Richard DunnA big Southern man with an...

Richard Dunn

A big Southern man with an abbreviated backswing, Allen Doyle has

been Mr. Deep Pockets in the Toshiba Senior Classic with fully

spelled out ownership of the golf course at Newport Beach Country

Club, site of this weekend’s PGA Champions Tour event.

Doyle has redefined the phrase “getting around the golf course.”

He has been so good here, Doyle himself compares his challenges at

Newport Beach to his home course in La Grange, Ga.

Since making a big name for himself on the tour in 1999, the

6-foot-3, 210-pound gentleman Doyle has politely dominated the field

in the Toshiba Senior Classic like no other player.

“I feel like when I tee it up here, if I play like I’m supposed to

play, then I’ll do well,” Doyle said Thursday. “I look forward to

every event, but I have a good feeling when I play here.

“There are three or four places that have each players’ game,”

Doyle said. “They’re different for each play. I’ll go out [today]

with good expectations. I’ve played well here.”

That’s like saying the Yankees have won the World Series a few

times, that football is gaining popularity on autumn Sundays, or that

Prince Charming gets the girl sometimes.

Point is, Doyle has discovered a perfect fit to his golf game at

Newport Beach, a 6,584-yard layout that makes the former hockey, who

learned his unorthodox swing practicing in a low-ceiling room, feel

likes he’s skating on all alone on the ice.

“The scores I get here are like what I get at my home course,”

Doyle said. “Shooting [201] wasn’t good enough for [last] year [to

win the tournament], but second ain’t bad. I did as good as I can do.

I’ve had a second, first, third and second here. This tournament has

been good to me. Maybe we should set up a Doyle annuity.”

Doyle, the 2000 Toshiba Senior Classic champion in a

rain-shortened 36-hole event -- inclement weather canceled the final

round -- finished as runner-up to Irwin last year, shooting his 11th

straight sub-70 round in as many starts at Newport Beach. Doyle shot

66-68-67--201 and placed in the top three here for the fourth

straight year.

Doyle, who started last year’s Toshiba Classic as the event’s

all-time money winner, has pocketed a mere $515,800 in four Newport

Beach stops, second to Irwin’s Toshiba-leading $581,615 in six

appearances.

Last year, Irwin opened the final round with a three-stroke lead,

and it never wilted below two shots, before he won by five strokes

over Doyle.

“Sometimes,” Doyle said after last year’s event, “it seems like

everybody and their brother comes out fast [on Sunday], then other

times, like today, no one comes out fast. We’ll come back next year

and try to do the same thing.”