Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994                   TAG: 9403090068
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

DALY TRIES TO GET CAREER BACK ON COURSE

He is back also with a parcel of problems he hopes this time to have securely wrapped and under control.

"I feel like it's a whole new year. Everything is positive. I want to get on with my career, get on with a new life. It feels good," Daly said Tuesday.

This is John Daly Gets a Life - Take Three.

He burst on the scene as a rookie in 1991 and won the PGA.

He dropped off the tour late in 1992 to deal with his drinking problem.

He was suspended late in 1993 after he withdrew in a pro-am round in Hawaii.

Weaving in and around all of that was erratic play and eccentric behavior, including busting up his house during an argument with his wife.

He says it is a different John Daly - clear-eyed, untroubled and looking at a clean, fresh slate - who will tee it up Thursday at the Honda Classic.

In a way, he said, his comeback is "like '91, my first year on the PGA Tour. It was my rookie year, and it was my best year. I feel like I can do it again," he said.

The most significant difference, he said, is in his reach.

Now, in times of stress, he reaches for a guitar. Not a bottle.

"I'm very proud to say that I've been sober for more than 14 months now," Daly said.

Daly said the three-month suspension imposed by PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman last fall was both deserved, and "a blessing."

"I needed the time off. I was playing bad and I was just going through the motions. I needed a break. And I wouldn't have taken it if I hadn't been suspended," he said.

In the long break, he played competitively only once, in the Mexican Open. Most of his time was spent in practice. "I've got my short game back," he said.

He had a couple of lengthy sessions with sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella. "It's mostly about focus, concentrating on the shot you're playing now, not the shot you hit or the shot you're going to hit on the next hole or the next day," Daly said. Those sessions are on-going.

And he took up the guitar as a means of relaxation. But Daly, with a wry smile, admits he is hardly proficient. "I'm something over an 18 handicapper," he said. "I make the dogs howl."

Howling at the moon was Daly's problem in 1992 and '93. He was charged with a felony after trashing his home and assaulting his wife in Colorado. He was thrown off a commercial flight after a drunken incident in Denver.

He won the B.C. Open in '92 but, just before the year was over, Beman suspended Daly pending his successful completion of an alcohol treatment and rehabilitation program.

That was accomplished early last year. And Daly has been sober ever since.

It was, he said, the most important victory of his career.

"I feel like I won a major last year," he said.

But there was a cost, too. His game suffered. And his attitude suffered.

"I'd been going crazy since winning the PGA," he said. " . . . For two years, I never even sat back and worked on my game for a good solid week."

The suspension gave him the opportunity to do so. And he took advantage of it with daily practice sessions at his home in California.

And now, with his game in order and an eager, excited attitude in place, he's ready to try again.

"The Masters is always on my mind," he said. "And I want to win $1 million on the Tour this year. I think I can do that."

Keywords:
GOLF