In form John Daly heads to Tucson

John Daly likes to work on writing new songs as he travels between PGA gigs in his $1.3 million motor home.

He is the only golfer on the Tour with his own country music CD, called "My Life".

Golf fans can either listen to "All My Ex's Wear Rolexes", "Longball Rebel (With a Cause)" or "I'm Drunk (And Broke)".

Maybe you could say some of those things about Daly in the past, but the 37-year-old American is singing a new tune on the golf course these days.

Daly shot a 4-under 67 in the final round of the $4.8 million Nissan Open at the Riviera Country Club to finish at 13-under-par 271 after earlier rounds of 68-64-72.

The $230,000 he picked up in fourth-place prize money propelled him over the $1 million mark ($1.13 million) in single-season earnings for the first time in his 15-year career.

His best previous year on the money list was 2001 when he won $830,000 in 16 tournaments.

Daly captured his first American title in a decade last week in San Diego, making a dramatic birdie on the first playoff hole to win the Buick Invitational.

"John is a great guy," said Nissan Open winner Mike Weir. "He has a big heart. Maybe he made some mistakes, some unfortunate choices in life but that doesn't make him a bad person."

Fellow golfer Scott McCarron canceled a ski trip to the mountains so he could watch Daly win the Buick tournament.

"Wasn't that amazing," said McCarron. "John Daly means a lot to golf."

Daly, who claims to have lost close to 50 pounds since Christmas, has more ex-wives (three) than he has major championships (two). His fourth wife is facing drug and money-laundering charges.

During a rocky 2003, Daly either withdrew or was disqualified from four of seven PGA appearances in a two-month stretch. During the PGA's Madison, Miss. stop in September, Daly needed six putts on one hole.

He heads to Tucson for this week's Chrysler Classic in a much better frame of mind.

Daly isn't going to the World Golf Match Play Championships despite shooting better last week than both Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh who are ranked one and two in the world.

The Match Play, which begins Wednesday, features the top-ranked 64 golfers in the world and Daly was 288th three weeks ago. After his Buick win he moved up to 84th.

So he gets the consolation prize, playing in the $3 million Tucson event rather than the $7 million Match Play.

Daly has a new three-year endorsement deal with Dunlop and his stellar play hasn't gone unnoticed by United States Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton.

"How could you not want a guy who hits it 325 yards and has his touch around the greens," said Sutton. "I wouldn't be surprised by anything. People learn things in life ... I don't have any doubt he'd be an asset to the U.S. team."

This years news archive | Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page