John Daly Will Smash Your Camera Against a Tree if You Get Too Close

Good news is fleeting when you're John Daly. His life -- to borrow a phrase from Stuart Appleby -- has been a train wreck, which makes his two major championship victories all the more impressive. Those days are in the rearview, and Daly, who hasn't had his PGA Tour card in more than two years, is just trying to find his game.

A strong showing in Hong Kong last month was a good start, but, well, that didn't last.

Daly's competing in the Australian Open this week, and his 6-over, 78 in Round 1 wasn't just your run-of-the-mill bogey-filled performance. Nope, in addition to the on-course atrocities, JD also found time to take out his frustrations on a spectator.

After pushing his tee shot wide on the ninth hole - his last - Daly walked into a clump of trees, where spectator Brad Clegg tried to take a picture at close range.

Daly snatched the camera and smashed it against the nearest tree, telling the man, ``You want it back, I'll buy you a new one.''

But before you just assume the worst (lookin' at you, Stu), Daly can explain:

``I was looking to take a drop and a camera was 6 inches away from my face. If I was 10 under, I would have felt the same,'' Daly said in the brief statement. ``My eyes are still burning from the flash of the camera.

``I feel it was very rude to put a camera that close to somebody's face in any situation. The guy that had the camera had already taken a dozen shots at close range.'

I'm with Big John on this one. Maybe the rules are different at the Aussie Open, but on the PGA Tour, being caught with a camera on your person at a tournament, is a fine punishable by death (or worse, Steve Williams). And if Daly needed more incentive to earn his tour card, there it is.

To JD's credit, he did offer to buy Clegg a new camera, which, given the circumstances, is quite generous. And unlike the '99 U.S. Open, when his frustrations got the best of him, according to the AP, "Without saying another word, Daly took his penalty drop, finished the hole with a bogey and stormed off the course immediately after signing his card."

Hey, that's progress.

Also, this is my nomination for best Getty Images caption ever: "Spectator Brad Clegg (R) looks for his camera after it was thrown against a tree by John Daly (L) of the USA on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2008 Australian Open at The Royal Sydney Golf Club on December 11, 2008 in Sydney, Australia."