Using cart ‘almost embarrassing’, says Daly
JOHN Daly said it had been almost embarrassing riding a cart in the PGA Championship first round at Bethpage Black, where he limped and puffed his way around the long and hilly course.
“It’s very awkward, to a point it’s almost embarrassing, but I love the PGA, and I feel like as past champion I belong to play ... I feel obligated,” the 1991 champion said after shooting five-over 75.
Daly, who has an arthritic right knee, was granted permission to ride under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), even though there are no cart paths at Bethpage, a walking-only public course.
He walked with a slight limp and said his knee was about the “size of a softball”.
Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo are among those not thrilled that Daly is being allowed to ride this week, but the 53-year-old from Arkansas remains a crowd favourite judging by the reception he received from the galleries.
Six-times Major champion Faldo said last week that walking was an “integral” part of being a professional golfer, while Woods on Tuesday noted that he won the 2008 US Open walking on a broken leg.
Daly was not allowed to park next to greens, instead having to leave his cart, which had a disabled sticker, in designated spots nearby.
His playing companions Rich Beem and Y.E. Yang, both also former PGA champions, reached the green long before Daly had parked his cart behind the grandstand and limped on to the putting surface.
“Doctors tell me I’m too young to get a knee surgery and get it replaced,” said Daly, insisting he would prefer to walk if he could.
He said he could only have managed about four holes at Bethpage without a cart, and that he would not play next month’s British Open unless granted permission to ride.
“I’m not one that wants to ride all the time,” he said.
“It’s just something that if I don’t, I’m not going to be able to play, I won’t be able to finish.” — Reuters