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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us May 3, 2005 On Golf Allred keeps at it By John Berkovich No one said it would be easy for Jason Allred. Rare is the rookie that makes an immediate impact on the PGA Tour. Most of them struggle and claw their way through a minefield of missed cuts, unfamiliar golf courses, early tee-times, and plenty of anonymity. Unless a rookie has superstar written all over him when he comes out of qualifying school, the odds are slim that he will keep full exempt status. Even if he does somehow survive and even win as a rookie, the record books are full of first year wonders that quickly disappeared. John Faught, Tim Norris and Fred Wadsworth come to mind. The PGA Tour is survival of the fittest and the rookies are at the bottom of the food chain. They receive the early and late tee times during the opening rounds and play alongside other relative unknowns. Conversely, the superstars tend to hang out together and are often paired in the same groups to increase fan appeal. “My first pairing on the tour was with D.A. Points and Toru Tanaguchi,” said Allred recently. “I remember playing a practice round with Tom Lehman and you learn so much from playing with these guys. They pace themselves so well.” Since we last spoke with Allred, he finished T-26 at Atlanta where the tournament was shortened to 54 holes; he placed 62nd at Houston; and he missed the cut at New Orleans. At Atlanta, Allred made it four consecutive sub-70 opening rounds — this time a 68. In brutal conditions that saw high winds, driving rain and even snow, Allred shot a credible second round 75 and closed with a solid 70 for his best finish since his season opener. “It always feels great getting to the weekend, and I enjoyed what I was doing out there,” said Allred, who had missed the final two Florida events due to limited fields. Like so many rookies, Allred often finds himself in a conundrum. After the fine week at Atlanta in which all parts of his game were clicking, he was unable to strike while his irons were hot. He didn’t qualify for The Masters and was out of the smaller-field MCI Heritage Classic up the road in Hilton Head. While Tiger was putting on his fourth green jacket, Jason Allred was skiing with some friends in Colorado on an enforced holiday, then resting at home. Most rookies are aware that they can burn out by playing too many consecutive events, though they feel like they have to take what they can get. In order to be fair to all first-year players, the PGA Tour regularly shuffles the rankings to let some of the lower exempt players into some events. “Right now I think three straight is about my limit, but I also know that I have to play when I can to stay sharp,” Allred said. He will attempt to stretch his limit starting in the middle of May when the tour returns to Texas for the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. During the second round at the Shell Houston Open, Allred had it to seven-under-par on the day but he stumbled home with a bogey and double bogey to finish at 68. It was a harbinger of things to come. The winds picked up again over the Redstone course on Saturday as the field struggled to break par. Allred’s 74 pushed him further down the leaderboard and a disastrous 77 on Sunday shoved him close to the bottom. Still, his painful last round had one highlight. At the 222-yard par-three third, Allred struck his iron beautifully. The ball cleared the water guarding the pin and hopped into the hole on two bounces for his first ace on the big tour. “I’ve been working with Greg Labelle (an instructor at the Butch Harmon School of Golf) on my swing and it has been paying off,” Allred said. After a dismal two days at New Orleans that saw him miss more than half his fairways and putt poorly, Allred may need to go back and read his notes from school. His 76-73 start left him well past the cut line and when the tournament ended Sunday night, Allred found himself outside the top-140 on the money list. There’s an axiom among touring pros that says that as the weather gets warm, so do tempers if you’re not playing well. Allred recognizes that his game has to improve and although he continues to be patient, the season is four months old and the halfway point is in sight. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about the top-125,” said Allred. “My goals haven’t changed, but yeah, I have to play better .... It’s tough out here.” John Berkovich is a columnist for the Ashland Daily Tidings. 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