King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Legendary screw-up John Daly DQ'd from Arnold Palmer's tournament, but he's not the only one. Plus: Bob Knight on ESPN. And: The bogus lost-productivity estimate returns.
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March 13, 2008 | I never write about golf, but don't worry, links fans. It's not because I don't think golf is a sport.
It's because I don't think golf is a sport and I don't think it's interesting.
But I'm amused by this John Daly thing. Everyman's favorite golfer missed his tee time at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Pro-Am Wednesday, which caused him to be disqualified from the main tournament, starting Thursday.
This happened the day after Daly was fired by his swing coach, which is kind of backward for how these things usually happen. Butch Harmon, who's a big wheel in those circles, said Daly is more interested in getting drunk than in playing golf, which sounds reasonable to me but I guess wouldn't if I were a swing coach, or if my client were an alcoholic, which Daly is.
Harmon ditched Daly following last week's PODS Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla. Daly waited out a rain delay in the Hooters tent, then had Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden caddie for him when play resumed, which Harmon said "made a circus out of the whole event."
Now I ask you. What's more fun, a golf tournament or a circus? This is why golf fans love John Daly. Of course, if he were getting trashed on cocaine instead of liquor it would be why golf fans hate him. And I wonder if he'd be seen as such a jolly character if he were a self-destructive alcoholic who was black.
After missing the cut, Daly spent Saturday in the Hooters tent too, drinking and signing autographs.
Now here comes the funny part of the story. That wasn't the funny part yet.
The Associated Press reports that a PGA rules official -- not Daly -- said that Daly had called Palmer's Bay Hill Golf Club to ask for his Wednesday tee time and was told 9:47 a.m. That was actually his Thursday tee time. His Wednesday time was 8:40. He was just arriving at the course when officials told him he was late and disqualified.
PGA rules say that a player who misses the Wednesday pro-am without a valid excuse, such as an injury, is disqualified from the main tournament. But evidently being told the wrong tee time isn't a valid excuse. Daly must have talked to the wrong person. "I should have looked into it," he said.
After Daly was disqualified, not one but two alternates got dinged because they weren't there. Ryuji Imada and Nick O'Hern thought they were alternates for the afternoon, but they were wrong. When they weren't around to take Daly's spot, they were out as well.