Champions Tour Insider: Allen thriving on two tours

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In his last two PGA TOUR starts, Michael Allen has tied for 14th and tied for 11th.

For more than a few reasons, it's good to be Michael Allen these days.

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But there is definitely a best reason. He's getting better with age.

In his first and so far only start on the Champions Tour, Allen won the Senior PGA Championship at Canterbury Golf Club in suburban Cleveland in May. He immediately returned to the PGA TOUR, where he is an exempt player. At 50, Allen asks no quarter from the young guys.

He doesn't need to.

Allen made it clear at Canterbury that he would continue to play on the PGA TOUR as long as he is competitive. Based on his performance at last week's AT&T National, there is evidence that he is. Allen tied for 11th at Congressional after a third-round 65 thrust him into contention for Sunday's final round.

But he'll return to the Champions Tour, at least briefly, to play in the Senior British Open July 20-26 at Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire, England, looking to double-up on the senior majors.

When Allen returns from England, he plans on playing the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, the PGA Championship at Hazeltine, and "most likely" the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro as he makes his bid to qualify for the FedExCup. He is currently No. 116 on the points list; the top 125 qualify. If Allen doesn't qualify, it opens the door for him to play during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup in late August and September on the Champions Tour.

"I'll play some Champions Tour events, a relatively full schedule then," he said Tuesday.

However, Allen continues to focus steadfastly on the PGA TOUR and the FedExCup.

"For me the main thing is I've always wanted to play out here," he said. "It's what I've been trying to do since I was young. And so now I'm just happy to be playing a whole lot better as I've gotten older. I'm aging well.

"That's always been my goal until I really feel like I can't play out here. I want to compete against the best players in the world, and this is where they're at, and this is where I like playing."

Until his victory in the Senior PGA Championship, Allen was best known for his winless streak on the PGA TOUR. It's at 337 tournaments, and counting, but he accepts it in good spirit.

"I guess I'm overcoming the fear of losing now," Allen said at the AT&T National.

Failure wasn't always so easy to accept for Allen, a California native who celebrated his 50th birthday on January 31. The tough times forced him to take his leave of tournament golf in the late 1990s. The game had become an unyielding struggle.

"That's why I quit in the first place," he said. "Because of that, I'm really playing better golf. The game is a lot more fun for me. I'm not struggling to figure out where the ball is going to go every single day. It's certainly not perfect by any means. The game is more fun for me right now, so I'm enjoying myself."

Allen is nothing if he's not persistent. He went to the PGA TOUR Qualifying School 13 times and, in 2007, earned his card for a record ninth time. It's what makes him appreciate playing on the PGA TOUR so much.

"Luckily I was good at q-school or I wouldn't have a job," he said.

A strong finish to 2008 included two top-10s and he moved up to No. 106 on the money list to keep his card. He made a career-high 18 cuts in 28 starts.

This year, he has made the cut in 11 of 15 starts on the PGA TOUR. He is 119th on the money list with $426,446 to go along with the $360,000 he won at the Senior PGA Championship.

Allen credits the victory at Canterbury for validating his efforts and his perseverance.

"It was also a nice experience that when I won I was very comfortable," he said at Congressional. "That's kind of key ... being out there and being comfortable with your game. For me to handle it well emotionally was a big thing for me."

Allen said he had to leave tournament golf because "I just got tired of the frustration."

"I realized I wasn't doing anything better, and I've always felt like I'd do something else, use my mind to make a living," he said.

"I tried to do a few different things in that period, and really realized that to go out in the real world and try to make $100,000 a year to try to support your family is a hard thing to do. This was something I was better at."

Among his opportunities during that stage in his life was an interview with the Donald Trump organization in 2002 for an opening at The Donald's then-new course in Bedminster, N.J.

"Kind of a funny story," Allen said. "I went to the second stage of TOUR school and got through. I went out and interviewed (with Trump's people) for like three days. I thought they would have probably given me the job except they still had to interview some more people. I ended up going to the final and finished third."

That settled that. Allen no longer was in the job market. He did what a lot of people would love to do, given the chance.

"I ended up calling them and saying, 'You're fired.'"

Champions Tour Insider notes:

• In his 13 starts at the 3M Championship, Hale Irwin has three victories and seven top-10 finishes. He is a total 112-under-par. His T12 at the TPC Twin Cities was his best finish in 2008.

• Bernhard Langer's dominance is supported by the statistics. He's leading in scoring average (69.03), greens in regulation (76.54), total driving, birdie average (4.47) and All-Around. Put it all together and it adds up to three victories and tops on the money list ($1.23 million) and Charles Schwab Cup points (1,162).

• Six players in the 3M Championship field are past champions at the John Deere Classic, this week's PGA TOUR event in Illinois. They are Scott Hoch (a two-time winner), Dan Forsman, Blaine McCallister, Joey Sindelar, Dave Stockton and Mark Wiebe.