MILLION DOLLAR DALY
His trousers steal the show at Senior Open
John Daly turned up for the Senior open pro-am yesterday wearing trousers laden with images of $100 bills and his one- liner ready when Sportsmail asked him about them.
‘I’ve got a lot of cash on me,’ he said, cackling.
Barely a week after going under the knife to relieve crippling osteoarthritis in his right knee that forced him to withdraw from last week’s open, he could not miss out on the home of Golf, too.
It was here, of course, where the 52-year-old won the open in 1995 to cement his legend and his love of playing in the Kingdom of Fife endures.
Daly pitched up at nearby Crail on Monday evening and never mind that his luggage was in transit and his golf clubs still on the way.
Given such circumstances, most players would have taken to Twitter to whinge about the useless airline in question but long John has always done things differently, as we know.
he stepped on to the first tee barefoot and played nine holes like that with clubs belonging to his friend and former European Tour player Simon hurd, who looks after Daly in the UK and who will caddie for him this week.
‘ Simon’s grips are so small in comparison to mine I kept topping the ball,’ said the man from arkansas, seemingly discounting the fact it might have had something to do with his lack of footwear. ‘I was so glad when my own stuff turned up on the eighth tee. I felt like a new man.’
The hope is the bone marrow taken from his hip and injected into his knee will also make him feel a new man, although it will not be this week. Given special dispensation to use a buggy in the pro-am, his hip was still burning as he came to the final holes.
‘The doc said it will be two to six weeks before that goes away and we’re only on day 10 today,’ he said.
Rather than walk 18 holes at the old Course today, he will use a buggy and play beautiful Kingsbarns instead. ‘It’s just such a struggle to walk 18 holes at the moment I don’t want to do it before it’s really necessary,’ he said.
When I asked how he thought he would cope with having to walk for four consecutive days from the first round onwards — assuming he makes the cut — he gave a very John Daly answer.
‘oh, I’ve not thought that far ahead, man,’ he said. ‘you know me. Day by day.’ The body may be failing him but, rather miraculously, the swing appears largely intact.
off the 18th tee, trademark cigarette in his mouth, he struck a lovely drive just short of the Valley of Sin. The putting stroke, alas, is a little more wristy than during his prime, when he was one of the best putters on tour.
‘he’s hitting it really well, and if he can get his putter working, he could actually contend,’ said hurd, the ideal positive foil.
at the other end of the golfing spectrum — way, way to the other end — there is Bernhard langer, the defending champion who at 60 is eight years older than Daly and who will start as favourite following his remarkable tied 24th finish last week at Carnoustie.
at every press conference he gives, the indefatigable German must get asked the same question — how on earth is he still so good, at 60? — but the answer is delivered with trademark politeness rather than weariness.
‘I’m still hungry to win more, and I still enjoy being in the hunt,’ said the winner of two green jackets and no fewer than 10 senior majors.