Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Your Daly dose of entertainment
Golf personality’s still big draw at Allianz.
BOCA RATON — John Daly’s work week began as you might expect Wednesday afternoon on the practice putting green at the The Old Course at Broken Sound. He putted left-handed while holding a plastic cup in his right hand that he’d drink from.
“Gotta be the hard stuff,” a fan said, though Daly answered it was soda.
Daly paused to talk with two shortkilted women working at the nearby Tilted Kilt Pub tent. The sight caused veteran golfer Colin Montgomerie to laugh between putts and say something about, “... we’re working here.”
Daly then went to the No. 7 tee — where his Pro-Am event began ahead of this weekend’s Allianz Championship — and smoked a cigarette while waiting for his amateur teammates. He signed a few autographs and took the kind of odd questions he’s accustomed.
“John, you coming out with another album?” a fan asked, referring to his “I Only Know One Way” country album in 2002. “No,” Daly said. “Ah, I really liked that,” the fan said. John Daly at 50. Nothing’s changed. Some wondered if his hard-charging life
would get him this far in life. Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller offered him $150,000 if he made it to 50, which Daly most certainly did last April, even if he doesn’t quite add the years that way.
“I’m only 18 with 32 years of experience,” he said.
It’s a good line. Daly tees it up regularly, like in Wednesday’s media session that lasted three minutes. That saved everyone time. Daly doesn’t want to talk about what’s on his mind and certainly not the cartoon character he’s created.
Golf fans just want what they always do — a few big hits and a few good laughs. His pro-am foursome showed that much. They were business officials from Houston and Denver who flew here just for this. For him. For these next few hours.
“This is gonna be fun,” one of them, Scott Willey of Houston, said.
That’s it, right? That’s always been the one and only point with Daly. If you wanted to have fun, wouldn’t Daly be in your dream foursome? (Bill Murray and Vince Vaughn would round it out, of course).
Two of these Pro-Am players even wore the sobright shorts from Daly’s “Loudmouth” clothing line. (Daly wore Loudmouth pants that were startling in their brightness.)
Daly and the four amateurs started talking on the tee. The conversation somehow shifted to Daly saying he didn’t use Obamacare, then it meandered to the edges of something serious about healthcare.
“We’ve got 18 holes to come up with a plan for Donald,” Daly said.
Everyone laughed. That’s what Daly brings to the party, which always seems to break out around him. He brings that and the part of the game that involves no subtlety to understand. Tour veteran Scott Hoch hit a monster tee shot on the 10th tee ahead of Daly’s group.
“See if you can get there — with your iron,” Hoch said.
Daly pulled out his new driver and needed 280 yards to clear the water. He hit it into the middle of the fairway — 315 yards — which caused the Houston and Denver business execs to fist-pump him.
“Grip it and rip it,” one said.
That’s still Daly’s way, right? Or that’s the way you want it to be, even if Daly’s body is thicker, his face wears his age on it and he hasn’t cracked the top 10 of the 16 senior events he’s played so far.
It says something that Daly, the most popular player on the Champions Tour, and Tiger Woods, still the king of golf, don’t win anymore and it doesn’t dent their popularity. What it says is reputation is a current you can ride on for years in golf. Maybe forever.
It’s a good life in that regard. Daly understands it nearing the end of his first calendar year on the Champions Tour.
“It’s the only sport that can really do it,” Daly said of playing at 50. “You see a lot of NBA guys going to China for a new life. They love NBA over there. And you see a lot of tennis over there, too.
“So the tennis guys and the NBA guys who retire are making some pretty good living. But it’s really golf that’s the only sport that you can really stay competitive.”
It’s certainly the only one you can deliver fun at 50. Look at Daly. Look how people react to him. He’s not offering much of his thoughts, or winning at all, but no one fills the script of fun in golf better than him.
“I’m only 18 with 32 years of experience.” John Daly