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By Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editoral Coordinator

HAVEN, Wisc. -- Everybody loves an underdog and everybody underestimates him, which has worked out well for Allen Doyle the past two years.

Allen Doyle has signed a lot more autographs since winning last year's U.S. Senior Open. (WireImage)

DID YOU KNOW?

Allen Doyle attended Norwich University (Vt.) on a Francis Ouimet Scholarship. He was eventually selected to the school's Sports Hall of Fame. He played both hockey and golf at the college and graduated as the top scoring defenseman in Norwich history and he was the ECAC golf champion in 1970.  • More on Doyle,  click here • Rd. 1 and 2 Tee Times

Even after winning the 2005 U.S. Senior Open at NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio, Doyle returned to the 2006 U.S. Senior Open amidst little fanfare and took the 2006 U.S. Senior Open and the spotlight from Tom Watson by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole.

That putt gave Doyle a two-stroke advantage heading into No. 18, where he made par to win by two strokes over home state favorite Watson at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kan.

"Being the underdog is not a bad thing. It allows you actually to come into town and take care of business. Practice without people bothering you," Doyle said immediately following his so-called "underdog" win in 2006.

Being the favorite, he added last July, "is harder to play under than it is kind of coming in under the radar. So that's fine with me. It will happen again next year. It will happen again next week."

Now, one year later, Doyle commented on the underdog factor again on Wednesday. Throughout the year, he's gained some notoriety, with fans actually imploring him to "three-peat" the U.S. Senior Open while following him at other tournaments. As a 59-year-old who turned pro just before age 50, Doyle's late-career success is the stuff from which feel-good, sports movie-esque stories are made.

"The late in life thing...that does appeal to people and it should. It appeals to me when you see it happen in other sports," said Doyle, a Woonsocket, R.I. native who naturally compared his success to his beloved Boston Red Sox.

"When the U.S. won the gold medal in 1980 in hockey, why was that such a special thing? When the Red Sox won the World Series, why was that such a special thing? When Brian Bateman won on the TOUR last week...it just adds to the attraction of watching, adds to the excitement level a little bit.

"It does not become so hum drum that five guys show up and they're the prohibitive favorites and maybe no one wants to come watch anymore."

On a star-driven, name-heavy Champions Tour, Doyle has carved his niche and knows he'll never draw the larger crowds like a Fuzzy Zoeller or Tom Watson. But maybe, just maybe, this week he gets a chance to wear that "favorite" label. But only Gary Player and Miller Barber owned back-to-back Senior Open titles, and Doyle would be fighting a tough group of guys and a "radically different" course to become the first to earn three in a row.

"There's a reason that it hasn't been done," Doyle said simply. "It's damn hard to do."

"I've tried to treat it like a normal event but it's not and I know that. But, again, I'm going to try to use it as an opportunity to maybe do something that no one else has done and it's going to be tough."

Take it from Watson, who got that up-close view of Doyle's toughness and mental fortitude after losing to him in 2006 -- Doyle might just have what it takes to win again.

For a guy who had a distinguished enough amateur career to earn him a spot in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame -- Doyle won 19 amateur titles and most came in Georgia, the state he now calls home -- his success on the Champions Tour is hardly surprising. With 11 Champions Tour wins, including four majors, Doyle is a 6'3'' force to be reckoned with.

"Allen has proven himself to be a heck of a competitor, throughout his career, as an amateur and a pro. We were talking about Allen today. If you saw Allen swing on the first tee, you would probably say, 'well, I can give him five shots and beat him pretty easy,"' said Watson, referring to Doyle's unconventional technique. "But, you know, that's not the case. He's refined his golf swing, he knows how to play and he's a heck of a competitor."

However, this course sets up a little differently from the tree-lined venue at NCR and Prairie Dunes, which Doyle said also had a tree-lined course feel. Though more a target golf course than a true links style, it has the look of one with Lake Michigan on one side, an ever-changing wind to take into account and even some Scottish Blackface sheep that roam the course during the season. So naturally, Doyle sees the 7,068-yard, par-72 course as a unique challenge this year.

"As soon as I got to both of those places (where he won in 2005 and 2006), I felt that I was familiar with them. When I came here, I didn't have that same feeling. It's exposed to the wind and, although I would say I'm a pretty good wind player, wind at 10, 12 miles per hour isn't the same as 20 to 25 miles per hour."

Doyle didn't fare too well at the year's other major either, tying for 68th at the equally wind-influenced Senior PGA Championship at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course, but his game is still up to par, as he earned a solo second at the ACE Group Classic in 2007 as well as three other top-10s this year.

Could he add a win this week? Who knows, but you can bet three consecutive USGA major wins would get him out of the underdog-house and gain him even more recognition on the professional circuit.