Let'er Rip John . . . We're Pulling For You

A birthday came and went this week and most of us missed it. John Daly turned 43.

Oh, how nice it would be to be able to turn the clock back 22 years and relive that magical week when a long shot stepped up to the tee and played the game with such thunder and skill that above all odds we were all pulling for this unknown to come out on top.

And he did. Mr. 'Rip it n' grip it' won the 1987 PGA Championship.

Every now and then, whether it's tennis, boxing, horseracing or the game of golf, sport needs an underdog like John Daly. An opportunity now exists that may be what the game and the fans would like to see. Certainly for this player we're hoping he can take this opportunity and make it all happen again . . . just for the memory.

By PETER DIXON,
From Girona, Spain
THE TIMESONLINE
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/

His trousers would not look out of place on a court jester, but for John Daly life is anything but a laughing matter. The two-times major champion is fighting for his livelihood and the next five weeks could prove the most important in a controversial career dating back 22 years.

Daly, serving a six-month suspension from playing on the PGA Tour in the United States -- where he has lost his playing rights, but relies on sponsors' invitations -- has pitched up in Girona this week for the Spanish Open. From here he will move on to Italy, Ireland and the United Kingdom, where he will play in the BMW Championship, the European Tour's flagship event at Wentworth, and possibly the European Open a week later.

Three weeks ago, the former Open champion was to be found selling signed T-shirts and golf towels from the back of his camper van outside the gates of Augusta National, venue of the Masters. It was, he said, necessary to help to stave off bankruptcy. Which is why, despite what he says, he needs to make an immediate impact on his European sojourn. And to his credit, it will not be for want of trying.

The most striking thing about Daly, apart from the trousers, is his changing physique. He has lost 55lb in weight in 11 weeks since ballooning to 20 stone and deciding to have a silicone band fitted in his stomach. He knew he had to do something drastic to cut down on his eating and drinking, but he characteristically laughs at the suggestion that he might visit a gym. "No, no," he said. "Technology is great. I can lose weight and not have to work out."

Life, though, will never be simple for Daly, who turned 43 on Tuesday. With four divorces, two visits to alcohol rehabilitation clinics and an estimated $60 million (now about £40.5 million) lost through gambling, he has certainly plumbed the depths. And for much of the past 18 months he has played wherever they will have him, or pay him for turning up.

It would be fair to say he has not been good value for money, missing more cuts than he has made. On the cynical premise that no publicity is bad publicity, however, the smashing of a spectator's camera at the Australian Masters last November certainly had people talking and writing about the tournament.

That was not the view of the PGA Tour, which suspended him for six months in January for "conduct unbecoming" after he had been picked up drunk outside a Hooters restaurant in North Carolina in October and spent a night in jail. It was the culmination of a run of incidents, including one where he hit a tee shot off the top of a beer can during a pro-am event and another when he returned from a rain delay with a new caddie -- Jon Gruden, then the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football team.

Despite everything, Daly remains an engaging and painfully honest speaker. He does not seek sympathy, only another chance to put his stalled career back on track. He is being helped for the first time by a psychologist and has a new girlfriend. He says he would have been too heavy to walk the hilly PGA Catalonia course three months ago and has not played competitively for four months. He said: "I'm rusty. I've been practising plenty, but I'm not expecting a lot."

He says he never contemplated giving up the game and adds that he has "nothing to prove except to myself", although few would agree. "You do get to a point where nothing goes right and you give up on yourself rather than your love of the game," he said. "If I lose the desire to play I'll have to find something else. I lost the weight not to get healthier or anything; I did it to get better at golf."

It might be a pipe dream, but he still hopes to challenge for another major -- he won the Open in 1995 and the US PGA Championship in 1991 -- and as a former champion has automatic entry into both championships for the foreseeable future.

Money, though, is horribly tight. For the first time since 1991 Daly does not have a sponsor and has lost "a ton of money in the stock market crash". His debts, he says, are not with people, "just the Government". A change of ways could not come quick enough.

Wild things

* 1997 Upsets sponsors at the Heineken Classic in Perth, Australia, after finishing final round in just over two hours.

* 2002 Disqualified from Australian PGA Championship, for which he received an appearance fee of about A$200,000 (now about £90,000), after throwing putter into lake and walking off without signing card.

* 2006 Admits in book to losing more than $60 million (now about £40.5 million) through gambling.

* 2007 Turns up to one tournament with scratches on face; accuses his fourth wife, Sherrie of attempting to stab him with a steak knife.

*2008 Dropped by Butch Harmon, the renowned coach, after spending time at an on-course bar during a rain delay at tournament in Florida.

* 2008 Arrested outside Hooters in North Carolina and put in jail overnight for being intoxicated.

* 2008 Smashes spectator's camera into a tree at Australian Masters.

*2009 Suspended for six months by PGA Tour for "conduct unbecoming"