Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 25, 1993 TAG: 9304250041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N. C. LENGTH: Long
Who's this guy think he is, the skeptics wondered. Unknown alternate with Bunyanesque length. Makes field when Nick Price's wife goes into labor day before tournament. Drives all night to get to tournament. Shoots 69 in first look at Crooked Stick. Proceeds to blow away field by three shots.
Are you kidding? Talk about a cat out of water. This guy won't be at the party long enough to say hello to everybody, must less catch the first plate of hors d'oeuvres, the naysayers said.
If ever a prime candidate for flukedom, John Daly was it. He had gotten to the party fast. He would leave faster.
Well, somebody must have forgotten to inform him. Nearly two years later, Daly is still hanging around the food line.
And the bar over there? Forget it. It's out of bounds.
Suddenly, Long John is making headlines for his game instead of for rearranging furniture in hotel rooms, getting tossed from airline flights and taking divots out of big-screen TVs with lob wedges.
Daly goes against golf's grain. He routinely rips his driver 300 yards-plus, longer than most could in an unoccupied shopping mall parking lot. While his competitors meticulously survey putts from every angle, Daly takes a quick peep, then charges the ball toward the cup.
Although some have claimed his IQ level reads like the number at the top of a Quad Cities Open leaderboard, Daly's innocent ignorance seems to be a turn-on to many of the average fans.
In a preliminary competition at this week's Kmart Greater Greensboro Open, Daly got the Forest Oaks gallery howling coming up the 18th fairway.
"What do I get if I win this?" Daly hollered to a trailing official-type.
When informed he would get $4,000 cash and a $5,000 annuity, Daly stomped out a cigarette butt on the turf and replied, "What in the hell is an annuity?"
The red-faced stuffed shirt tried to act like he didn't hear Daly.
"An annuity? Beats me," Daly muttered to no one particular. "Whatever it is, it's nice, though."
John Daly. Flake, most definitely. Fluke, no way.
The man can flat out play. He removed all doubt that his stunning PGA triumph was simply an aberration by winning last year's B.C. Open by six shots.
This year, the notorious slow starter is out of the gates quickly. Daly posting a strong third-place showing at The Masters two weeks ago.
All this comes on the heels of a wild off-season in which Daly was arrested for third-degree assault by Denver police after a well-publicized physical encounter with his wife, Bettye. Daly, at the strong urging of PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, checked into an alcohol rehabilitation center in January.
Daly swapped the hard stuff for beer in 1990 after going into a coma in Maine following a binge while at a Ben Hogan event.
The tour wanted Daly to give up beer last year, but he would have none of it, reportedly saying, "If they want to take that away from me, they can take the damn [PGA] trophy away, too."
He admits he still fights the urge to drink every day.
"It's definitely one day at a time," he said. "The problem is in the past and I just try to go forward. I've got a better life and I'm working towards that. The only thing I say is don't drink when I'm sober."
Despite all his problems, the blonde bomber hasn't lost his game, or for that matter, his legion of followers. The people, at least the daily-fee 20-handicappers who have been known to dig in their bags for range balls at the site of a lake, simply love Daly's mindless "grip it and rip it" style.
Now, unlike before, some fans are even tracking Daly the entire way around the course.
"When I first started out here, there would be some people watching me hit my tee shots, then there would be no one around the green except the scorekeeper and my caddie," Daly said.
Although Daly's calling card is his prodigious length, people suddenly are starting to discover he has a short game, too.
"A lot of people think all John can do is hit a ball a country mile," Tom Watson noted. "Well, he's got very soft hands. He's a lot better chipper and putter than anyone gives him credit for."
Daly, whose PGA fantasy earned him quick millions in endorsements, still maintains he plays for the fans. Not since a Popeye-armed guy named Palmer was making his rounds 30 years ago have spectators been so mesmerized by one player.
"It's great playing golf knowing you've got the crowd behind you," Daly said. "To me that's what the dream come true was - winning golf tournaments and knowing the fans were behind you. When you know the people are behind you, it's a few shots advantage when you tee it up."
Daly, whose elongated swing defies all logic found in golf instruction books, said the average player shouldn't be afraid to let it rip.
"The teaching pros who say don't swing hard are crazy," Daly said. "They need to go back to school and find another job because you can swing as hard as you want as long as your timing is right. If you can swing hard and get away with it, I wouldn't change a thing. It's ridiculous to ease up on a golf shot. You don't have any control."
When asked about his future, Daly, who turns 27 Wednesday, shrugged and said, "it's just golf, golf, golf, man."
"If Freddie [Couples] said he was quitting at 40, I don't believe it. Oh, he'll keep playing. It's our life. What else are we going to do?
"Right now, man I'm just going one day at a time. I'll be lucky to live to be 50. Chi Chi [Rodriguez] gives me odds on me living to be 30. Right now, I'm just hoping to win that bet."
Oh, and those who wagered on Daly being a fluke? It's time to pay up.
by CNB