Toshiba Senior Classic: Doyle’s tin cup fills up in the rain

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Allen Doyle no longer needs to pick up golf balls,

cut the grass and serve as electrician and plumber at his small-town

driving range.

But, now, Doyle is still someone rarely heard from, despite being one of

the richest and most successful golfers on the Senior PGA Tour.

That’s because nobody’s asking.

After his rain-shortened, 36-hole victory in the Toshiba Senior Classic

at Newport Beach Country Club, the good ol’ boy from La Grange, Ga., is

continuing to make a lot of noise on the senior tour -- no matter who’s

asking.

Benefiting more than anyone from Sunday’s stormy weather and final-round

cancellation, Doyle earned a first-place check of $195,000 without teeing

off, after shooting four-under-par 67 on Saturday in the second round to

take a one-stroke lead over Howard Twitty and Jim Thorpe.

Doyle finished at six-under 136 for the tournament and became the sixth

different champion in the event’s six-year history.

“I don’t make the rules, I just play by them,” Doyle said of his title.

“I’m thrilled to win. It would’ve been better for the tournament and the

sponsor and the fans to play (a final round), but it just didn’t happen.”

Doyle, known mostly for having the shortest backswing on the senior tour

and being an inspiration to hackers with similar quirks, is rarely asked

his opinions and is almost never scrutinized by the media.

“I don’t mind laying back and not being in the limelight,” Doyle said.

“Other guys get asked why they’re not playing better after a round, and

guys get asked when they’re going to win again. But I don’t get asked

that much. They (members of the media) are not worried about me.

“They’ll ask Tom Kite when he’s going to win, and they’ll ask Tom Watson

(who won his second start on the senior tour last September) when he’s

going to win again, and, by about April, they’ll start asking Lanny

Wadkins why he’s playing so poorly. And they’ll ask Bruce Fleisher when

he’s going to win again.

“But they won’t ask me that. I’m that next tier down.”

Actually, Doyle ranked third on the senior tour money list at $1,911,640

last year as a rookie, and, following this weekend’s title at the Toshiba

Classic, is second among 2000 money leaders at $356,888.

So Doyle isn’t exactly on that next tier down. “But that’s the

perception,” he said.

He isn’t animated like Gary McCord, he has a funny backswing and he was

never a regular on the PGA Tour. But Doyle was one of the nation’s best

amateur players and realizes now he can compete against the marquee names

from the PGA Tour, like Kite, Wadkins and Watson.

“You’re known in your (amateur) circles, but you’re not known too much

outside of the amateur circles,” he said. “I never won the U.S. Amateur,

but no one won more than the other stuff. I thought I had a great amateur

career, and, yeah, that was my plan (to try to earn a senior tour card).”

Doyle operated his driving range since 1983 and played a lot of golf,

while his wife, Kate, put most of the bread on the table.

Now, with an annual income of nearly $2 million, it has all paid off.

“I never made a lot of money from it,” Doyle said of his driving range,

which he still owns, but is now managed a retired gentleman and a high

school kid.

Doyle’s Golf Center in La Grange still has an unpaved parking lot, and,

despite his fortune made on the senior tour, he maintains a humble

lifestyle.

“I plan to keep (the driving range),” Doyle said. “When you go home, you

need someplace to hang out.

“(The money) hasn’t done anything for us (in terms) of changing who we

are. Sure, it’s a wonderful thing to have, but we haven’t bought a new

house or anything. We’re the same as we’ve always been. It’s just that

now we have the freedom to do whatever we want.”

Folks in Newport Beach might remember Doyle as one of the players in last

year’s four-man playoff at the Toshiba Classic, when he was eliminated on

the first extra hole as John Jacobs and eventual winner Gary McCord both

made eagles.

“I don’t know about (getting sweet revenge). I played well last year,” he

said. “I like the golf course here and hope I’ll play well again. It just

wasn’t meant to be last year. But that’s OK. I won the week before (at

the ACE Group Classic in Tampa Bay, Fla.) and finished second here, and

that ain’t bad.”

For Doyle to capture his first title of 2000 on Sunday and his fifth on

the senior tour, he had an up-and-down round Saturday in the second round

to go to six-under.

Doyle shot 67 in the second round, sometimes in rainy conditions, to take

the lead.

He started hot, making birdies in three of the first four holes, then

made three bogeys on the next four holes as heavy rain began to fall. He

came back, however, with five more birdies on the final eight holes.

“It was an odd round,” said Doyle, who added that he was aware of the

possibility of a rain-shortened tournament when he arrived at the 18th

hole Saturday tied with Twitty and Thorpe.

“I was very conscious of that,” said Doyle, whose birdie at 18 put him at

six-under-par for the tournament, while Twitty missed a long birdie putt

at 18.

“I saw Howard’s putt at 18, and I thought he made it,” Doyle said Sunday.

“But, like the weather, I have no control over it.”

Twitty was hoping for a chance to win his first title on the Senior PGA

Tour, but the final-round cancellation prevented that.

“I hit a real good putt on 18 (Saturday),” Twitty said. “It had a good

chance. When you see it raining, you think you might still have a chance,

but the course was pretty wet (Sunday).”