Attempting Winged feat

You want him to lie? OK, Allen Doyle will tell you that he never considered not playing in the upcoming US Open.

It's just that Doyle might be the most brutally honest golfer around, so here's the truth: He thought about turning down his exemption into next month's national championship at Winged Foot.

''Sure I did," said Doyle, who is exempt thanks to his victory at last summer's US Senior Open. ''Heck, I'll be close to 58 at the time [his birthday is July 26] and the course will be what, 7,400 yards, or close to that. [Actually, 7,264, but you get the point]. What am I going to prove?"

All of that made sense, of course, but Doyle is a fierce competitor. Always has been, always will be. Whether he's holding a hockey stick or a 5-iron, the pride of Norwood, Catholic Memorial, and Norwich University doesn't have an ounce of quit in him and his competitive spirit is unmatched.

Besides, ''my girls wouldn't hear about me not going," said Doyle, referring to his wife, Kate, and daughters Erin and Michelle.

So pencil in Doyle for vaunted Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y., and the 106th US Open.

It will be his second appearance in the major championship, the other having come in 1991, when he was one of the country's top amateur golfers. His life, of course, took a professional turn when Doyle, at 46, joined the Nationwide Tour and won three times, and it got even juicier the next year when he became the oldest PGA Tour rookie ever. Now it's rare for guys 47 to 49 to hold their own on the PGA Tour, never mind 47- to 49-year-olds who have been career amateurs, but Doyle is an exception. He took his homemade swing, his no-nonsense New England character, and his passion for competition out among the world's greatest players and held his own.

And along the way, he made friends and received heartfelt admiration from younger players whom he still remembers fondly. That hits upon yet another reason why he wants to go to Winged Foot, perhaps the best reason of all. ''I haven't had a chance to see those guys in a while," said Doyle. ''It will be fun."

He speaks of today's PGA Tour stars, many of whom he crossed paths with.

Tiger Woods was Doyle's teammate on the victorious US squad at the 1994 World Team Amateur Championship in France. Doyle had also played in 1990 in New Zealand on a US team that included Phil Mickelson and David Duval, and in 1992 in British Columbia alongside Duval and Justin Leonard. Duval and Mickelson were his teammates for the 1991 Walker Cup; Leonard and Tim Herron were teammates for the 1993 edition. In 1992, Leonard won the US Amateur after ousting Doyle in the semifinals at Muirfield Village. During his Nationwide Tour season, Doyle often played practice rounds with David Toms, and Stewart Cink was often a competitor in amateur events in the Southeast.

''You can look at it in a multitude of ways," said Doyle, ''but they're guys I enjoyed being around and it will be fun to see them again."

So, heck, yeah, the more he thought about it, the more excited Doyle got. He'll be there and his doubts? They've vanished.

''It will be a thrill to tee it up," he said. ''After all, I earned it."

Few golfers could say that with any more conviction than Doyle.

Bates is OK with game again

For a time, Pat Bates thought about putting down the clubs and getting on with his life. He figured the pain in his neck was too much of a hindrance. Then a doctor told him otherwise.

''He told me to go about my business, to be careful, but he said I could play," said Bates, who at 36 is determined to continue his golf career. Having recently moved to his wife's home state, Oklahoma, Bates has devoted most of his time to settling in his family and getting his three children acclimated. Now, it's back to golf.

''I've got to retool my golf swing, because in my upper body, my spine angle is too vertical and it places too much impact on my neck," said Bates, who spent much of his boyhood in Manchester and honed his game at Essex County Club. He won the Mass. Open in 1993, was runner-up the next summer, and reached the PGA Tour by 1995.

Seemingly headed for a bright future, Bates was a young man who could hit it a long way, but that all changed a few years later. He needed a neck operation and missed most of the 1999 season. When he came back he had to change his style because nerve damage related to the neck injury had robbed him of his power.

Bates adjusted and for three seasons -- 2002-04 -- he played well enough to maintain a PGA Tour card. In 2005, Bates was back on the Nationwide Tour and after months of mediocre play, he thought he had found his game. Shooting 68-66-69 at a stop in Rochester, N.Y., Bates was in contention, a week after having finished tied for eighth.

''I was starting to play well," he said, ''but then on a Saturday night I really hurt myself lifting weights." He shot 81 and in five subsequent events, the onetime standout at the University of Florida didn't play much better. Bates tossed the clubs in the closet for the next six or seven months and only recently has taken them out.

''I want to try and be better than I ever have been," he said. ''I have to be smart, but I'm going to practice and learn the new swing. It might take me a few weeks, three months, six months, maybe a year, but I'm going to put the work in."

Sorenstam won't lose focus after losses

''Vision 54" is the philosophy she has always subscribed to, her confidence fueled by positive thoughts about making birdie on each hole. As of late, however, Annika Sorenstam's thought waves have been short-circuited; it's more like ''Vision 74." The most dominant force on the LPGA Tour missed the cut last weekend at the Michelob Ultra in Virginia, her first since she failed to qualify for weekend play at the 2002 Weetabix Women's British Open and her first in a non-major clear back to 1994, though she hardly seemed impressed by such streaks. ''It's just not something I keep track of," said the 35-year-old Swede. ''I like to keep track of wins." In that case, she hasn't been very busy, because after opening the 2006 season with a victory, her 67th, Sorenstam has gone 0 for 5 and in 17 rounds she's broken 70 just six times. You want to whisper the ''S" word, feel free, but take note that Sorenstam followed that missed cut in 2002 with three straight wins and five in eight starts. It would hardly be a surprise if she triumphed at this week's Sybase Classic in New Rochelle, N.Y., where she won in 1998 and 2000.

ETc.

Making dad proud: Billy Haas -- son of PGA Tour veteran Jay Haas -- shot 67 and tied for medalist honors at a US Open local qualifier in Prairie, Texas.

Making gramps proud: High school senior Sam Saunders shot 69, then survived a five-for-three playoff to make it through his US Open local qualifier in Orlando, Fla., a fact that had to bring a smile to the face of Arnold Palmer, the kid's grandfather.

Speaking of Palmer, the 76-year-old icon withdrew from next week's Senior PGA Championship and refused to offer commitments for upcoming Champions Tour events, including the Bank of America Championship at Nashawtuc CC in Concord. ''He's kind of put all his golf on hold," said Doc Giffin, Palmer's longtime press spokesman. Graham Marsh and Bob Charles also withdrew from the Senior PGA Championship . . . At the other end of the spectrum is 16-year-old Michelle Wie, whose bid to become the first woman to play in the US Open will take center stage June 5 at Canoe Brook CC in Summit, N.J. The Hawaiian teenager hardly had time to savor her victory in a local qualifier Monday on the island of Oahu, because on the ride home from Turtle Bay Resort & Golf Club, Wie was buried in homework, according to her father, B.J. Via e-mail, B.J. Wie reported that his daughter would have final exams next week to wrap up her junior year, then they would head toward the East Coast to prep for the US Open sectional qualifier, then the McDonald's LPGA Championship (June 8-11) in Havre de Grace, Md.

Fairway news: Rick Rhoden is ruled ineligible for the Celebrity Tour because he's now a member of the Champions Tour.

Clubhouse view: Truth be told, the fact that Rhoden at one time was eligible for the Celebrity Tour proves just how much that word has been devalued over time. Bill Murray is a celebrity. Jack Nicholson is a celebrity. I'll even grant you Alice Cooper. But Rick Rhoden was not, is not, and never will be a celebrity. Oh, and ditto for Stuart Scott.

While unheralded journeyman Omar Uresti came up short in his bid to win the Byron Nelson Championship, he did match his best career finish with a share of third. He also ran his streak to 260 PGA Tour starts without a win, but in that department, he's hardly alone. That's because there are 13 players with full exempt status who have played in at least 150 tournaments without ever having won. The list:

Player (starts)Best

Jay Williamson (270)T-3

Brett Quigley (264)T-2

Omar Uresti (260)T-3

Michael Allen (256)2d

Brian Gay (237)T-2

Harrison Frazar (229)2d

Craig Barlow (225)3d

Doug Barron (221)T-3

Kent Jones (219)T-7

Brandt Jobe (217)2d

Joe Ogilvie (195)T-2

John Riegger (189)7th

Jeff Brehaut (186)3d

J.J. Henry (173)2d

Fairway news: Colin Montgomerie reports he may follow Phil Mickelson's lead and put two drivers in his bag.

Clubhouse view: But he will not, under any circumstances, put a smile on his face like the lefthander.

The highlights to the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund's 57th annual banquet were many, perhaps none more so than Peter Jacobsen's passionate talk about golf in accepting a lifelong achievement award. There was student-speaker Colin LeStrange -- a seven-year caddie at Tatnuck CC and Worcester CC who is a senior at Loyola College of Maryland -- proving that the scholarship fund's mission is annually fulfilled. There was a comical appearance by Mark Griesser of Footjoy ''Sign Boy" fame. And there were 1,400 people who braved nasty weather to pay tribute to this Massachusetts golf institution. But perhaps the proudest moment of the evening came when scholarship fund president Ted Hansberry announced that $1.15 million would go toward scholarships for 362 scholars, bringing the total to more than $15 million since its inception in 1949. ''This fund is Francis Ouimet's legacy," said Hansberry.

True, it's been a miserable week if you're a golfer, but it could be worse. You could be trying to play at the Golf Merapi Club in Indonesia. According to reports from the Associated Press, officials had to close the club when a particularly large eruption shook the mountain the other day, which is sort of the downside to building a course just 5 miles from an active volcano. ''I tell people, it is probably safer to stay at home," club manager Sukirman said, just as clouds of ash and hot gas came spewing from the 9,800-foot peak. Most likely, it's better for a course to be under water than under lava.