At 47, He May Be Oldest ‘Rookie’ in Game

Allen Doyle is 47 and he is also a rookie, although it’s doubtful anybody is going to ask him to do those rookie hazing things, like fetch water or carry somebody’s bags or sing the school song.

So what if Doyle is the oldest rookie in PGA Tour history and about a four-wood away from being eligible for the Senior PGA Tour? After all, this guy is in the Norwich University Sports Hall of Fame in Vermont as a hockey player.

“I’ve never felt old,” Doyle said. “If everyone else thinks it’s a big deal, I’ll ride with it. It’s kind of fun. I’m very, very proud of it.”

Doyle, who earned his PGA Tour card by finishing second on the 1995 Nike Tour money list, owns a driving range in LaGrange, Ga.

He was a renowned amateur, a member of three Walker Cup teams, who learned his short, unorthodox swing by practicing in a room with a low ceiling when he was a kid.

It’s working. Doyle shot 68 Friday and again Saturday in the third and fourth rounds of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, where he finished at nine-under-par 351.

He wound up tied for 49th place and earned $3,126.50 in only his second event on the PGA Tour. Last week at Tucson, Doyle made $3,029 and felt pretty good about it.

“It’s nice to get a check with a comma in it,” he said. “It’s always better to have a comma.”

Doyle needs to have many more weekends of golf that end with commas.

He is one of 28 PGA Tour rookies and they all share the same agenda--how to enter enough tournaments to win enough money to keep their card for next year.

The odds aren’t that good. Of the 117 PGA Tour rookies from either qualifying school or the Nike Tour since 1990, only 30 have stayed exempt by making the top 125 on the money list.

Doyle, who will play at San Diego, Hawaii and the Nissan (Los Angeles) Open, has a plan to make enough money to put his daughters through college. He doesn’t plan on changing his swing, though. He’s too old for that.

“Let’s put it this way: If you had, say, the top 10 teachers in golf and they’re kind of eyeing everybody down at the driving range and they’re looking for somebody to work with, I wouldn’t be one of them,” Doyle said.

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Senior Bowl: For what it’s worth, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ray Floyd and Jim Colbert, who play in the Senior Skins Game next Saturday and Sunday, were asked to make their Super Bowl picks.

Palmer, who is from Pennsylvania, was the only one who picked the Steelers.

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Did I mention my boat? Here are Bruce Lietzke’s top two ways to spend a Saturday afternoon without playing golf, according to Golf magazine:

“1. Sitting with my wife and family in a boat in the middle of any lake.

“2. Sitting with my dog in a boat in the middle of any lake.”

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Have some greens: Riviera Country Club issued a news release last week that said the club’s greens were making “excellent progress.”

The greens, which were in bad shape at last year’s PGA Championship, have been aerated, top-dressed, over-seeded and fertilized. The watering also has been cut back.

Riviera reports that roots extend five inches and that the greens will be ready for the Nissan (Los Angeles) Open Feb. 22-25.

David Eger, vice president of competition for the PGA Tour, inspected Riviera’s greens two weeks ago and said he remains concerned about their condition.

“We’re hopeful,” Eger said. “I’m not saying they’re going to be great. We’re hopeful they’re going to be good.”

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Tee parties: For everyone who thinks a desert landscape ought to be barren, we give you televised professional golf, and plenty of it.

The Palm Springs area may not be golfed-out yet, but it could be close to reaching its limit.

In about a three-month period here, starting last November, there will have been six pro golf events on TV--the Skins Game, Diners Club Matches, Lexus Challenge, Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Liberty of Mutual Legends of Golf and the Dinah Shore.

Golf Notes

The first “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf” match will be taped in Hawaii next week. Arnold Palmer plays Gary Player. It will be shown on Channel 7 on April 14, the Sunday of the Masters. . . . Betsy Rawls, a four-time U.S. Women’s Open champion, will receive the USGA’s Bob Jones Award for distinguished sportsmanship in golf. . . . The Volunteer Center of Los Angeles is holding a tournament Jan. 29 at Mountaingate Country Club. Details: (213) 484-2849. . . . The Don Buford-Dennis Gilbert celebrity golf tournament will be played Jan. 29 at the Wilson course at Griffith Park. The event raises money for the Los Angeles City College baseball team. Details: (213) 464-6801.