Daly does it again
The John Daly saga is getting bizarre. This time the trouble may not be all Daly's fault, but he sure is in the grip of some nasty karma right now.
If you've been following along, Daly missed his third cut of the young season last weekend in west Florida while attracting unflattering attention hanging out at a Hooters pit stop along the golf course. He then took a detour to the Phillies spring training camp and yesterday, was dumped by swing coach Butch Harmon who feels Daly isn't putting enough effort into the game. That's Daly (at left in orange) and his "caddy," Tampa Bay football coach Jon Gruden, before Daly exited the PODS tournament last weekend.
Now this morning, Daly missed his pro-am tee time at the Palmer Invitational in Orlando and as a result, was DQ'd from that tournament (and that doesn't mean he got an ice cream cone). Plus, there was a domino effect when two other golfers -- Ryuji Imada and Nick O'Hern who were alternates -- also got disqualified because they weren't at the Bay Hill course for the morning session when Daly got bounced. Imada and O'Hern apparently thought they were scheduled as afternoon alternates. O'Hern lives five minutes from the course so he was miffed to say the least
Daly's missed tee time seemed to be over confusion on when the tee time was supposed to be. If I understand this right, Daly called for his tee time and was told it was 9:47 a.m. -- but that was for the first round tomorrow. His tee time for today's pro-am was 8:40 a.m. He was on his way when he was told not to bother showing up. Daly has been getting into tournaments on sponsor exemptions lately.
As I said, this is some evil mojo going on for this guy right now -- obviously, most of it of his own making and a little of what is just plain weirdness. I want to thank reader Joe Dalhart for getting me on the trail of the latest Daly escapade.
Photo credit: Chris O'Meara/AP
Comments
Well, the Daly downward spiral continues..It's easy to get a tee-time mixed up I suppose but aren't these golfers usually at the course a couple of hours before they tee off? In that case, Daly would have been able to make his time but I'm guessing he showed up 10 minutes before. I guess the pro-am guys would be upset as they likely coughed up big $$$ and then had to play with Joe Nobody...
I don't have too much sympathy for the pros that didn't get in as alterates. Why weren't they at the course at the crack of dawn? Judging from one guy's address-Isleworth-gated community-he's not starving!
Maybe the PGA should just eliminate sponsor's exemptions altogether. Let the circus acts like Daly and Wie earn their way into the tournaments but the fact is many of the field isn't worth watching, hence the sideshow.
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Terry,
I covered a few tournaments of the the Seniors Tour when it first started and I have to tell you, it was impossible to be at the course earlier than those guys. You are right about the sponsor exemptions. Without those, there is no show. Tiger can only do so much.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: TerryP | March 13, 2008 11:45 AM