A Born Battler

Former Walker Cupper Griff Moody grew tired of saying the same thing every summer when the young golfers at his alma mater, the University of Georgia, would ask him if he’d won his state amateur that year.

“No,” he had to say almost every year except 1980. “Allen Doyle did.”

“Who the hell is he?” the out-of-state kids reflexively replied before Moody had to explain to them that “this sumbitch can play!”

It reached a point in the late ’80s when Moody finally decided to address the root of this annual problem with the 1978, ’79, ’82, ’87, ’88 and ’90 state champion (and runner-up four occasions in between not to mention five consecutive Georgia Mid-Amateur wins from 1984-89 and five Southeastern Amateur titles from 1983-92).

“You’ve got to start playing in bigger national events,” Moody implored Doyle.
“I was the only one that played amateur golf with all those guys – Tiger, Phil, Duval and Leonard. And then I was the only one that played professionally with them and also played with Palmer and Nicklaus and Trevino professi...