And it begged the question: If his golf game is this good, how badly has he been ignoring Basketball this offseason?

He laughed and deflected the implication. Allen has worked hard on his game and is very much looking forward to training camp after a break that was longer than the Celtics would have liked.

``The beautiful thing about golf is there are so many hours in the day in the summertime,'' he said. ``You can get up early in the morning and work out and then play golf late in the day. It helps me keep that competitive edge and stay in shape.

``It's been great,'' Allen said of the offseason. ``I'm in one of the best shapes I've been in at this point in the summer, just from having the time to let my body heal and work out and get certain parts stronger. I've enjoyed this summer.''

Beatty inspires

It wasn't hard to pick out the most inspirational performer in the pro-am. Staff Sgt. Dale Beatty of North Carolina, who lost both legs during combat in Iraq nearly five years ago, played in the group with pro Rory Sabbatini.

``I had a few honest pars today,'' Beatty said proudly afterward.

Working with his prosthetics, the most difficult part of playing is getting a difficult lie.

``Obviously I don't have as much flexibility below my knee,'' Beatty said. ``But I have both my knees, so the higher extremity amputees just look at guys like me and say, `Aw, you've got a sprained ankle.' So we're mildly inconvenienced.''

Beatty was playing in support of the Fisher House Foundation, which provides families of wounded servicemen with lodging near military and VA medical centers.

Sandbagging singer

Ken Casey, singer and bass guitarist for the Dropkick Murphys, had an afternoon tee time in pro Kenny Perry's group.

Beware of Casey, who says his game has dropped off because of the recent birth of third child, Colin Thomas. Casey may be looking for strokes from competitors, but his low draw was looking pretty smooth yesterday. Consider this fair warning. . . .

Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca was playing well in Stewart Cink's group. On his eighth hole of the day, Pagliuca went to play his ball out of a red-staked area, but was attacked and stung by bees.

``Who says golf isn't a contact sport?'' Pagliuca said. . . .

Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo on coach Jeff Jagodzinski, fired yesterday by Tampa Bay after being let go by BC in January: ``I just heard about it this morning. It's unfortunate, and all of us at Boston College wish Jeff and his family the very best.'' . . .

Paul Casey withdrew from the DBC with a wrist injury. . . .

First Tee scholarship winner Brent Edelman met with Ernie Els here yesterday. Edelman, from Summerland, Calif., will attend MIT.