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Golfer Allen Can't Quite Seal the Deal

By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: May 30, 2008

The past week has been one of some huge ups and downs for former Hernando High star, now Embry-Riddle University golfer, Tara Allen.

Last week at the NAIA National Women's Golf Championship in San Diego, Allen went into the final round leading the tournament by four shots.

The down side is that on the last round, the Brooksville junior went out and shot a 15-over-par 87 to finish in third place overall, missing out on winning the title by six strokes.

For some people, that would be a reason to hide in the corner and not talk with anyone, but the college junior who goes to school in Daytona Beach does not look at things in that light.

"I was excited to be in that position just to shoot as good as I had," Allen said. "I struggled and basically what it boils down to is that I wasn't playing as well as I had earlier in the week."

Up to the final round, Allen fired 18-hole rounds of 76-74-77 to lead by four shots going into the last round.

But on the final round, the usually stable Southern California weather soured.

"The conditions were a bit rougher," she pointed out. "It was about 55 degrees and the wind was blowing about 30 miles per hour."

The final round, which was played at the Lake San Marcos Country Club near San Diego, started off great for the Brooksville native as she birdied the first hole.

But from there it went downhill quickly as Allen bogeyed the second and fourth hole and had a double-bogey the third.

"Earlier in the week, there were several par fours that you could reach with a mid-iron," she said. "But in the final round, those holes were going into the wind and I couldn't reach them with my five-wood."

Allen also blamed her putting for her final round troubles.

"My coach came up to me a couple of times and told me to stop thinking so much and just hit it," she recalled. "But I missed a lot of four-footers that lipped out and came right back at me."

She finished the front side shooting a 43 and had a 44 on the back side for the 87 as Embry Riddle finished second in the final team standings to Oklahoma City, losing the title by three shots.

It was that close

"For our team to lose by three shots, I had three putts that I know I could have made," she said.

"That's what hurts the most. If I make them, we're in a tie-breaker playing for the national championship. I come away from it knowing we were so close."

So far in her career, the former Hernando High golfer has won a number of awards.

As a high school golfer for the Leopards, Allen was a four-time, all district, all-conference, all-region player along with being named the North Suncoast Junior Golf Association Player of the Year twice.

Then at Embry-Riddle, Allen continued to pile up the awards.

In her freshman year, Allen was named the school's Most Improved Player and was an honorable mention All-American.

Last year as a sophomore, Allen was named NAIA All-American and NAIA Academic All-American along with being named ERU Player of the Year.

Now in this her junior year, Allen was again named to the NAIA All-American team and was selected as one of the NAIA Golf Scholar Athletes.

When asked about finishing third in the national championship, Allen says there is a good and bad side about it.

"It's all relative and it takes some time to put things into perspective," she said after returning from the tournament this week.

"Immediately after it I was upset," frankly stated Allen. "I mean I lost but the team came in third place by three shots. I know we finished second as a team, which was the best finish ever by an Embry Riddle team. And I know I finished third, which was the best individual finish in school history. We set records and that's great.

"But if I make some of those putts. I clearly didn't bring it on the last day like I needed too."

But Allen also says that sometimes even funny things happen.

"It's amazing, after the second round when we knew I was in first, my brother Tyler, who is 12, said I was going to finish third," remarked Allen. "I told him later he needs to say that next year I'll finish first."

After three years of college, Allen has already graduated and is now seeking for her Masters degree in engineering.

"I have a summer internship that starts next Monday," explained Allen. "It's a 10-week program where I'm working for 4Frontiers. It's a designing company that is working on the design for a shuttle and settlement that will go to Mars. So, that should take my mind away from golf for awhile."

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Golfer Allen Can't Quite Seal the Deal

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