Like almost everyone else I know, I enjoy the apparently carefree way John Daly plays golf. I wince at the length of his backswing. I love those massive drives. I admire those deft little pitches and chips played so dreamily with those beautifully soft hands of his. And I can’t wait to watch him go for those shots no other pro would even contemplate.
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Or, at least, he should be. Sadly, the dominant aroma currently emanating from the ever-expanding Daly body is the unmistakeable stench of alcohol. While the late-great Walter Hagen was always one who preached taking time to smell the flowers along the way, it is by no means certain that even such a notorious party-animal as the Haig would recommend the same approach when it comes to Daly’s beery smelling breath. It’s safe to say, given the reported level of his recent indulgence on the ale front, that the two-time major champion could not pass any kind of driving test, on or off the course.
Speaking of which, a quick look at Daly’s most recent golfing numbers makes for pathetic reading. As his blood alcohol level has risen, so have his scores. In seven PGA Tour events so far this year he has turned into a walking – or should that be stumbling – acronym: three MCs taking their feeble place alongside a WD. Only twice has Daly partied on the weekend, at the Northern Trust Open, where he tottered to a tie for 75th place and in the Mayakoba Golf Classic, his teetering tie for 60th representing his best, or least bad, finish of the season. And now one is left wondering just what letters of the alphabet will be applied to Daly’s latest ‘shennanigan,’ a no-show at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Pro-am. My money is on ‘CNSBHO’ – Could Not Start Badly Hung Over.
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Still, for all that, there will be those who will cynically point to Harmon’s well-honed propensity for self-promotion as the primary motivation behind his involvement with someone who has had long and well-publicised battles with the bottle, bookies and bouncing buxom babes. And it is easy to suppose that had Daly managed to win or even contend under the Harmon tutelage, their split would not be happening.
Those, however, are lazy arguments, shot down by a closer analysis of Harmon’s interaction with Daly. For one thing, Butch could have taken the easy way out when the AP’s Doug Ferguson reached him for comment the other day. It would have caused a lot less fuss had Golf Digest’s number-one ranked instructor given some vague excuse regarding the real reason behind his departure from camp-Daly. But, it says here, on this occasion Harmon deserves much praise for his honesty and integrity. As someone who has had his own battles with alcohol, the Las Vegas-based coach will surely know that the last thing his former pupil needs right now is yet another flimsy justification to explain away his inability to defeat temptation. Downplaying his current condition would have done Daly no favors.
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The final straw in what was always going to be a volatile cocktail containing the strength of Harmon’s message and the weakness of Daly’s personality was the latter’s unscheduled visits to the Hooter’s tent located behind the 17th green at Innisbrook, site of last week’s PODS Championship. Not only did Daly spend more than two hours there during a first round rain-delay, he returned for more high jinks after missing the cut.
“I’ve let him know that, after his actions of last weekend, we are no longer together,” continued Harmon. “In all honesty, I’m a very busy person. I’m willing to help the kid, but until he helps himself and makes golf his number one priority, I’m not his guy.
“He would work hard and get better, but when things don’t go right, it’s back to the alcohol stuff. I love this kid. He’s a tremendous talent. But if he’s not going to give 100 percent effort, it’s a waste of my time.”
Harmon isn’t the first person to give up on Daly, of course. A string of sponsors has similarly thrown up their collective hands and walked away, amongst them club manufacturers TaylorMade, Callaway and Wilson. Right now, the only major backer the former Open and USPGA champion has left is the Winn Grip Company, for whom the slogan ‘grip it and sip it’ must, one imagines, have been given serious consideration.
How long that last corporate relationship will last is, of course, anybody’s guess. But the smart money will surely be on ‘not long, not long at all.’ Which is probably about the same amount of time Daly has left on the PGA Tour. Already into the second year of his existence on sponsor’s invitations, patience with his antics and unreliability must also be wearing thin. I mean, this is a man who, at the same time he was trying to get a free pass into this year’s Honda Classic was suing the tournament for a rib injury (when was the last time he located his ribs never mind felt them?) he sustained there last year.
Indeed, ‘erratic’ doesn’t begin to describe the depths to which Daly’s rock-and-roll-like lifestyle has sunk at times. Over the years we have been ‘treated’ to not only the drinking and the gambling, but the string of bimbo wives (one of whom has been jailed), the trashed hotel rooms, the excruciatingly embarrassing tell-all-and-a-bit-more-besides book, the ill-advised television show and the seemingly ever-increasing level of irresponsible behavior at tournaments. What the future holds, one shudders to think. I, for one, fear the worst.
