John Daly is drinking
and gambling again, not sure where it will lead but offering no regrets
for losing an endorsement with Callaway Golf that had been his primary
source of income.
"It's sad, but I
think it's great to be free," Daly told Golf World magazine in this week's
issue. "Granted, I could go out and lose everything (by) gambling and drinking,
but there's no sense in denying it. It's in my blood."
Daly, a recovering
alcoholic who has twice been in rehabilitation clinics since his surprising
victory in the 1991 PGA Championship, said he ended 26 months of sobriety
June 11 after missing the cut in the St. Jude Classic.
"I was just feeling
down," he told the magazine. "I got in my Jeep, went in a store, bought
a 12-pack of Miller Lite, and drank it all by the time I got to Dardanelle
(Ark.). That's when I relapsed."
Daly's five-year
deal with Callaway, signed after he left rehab in April 1997, included
a provision that he not drink or gamble. Chairman Ely Callaway offered
to send Daly to an addictions specialist nearly two weeks ago. Daly got
to the undisclosed clinic and left.
"The people were
nice," Daly told Golf World. "But it just wasn't for me."
Callaway said he
had no choice but to drop Daly, who stood to earn about $3 million over
the final two years of the contract.
Earlier this year,
Daly was working with Callaway officials in Palm Springs when he disappeared.
He later said he went to Las Vegas, where "I gambled, had a few pops and
had a great time."
Daly's gambling has
been as notorious as his drinking. Callaway cleaned up about $1.7 million
in gambling debts when it signed Daly to a contract. Golf World reported
that Daly lost about $500,000 during his gambling spree in Las Vegas.
After his split with
Callaway, Daly said he gambled in a riverboat casino in Tunica, Miss.,
although he says he didn't drink alcohol.
Asked by the magazine
why he continued to gamble even though he lost an estimated $12 million
from 1993 to 1996, Daly said, "I love the action. I just love it."
Daly first went through
alcohol rehab at the end of 1992. He won the British Open while sober in
1995, but resumed drinking a year later. He went on a drinking spree again
during The Players Championship in 1997, trashed his hotel room and ultimately
split with his wife.
Can he avoid that
kind of situation this time?
"Honestly? Probably
not," Daly told Golf World. "I want to gamble and I want to have a few
drinks now and then. Basically, it (trying to stay sober) had taken over
my life, and I was miserable. It's like I've said before, there's no way
I'd never drink again."
