Allenby has a big year all teed up

In bald and unromantic golfing terms, Robert Allenby made the equivalent of a birdie-birdie start to 1999 when, on the second day of the new year, he married his fiancee Sandy Kempsey in a sunny, idyllic ceremony at Ripponlea.

And as one of many professional golfers who are big on omens, Allenby said he hoped the wedding was a portent of happy things to come in what may be the most important year of his career. This season, finally, he gets the chance to play full-time on the United States PGA Tour, where he will pit his talents against the big boys of world golf.

So, after he finishes being the star turn at this week's Victorian Open at Victoria Golf Club, Allenby will pack his suitcases and head off with his bride to play in the Hawaiian Open, the Bob Hope Classic, then the Phoenix Open, as he seeks to make an impression on the world's toughest circuit. A honeymoon will have to wait until the middle of the year.

Given the importance of getting up some early momentum, Allenby will concentrate his efforts solely on his new home tour over the next couple of months and is unlikely to play in Australia at all after this week.

``It's just so important for me to make a really, really good start to my first year in America,'' he said. ``I've got a start in the first two events, and they do a re-rank after the first seven events, so it's vital that I play well early. So it looks like I won't be back this summer.''

Despite the scheduling of the Victorian Open in the middle of the festive season, and the doubts last month over whether it would go ahead, the championship has attracted a good field, in which Allenby - who won the title as an amateur in 1991 - is the standout player.

He will be joined by, among others, Peter Lonard, Stephen Allan, Wayne Grady, defending champion Brad King, the inform Rod Pampling, home-course hero Geoff Ogilvy and leading Victorian amateur Aaron Baddeley.

Although he did happen to be in town this week, and loves playing at Victoria, one of Melbourne's premier layouts, Allenby said he felt a sense of responsibility to help the Victorian Golf Association, which gave him a start in representative golf when he was a precocious young amateur at Yarra Yarra.

``I want to support the VGA; they spent a lot of money on me as an amateur flying me around the country, so it's good to be able to repay them in some way,'' he said.

``And I'd like to go to the Hawaiian Open next week in a positive frame of mind, by getting a tournament under my belt and, hopefully, playing well. I haven't played competitively since the Australian Open five weeks ago, so I can't wait to get out there and get stuck into it again.

``A win this week would be the ideal start to an important year. I started the year on a good note last weekend, so who knows, maybe it'll be my week.''

Perhaps surprisingly, Allenby, 27, has not won in this country since early 1995 when he took out the Heineken Classic in Perth. Last year, he had a string of top-10 finishes, but couldn't quite crack it for the drought-breaker.

And while the barren run in Australia is about to enter its fifth year, Allenby said he was confident a win was around the corner. ``It'll happen, it'll come soon enough.''

So sure was he of qualifying for a playing card at the US tour school in December that Allenby bought a condo at the exclusive Isleworth estate in Orlando, Florida, in the middle of the year.

Now, he is a neighbour of his close friend Stuart Appleby, and the leading American players Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara, all living in a sprawling manicured compound, with its 24-hour security patrols and own five-star golf course.

All of which will seem a world away this week as he knuckles down to tournament play in Cheltenham against probably the least-imposing field he will tackle all year. But even if there are 17 amateurs playing and a dearth of top-line names, a win in his state championship would go a long way to convincing Allenby that the omens really are in place for a special year.

TW6/1/99