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Playing the angles
Daly will try to cut his way around National
Posted: Saturday April 06, 2002 7:58 PM
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John Daly lines up a putt during the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando, Fla. Daly won the BMW International Open in August, his tournament victory since 1995. Playing the angles Michael Holahan
The Augusta Chronicle |
By David Westin
The Augusta Chronicle
Just like the Augusta National Golf Club, John Daly has a new look this year.
His plan of attack against the course, which has been lengthened 285 yards to 7,270 yards, will be from a different angle.
The long hitter previously played shots that had a right-to-left ball flight. Now, he's going the opposite way, playing a cut shot.
Daly went from his normal draw to the cut when he started using the Titleist Pro V1 ball in late 2000.
"It will be interesting to play Augusta National with a cut," he said. "If (Jack) Nicklaus has won six green jackets with a cut, I don't see why people say it's a hooker's or drawer's golf course. But who knows? It's going to be really interesting."
Daly is just happy to be back in the Masters. A two-year slump (1999-2000) left him out of the 2001 Masters after qualifying the previous nine years. Daly didn't play in the 1997 Masters because he was in an alcohol rehabilitation clinic.
A resurgence that started with the 2001 season, when he won $1.4 million worldwide, has continued this season. It helped him finish in the top 50 in the Official World Ranking as of four weeks before the Masters. That met one of the Masters qualifications, earning him a trip back to Augusta.
"It was tough sitting out last year's Masters," Daly said. "I look back when I went into rehab in 1997, I could have played there, but you know, I thought my life was a little more important at that time. It's amazing. You get into those tournaments, and you think you're going to be in them for the rest of your life. I always said, 'Well, I've got next year, I've got next year.' That year runs out. And it was pretty tough."
Being home instead of at the Masters last year made for a dull week for Daly.
It was so forgettable that he is at a loss to remember what he did.
"I know I didn't watch the tournament," he said. "I don't know what I was doing. It wasn't much."
The added yardage to the Augusta National should benefit Daly, who has won 10 of the past 11 driving distance titles on the PGA Tour.
"I've heard the golf course is even more perfect for me," he said.
"As one professional golfer analyzing another, he's an awesome talent," said Joey Sindelar. "He's not just long - he's long and straight. He has all those feel shots. He's very Phil Mickelson-like when he plays those shots around the green. If he's on his game at Augusta, it's got to be a great place for him."
Daly, 35, is enjoying his latest comeback, which included a victory in August's BMW International Open, a European Tour event in Germany. It was his first victory since the 1995 British Open.
"It's been a long six years," Daly said. "The turning point was 1999. That was my worst year on tour, and I got to the stage where I had to make a decision - go on with golf or try something else. It didn't take me long to figure out that I don't know anything but golf. It's been my life since I was 4 years old."
The Arkansas native said he's keeping the demons that have haunted him, from alcoholism to gambling to obesity, at bay.
"I'm a late maturer," Daly said.
With maturity has come patience, a character trait that Daly had been sorely lacking. That lack of maturity led to, among other things, on-course melt downs that included an 18 on the par-5 sixth hole at the Bay Hill Invitational in 1998 and other high numbers.
"John has done what he thinks he needs to do," Arnold Palmer said. "The fact is, he has grabbed hold of the whole situation and is doing very well. I'm proud of him, and I hope he continues. The bottom line is, he's happier and the fans will enjoy watching him play."
"Everything is pretty calm," said Daly, who married for the fourth time in September.
"I think mentally this is the strongest I have ever been in all aspects of my life, and it helps a lot," he said. "I can overcome bad shots. I can overcome bad days.
"What's really helping me right now is, I know I'm going to miss some golf shots out there, but it's not that big a deal because I feel like now I can stay patient. I can recover from it."
He's reached the point where he can laugh at some of his mistakes. Daly's child support (he has two daughters) and alimony payments of $260,000 inspired a song on an album he recorded in late February. It's called All my Exes wear Rolexes.
"My ex-wives probably won't like it much, but it doesn't mention their names, anyway," he said.
Daly has always had the talent, as his two major championships (the 1991 PGA Championship and 1995 British Open) attest.
Off the course it's been a different story. Emotional problems led doctors to prescribe anti-depressants in the late 1990s. They left Daly fatigued and unfocused about anything, much less golf, he said.
"I had no emotions. They were not high; they were not low," Daly said. "It was like I was just a blur."
In October 1999, in the wake of a breakdown during the Canadian Open, Daly took himself off the medication.
"After that, I said, 'This is it,"' Daly said. "'This is crazy. I can't do it anymore.' So that was a big decision on my part, to get off that. I had more energy with my kids and wanted to play golf. There were a lot of things I wanted to do instead of just lay around."
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