Golf Blogger - Golf News and Golf Blog

Crowd enjoys Daly’s erratic play at 2007 U.S.PGA Championship

Posted by Big G under Latest Golf News, Mens Pro Golf, The Four Majors

If Tiger Woods is a Rembrandt, John Daly is a paint-by-number Elvis on black velvet. Tacky, for sure. Yet there’s something oddly endearing about it, and you can’t help but gawk.

Especially when Daly pulls stunts like he did Friday on No. 10 at Southern Hills.

At 366 yards, downhill and with a big dogleg to the right, a 4- or 5-iron off the tee is the smart move for this par-4. It leaves players with a short approach, and a good chance for birdie.   Daly?

He waited for the green to clear, then pulled out driver and ripped it.
”We’re not set up to find that shot,” a TV announcer said as the ball rocketed toward the green.

Thing is, Daly doesn’t do anything by anybody’s plans. Never has. Which is why, despite the blistering heat and suffocating humidity, a Tiger-sized gallery was following every move of the topsy-turvy 3-over 73 that turned him back into America’s favorite side show after a brief stay atop the leaderboard at the PGA Championship.

”For some reason,” wife Sherrie said during a brief interview Friday as she walked the course, ”everyone likes John.”

He hits driver when he should hit irons. He opts for slot machines over practice rounds. He smokes cigarettes and chugs diet soda when water and an energy bar would be better.

And that fairway in front of him? Well, that’s merely a suggestion.

”Do you think they would have booed him if he’d pulled out an iron?” Todd Hamilton asked after watching Daly tee off on No. 10.

Conservative is not a word that has ever existed in Daly’s dictionary, and being two shots off the lead after the first round of a major wasn’t going to change his mind. Even if a win - heck, a solid showing even - could recharge a career that has seemingly dead ended after falling to 423 in the world rankings.

So he went for every green - and got to know just about every inch of Southern Hills’ rough and woods. Of 14 fairways, he hit a measly one and that wasn’t until 11 holes into the round. He duffed an easy sand shot and missed more putts than a weekend hack.

He did birdie the last hole to stay at even-par for the tournament, and in a six-way tie for ninth.

“The fairways are just so hard to hit,” Daly said. ”I just kept grinding, grinding, grinding.”