Old Story, New Chapter: John Daly Reaches Weekend at Turnberry

TURNBERRY, Scotland -- John Daly is a professional pitchman now, selling the goofy pants, sport drinks, bags, grips, even lap-band weight loss surgery.

"If anyone wants to lose weight without working out ...,'' he said Friday.

It's no get-rich quick scheme for Daly, but instead just a way to survive the next month, day, hour, minute. He has to sell himself, too, and that will work. It always does. And then he fails and starts over.

Here's the news: He made the cut at the British Open Friday at Turnberry, shooting 2-over for the day, even-par for the tournament. He's five strokes out of the lead. And it's the first time he has survived the cut at the Open since 2005, and just the third time since 1996.

"Really?'' said Daly, who won the Open in 1995. "I didn't know that. I didn't know I was that bad.''

He has clearly re-committed himself, and now he has success. Is it a sign of his progress? He has lost the weight -- albeit without working out -- has a new girlfriend, a new coach, and even has had some minimal success on the European tour, where he was relegated after the PGA Tour suspended him for embarrassing behavior. Something about fat-faced, orange-jump suited mugshots after being passed-out drunk.

So is this the new John Daly? Well, the old story of John Daly always requires a new John Daly to emerge.

New starts. Fresh looks. He has re-committed himself so many times that he's like the old joke about quitting smoking: It's easy. I've done it a million times.

"I'm in the recession like everyone else, man,'' he said. "It's brutal. And Obama is not doing much better, and I don't think he will. It's just the way it is. It's the way all over the world right now.

"It's tough, and hopefully we will all just get through it somehow.''

I lost track there. Was he talking about himself or politics and the economy?

Daly doesn't make any promises about the future. He knows not to do that.

He hopes he can earn his card back on the PGA Tour, so he can play in the States. He plays in Europe, where he gets appearance fees. He needs money, and it's not really because of the recession. He knows that. It's because of him.

"Shagadelic, but a different color.'' That's how Daly described the pants he will wear on Saturday. And on Sunday, "Pants the same as the golf bag.''

So that should set his hotel drapes at ease.


He said it's not hard to match shirts with the wild pants he has been pushing because "I've got five or six shirts that match all of `em. Early round, you just pick one.''

And you don't even need, someone said, to turn on the lights. "No, you don't.''

Daly said the pants are selling and that people like them. While following him around the course Friday, I heard fans laughing at them, "Nice pants,'' and "Well, he sure makes a statement, anyway.''

Daly talks comfortably about the things he's selling, starting one paragraph with, "We've got the gloves out again, and we just did the deal with Gripmaster. All Sport came out with a drink that there's no carbohydrates, no sugar ... ''

And if you think he's living on his big name, well you're right. His appeal has always been that he's just a regular guy in a country club sport. But while the name gives him chances, they aren't big-dollar deals.

He can't get those anymore. Not yet.

"We're having fun with the stuff I'm doing,'' he said. "I don't have any guaranteed money on the deals. It's all royalties, like the belt deal with Drew. It's nice to start ground up and get something going.''

That's what he's doing with himself again, too, starting from ground up.

Daly seems in control now, but that comes and goes like the weather at Turnberry.

Daly wants to come back to the PGA Tour. He said he hasn't been handed many exemptions, free passes into U.S. events, but that that was understandable. The tournament directors, he said, have tended to give the exemptions to local players.

I think it's more about Daly. He is a guaranteed drawing card in a game that is feeling the recession. If he's not getting invitations, then it's out of fear of what he'll do.

"I'm just so blessed that I won two majors,'' he said. "It's helped me (get into European events).''

Talking with Daly, you see why he's likable. Everything is an open book with him.

He also pitches the lap-band procedure: "I can actually bend over now and read a putt. Before, I couldn't even bend over. I fell over, I was so fat.''

So he's back again, trying to earn an honest buck and make an honest effort at getting his life together. But he has failed so many times that he has a hard time finding somewhere to play, and isn't paid up-front when he finds something to sell.

Daly tries to find consistency in his life, starting all over.

Again.

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