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Smokin' A decade later, Daly living, loving life
Updated: Wednesday August 15, 2001 2:34 PM
DULUTH, Ga. (AP) -- John Daly trudged, cigarette in mouth, up the hill to the 16th green at Atlanta Athletic Club on a steamy Georgia morning. A small gathering of fans applauded as his familiar figure emerged on the green. "I gotta quit smoking up these hills," Daly said, tossing the offending butt aside. A few minutes later, Daly stroked three 20-foot practice putts into the hole, then paused for a moment to reflect on the tumultuous life he's lived. He kept it simple, just the way he'd like his life to be. "It's all good because I'm still living," he said. "The way I look at it the man upstairs is keeping me around for something. I thank him every day." Ten years after he electrified the golf world by winning the PGA Championship as an alternate, Daly has a lot to be thankful for as he returns to the event that made him a household name. He's married again, slimmed down and rededicated to his game. He's still booming drives but now has a better short game to go with it. The drinking? He hasn't trashed any hotel rooms recently and if he has a beer or two he's not telling anyone about it. "It's my discretion now, which makes it a lot easier," Daly said. "The less I talk about it is best because if I don't talk about it, I don't even think about it." It's hard to believe a decade has passed since Daly put the crowd at Crooked Stick in Indiana in a frenzy with his huge drives and good Ole' boy manner. Daly slapped so many high-fives to fans walking down the fairways on the weekend that his right hand was sore for a week. He charmed the press with his stories and immediately a star was born. "It was so awesome. It was one of those weeks that just flew by," he says. "Even now it's just a blur." Stardom was more than the 25-year-old country boy from Arkansas could handle. Daly won and lost a fortune, went through a few wives and more lives than a charmed cat. There were drinking binges that ended with trashed hotel rooms, then addictions to sweets and colas that pushed his weight over 250 pounds. He estimates he gave away enough items or made loans to friends that ended up costing him $7 million over the years. "You learn a lot about life when you go through stuff like that," he says.
That learning curve brought Daly to the back nine of the Atlanta Athletic Club early Wednesday with both a refurbished game honed on a new practice facility at his Arkansas home and a new attitude toward golf and life. The new game has helped him make 12 of 19 cuts this year, earning nearly a half million dollars. He was in contention in the Scottish Open and believes he has the game to win again. "If I didn't think I could win, I wouldn't be out here," said Daly, who hasn't won since his British Open victory in 1995. That's all part of the new attitude, one he says has come with maturity and the understanding that he can have a bad hole and still come back. Daly's attitude was evident as he played a practice round Wednesday with his 9-year-old godson, John Michael, and 13-year-old Chad Smith tagging along. Daly pulled Smith out of a crowd at a tournament a few years ago and has taken him under his wing. He talks to him on the phone and the youth comes to a few tournaments a year to walk with his hero. Only a few fans were around as Daly and Greg Chalmers played the early holes of the back nine. By the time they got to the final few holes, though, fans lined the walkways between holes begging for Daly's autograph. "We think the world of you Big John," one called out. Daly signed hats, programs, flags and almost everything thrust in front of him as he kept walking. Tiger Woods may be golf's big star, but Daly still clearly holds a place in their hearts. "I still sign most stuff but it used to be I wanted to practice but I'd sign for two hours because I couldn't say no to fans," Daly said. "Now I've learned a bit how to say no when I have to." Daly dropped his girlfriend of four years this summer to marry his new wife, Sherrie. Five minutes after a friend introduced him, he said he wanted to marry her and did just that seven weeks later, also adding a 2-year-old stepson to his life. "She's just a good old sweet Southern girl," Daly said. "And she was the one who wanted a prenuptial agreement. She said my other two wives took me to the cleaners and she didn't want any part of that." One thing that hasn't changed is his prodigious distance. That could be in his favor at this year's PGA, where the driver is in play and the final hole is a par-4 over water that stretches 490 yards. Daly put on a show there Wednesday, hitting a driver that nearly plugged when it hit, yet still needed only a 5-iron to the green. Daly handed the club to his caddie, took a drag on his cigarette and briefly reflected on his life. "It's all good because I'm still living."
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