Daly’s New Approach Is Paying Off

Don’t ask John Daly to look into the future.

Don’t even ask him to look through the rest of this weekend, or for that matter beyond today.

Yes, he tied the competitive course record by shooting a 66 at the PGA Championship Thursday. But John Daly can’t afford to daydream. The only way he can he can negotiate life right now is in little baby steps. And even that might not be good enough for a man with a history of destructive excesses.

You know what Daly did when he left Winged Foot Golf Club Thursday after shooting that absolutely absurd 66? He went to an AA meeting. Alcoholics Anonymous.

“I’m always scared of what’s going to happen next,” he said, “so I don’t want to get too excited. I used to pump my fist in the air when I made some putts and stuff… . You don’t know what’s going to happen next. I’m just trying to keep my emotions level … just trying to stay at peace with myself.”

Daly was the story, the whole story and nothing but the story on Day 1 at the 79th PGA Championship. Anybody who tells you he had John Daly atop the leaderboard after 18 holes is either a fool or a screenwriter.

Daly himself said he was “pretty much in shock” over his 66. Tiger Woods, who was happy to take a back seat, but only for a while, said, “I know Ernie (Els), Justin (Leonard) and myself were talking about it and we’re very proud of him for doing that.” And Paul Azinger said of Daly, “He does look good and you can tell he’s very competitive right now. There was a time when he wasn’t as competitive, where he was kind of going through the motions … and really didn’t care. Today, he cared. He cared greatly, and you could see it in his eyes and his attitude, and it was a noticeable difference from several months ago.”

We don’t dare say he looked the John Daly of old because who, in God’s name, would wish that on him?

Remember, we’re talking about a man who at 31 years old has come dangerously close to total self-destruction. He won a PGA Championship at age 25 in August of 1991, and four months later destroyed a hotel room in South Africa in a drunken rage. In June 1992, he was forced off an airplane in Denver after becoming intoxicated and confronting a flight attendant. In 1993, he was charged with third-degree assault of his wife Bettye, then entered a rehab center in Arizona. He pleaded guilty to harassing Bettye; the assault charges were later withdrawn.

His life has been like this for the past six years, one drama after another, his massive excesses making those around him run for cover. He received divorce papers while playing the 1993 Masters. He was suspended from the PGA Tour in November of the same year for picking up his ball after missing a putt in the second round of the Kapalua International.

In August 1994, he scuffled with a 61-year-old man at the end of the World Series of Golf, and went into a self-imposed exile a month later. He won the British Open in July 1995 but by October 1996 admitted he was engaging in “social” drinking. By March 1997, he was back in alcohol rehab at Betty Ford Center, after a drinking binge in Florida forced him to withdraw from the Players Championship.

As if that wasn’t enough, his third wife, Paulette, recently filed for divorce, and Wilson terminated his $30 million endorsement deal.

And of course, when we in Washington last saw Daly in June he was ducking into the clubhouse - quitting - between the ninth green and the 10th tee at Congressional, without telling his playing partners or U.S. Open officials, because he simply wasn’t physically or emotionally ready to handle competitive golf just yet.

He missed the cut last week at the Buick Open.

Then, all of a sudden, as if completely out of nowhere - Daly came up with his best day of golf in a long, long while here at golf’s fourth and final major of the year. He caught fire and birdied the three most difficult holes on the course - 16, 17 and 18 - to sit atop the board, tied with Davis Love III, at 4-under. “It’s just a wonderful feeling to birdie all three of those,” he said. “It was three of the hardest holes in golf, or pretty close to it.”

At 195 pounds, Daly’s about 35 pounds lighter than he was a year ago. He says he has more energy now and can concentrate better.

“Golf and the disease is pretty similar,” he said Thursday. “Golf is an addiction, so is alcohol. And I’m learning - it’s taken me a few years to learn that I can’t think ahead, I can’t plan the future. A lot of times on a golf course I used to (say), ‘Well, if I get through these three holes I can get this par 5… .’ and you just can’t do that. So basically, it’s one day at a time and one shot at a time.”

“It’s very hard to do that, but it makes me a little more patient and more at ease with myself.”