OAKMONT, Pa. — Jason Allen looked like a regular touring professional as he practiced his putting stroke in preparation for the 107th U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. He had a jumbo Taylor Made tour bag, just like Sergio Garcia, who was putting nearby, and so many others here. Allen wore slacks and a bright orange golf shirt that had something (surely a sponsor's logo or name) etched across the breast.
He was fine-tuning a stroke that appeared to have been grooved over countless rounds, competitive and otherwise. He toured the back nine in one under par Wednesday, and the first time he saw the 288-yard, par-3 8th hole, on Monday, he stiffed his tee shot to four feet.
Alas, looks can be deceiving. The shirt was off the rack at Canyon Gate Country Club in Las Vegas, where Allen worked for a few months (he's since been adopted by the members), just long enough to know the job wasn't for him. If he includes local (18 holes) and sectional qualifying (36), Allen estimates he's played a dozen rounds this year. The big tour bag houses a mishmash of clubs: Cleveland wedges, Taylor Made irons and a Taylor Made Firesole 3-wood, the kind with the bubble shaft that was all the rage when it came out in 1999. Allen was playing with a dusty old driver, too, until the face caved in Monday and he ran to the Taylor Made equipment trailer in a panic.
The techies looked at his specs and replicated them perfectly on their first try; Allen loves his new war club, which is a Taylor Made ... he's swinging a ...
"Hey, Pete," he said, summoning his caddie, childhood friend Pete Severson. "What kind of driver do I have now? A Super-something?"
"SuperQuad," Severson said. "R7."
"As you can tell," Allen said, "I really pay attention to my equipment."
Behold the least likely qualifier in the field this week. True, Allen, 33, is a pro. He made the field for the 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic Club. But that was a long time ago. He quit the game in order to let life play through in 2004.
"I go down to Vegas for his wedding," Severson says, "and we go to play in a pro-am in Mesquite, and as we're driving there he goes, 'I'm done. I'm hanging it up.'"
