinghast layout.
Allen has added to the list, although perhaps with an asterisk because the lift, clean and place rule has been in effect all week at Harding. Then again, a 61 is a 61.
The former record was 64, first by Ken Venturi who grew up playing Harding where his dad ran the pro shop then, after the course was restored but not rerouted some eight years ago, by Colin Montgomerie in the 2005 WGC American Express Championship.
"He played phenomenally,'' said Fred Couples, Allen's partner of the round. "He was fun to watch.''
Even if for a long while, most of the fans were watching Couples.
"What's nice about playing with Fred,'' said Allen, "is you do get a crowd. You know, come up to nine, everybody's 'Fred, Fred, Fred.' I'm like, what about me?''
What about Michael Allen who grew up in San Mateo, a few miles south of Harding; who for a while went to Serra High there, alma mater of Tom Brady, Barry Bonds and Lynn Swann for starters; who has belonged to Olympic Club for 37 years; and who has won tournaments in Britain (the 1989 Scottish Open) and on the Champions Tour but to his dismay, never the PGA TOUR.
That is the reason no matter what happens in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Allen will dash to Florida for next weekend's Children's Miracle Network Classic.
He is 124th on the money list and, acknowledging that he's been to qualifying school probably 16 times and has earned his card nine of those times, wants to make certain he's exempt.
"My whole career had been kind of a struggle,'' said Allen. "My mother told me I was a slow learner. She didn't tell me how slow.''
The self-deprecating humor doesn't mask his achievements, no matter how slowly they were attained.
A month ago, Allen was second to Bill Haas at the PGA TOUR Viking Classic in Mississippi and, of course, Haas' father Jay plays the Champions Tour. The following weekend Allen was second to Mark O'Meara at the Champions Tour Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship in Maryland, losing in a playoff.
After a satisfying golf career at University of Nevada-Reno, Allen was going to work for Morgan Stanley after graduation. But the 1987 U.S. Open was coming to Olympic, his home course, and Allen's late father told him, "Why don't you see how good you can get and play in that?" Twenty-three years or so later, after giving up playing from 1997-2000, Allen has come full circle.
"I always wanted to play in a tournament (in the area),'' said Allen. He had played Harding in the San Francisco Amateur, never going far in match play. But he didn't qualify for the '87 or '98 Opens at Olympic or the 1992, 2000 or 2010 Opens at Pebble Beach.
Allen, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, these days as do other pros, is a lifelong fan of the San Francisco Giants, who of course, Monday night won their first World Series, Allen sharing the excitement with old friends.
"I enjoyed Monday night,'' Allen said. "Now this. It's been a great week for me all week.''
A win in his home territory, and it would even be greater.
