Dolch: Allenby knows losing streak can't last forever

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Everyone knows about golf's Grand Slam, but Robert Allenby was trying to earn a different piece of history Sunday when he went to the 18th hole tied for the final-round lead with Ryan Palmer at the Sony Open of Hawaii.

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He was looking for a Triple Crown of sorts.

If Allenby could move past Palmer on the final hole, he would have become what's believed to be the first pro golfer to win three consecutive tournaments on different tours. (Allenby closed 2009 by winning the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and the Australian PGA at Coolum last month.)

Even if Allenby matched scores with Palmer on the 72nd hole, that would have been a good thing. Allenby, after all, is 11-1 in playoffs during his career.

Alas, Allenby's chance at history slid by when his 10-foot birdie try missed, a few minutes after Palmer was fortunate his eagle try struck the pin, leaving him with just a tap-in for the victory.

So Allenby left Waialae Country Club without any hardware, but he takes some positive vibes on his flight back to his South Florida home, especially considering he almost won despite playing with a badly sprained right ankle.

"I'm happy with second," Allenby said Sunday night. "It's a great way to start the year and I think this is just a start of a really, really big year for me. I was looking forward before even coming here on a real good, solid year, and I think a good, solid year for me is definitely a few wins. I know I'm capable of doing it. It didn't happen today, but it will happen close in the future."

It would be easy for Allenby to lament another near-miss on the PGA TOUR. While the Australian has no trouble winning elsewhere -- he has 18 wins outside the U.S. -- he has four PGA TOUR victories, the last coming almost a decade ago at the 2001 Marconi Pennsylvania Open. Sunday's runner-up showing was his seventh on the PGA TOUR, six of those coming since the last win.

This was the same guy who in 2005 already earned a different kind of Triple Crown by becoming the first player to win the top three Australian events -- the Australian Open, PGA and Masters -- in consecutive fashion.

But he's having trouble lifting a trophy when his passport is not being stamped. Allenby is obviously bothered, but he's not perplexed, by his lack of PGA TOUR wins.

"I know how good I can play and a how good a lot of other people think I am," he said. "It just hasn't happened in recent years here for me. But it's all because of my putting. I just haven't putted well. I'm not consistent. I think I've addressed that situation. I'm moving in the right direction."

His second-place finish moved Allenby into the 15th spot in the Official World Golf Rankings, leaving him behind just one other countryman (SBS Championship winner Geoff Ogilvy, who's ninth). The computer obviously also knows how good Allenby can play.

Allenby's chances of victory were hurt when he caught a "flier" out of the rough at No. 18. But Allenby, long known as one of the game's premier ball-strikers, wasn't complaining about the new grooves rules this year.

He was actually endorsing them.

"The grooves have changed the game of golf, which I think is for the better," Allenby said. "I think it's great, because now we have to all of a sudden manufacture our way around the golf course. Today, you don't know where it's going to go and that's the beauty of that."

Allenby will take a week off to let his ankle heal before he tries to end his winless streak on the PGA TOUR at the San Diego Open at Torrey Pines. He's confident that once he gets that win, several more will be close behind.

"I definitely believe that I will win this year, and when I do win I will win again and again," he said. "That's just my nature. I'm made up like that.

With me, it's just confidence. I get the confidence going and I feel like I can do anything."

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.