Daly having a blast in Baltray

JUST IMAGINE an errant schoolboy sent to the corner of the classroom. You’d expect him to stay there, contrite. Right? Not the so-called “Wild Thing”. For sure, John Patrick Daly, two-time major champion, isn’t one to sit patiently in the corner.

Banished for a spell from the US Tour for his misbehaviour, Daly – a substantially slimmer version having undergone laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery to reduce his intake of food and drink and who has consequently shed over four stone in weight – has decided to rehabilitate in Europe with the 3 Irish Open at Baltray the latest pit stop on his itinerary.

You can’t miss him. These days, the slimmed-down Daly is a clotheshorse for Loudmouth Golf. And, yesterday, before heading off to Clogher Head for some sea fishing, Daly – resplendent in bright orange and white checked trousers – couldn’t but be spotted amidst the dunes as he familiarised himself with the holes at Co Louth in a tournament which he hopes will provide another step towards regaining his former on-course glory.

Daly’s ban in the US came after he spent a night in jail after being found drunk outside a bar in North Carolina late last year, the last in a number of indiscretions that also saw him appearing shirtless in a television interview and hitting balls off a beer bottle top in a pro-am. Enough was enough for US Tour officialdom, who told him to take a break for a time.

The date for Daly’s scheduled return to competition in the United States is around the time of next month’s St Jude Classic, just before the US Open. Only he hasn’t heard for sure yet. “The deadline on it was Memphis, was the exact week that I would be able to come back, But I haven’t heard anything.”

So, America’s loss has been Europe’s gain. Daly has taken in tournaments in Spain and Italy (where he finished runner-up to Daniel Vancsik in the Italian Open on Sunday) which suggest he is far from a spent force in the game. Certainly, judging by the crowds following his every shot over the sand hills at Baltray yesterday in his practice round, the man who espouses the grip it-‘n’-rip it style of playing the game remains very high up in the popularity stakes with the golfing public.

Daly will return home to the US after the Irish Open, unsure of where he will be playing over the summer. “The thing for me is that I like to play three, four, five weeks in a row. I don’t like playing a week and taking two off. Tiger (Woods) is phenomenal at that stuff, but I’m more like Vijay (Singh). I like to play a lot of golf. The more I can play, the more I can get rhythm and consistency.”

He wants golf to be his salvation. The decision to undergoing the gastric band surgery was a drastic one, but it has helped reshape his body. He has gone from 20st down to 16, and falling, which is closer to his weight when he won the 1991 US PGA and the 1995 British Open titles.

“I love golf and I love to play the game and be very competitive, and that’s what keeps me going. I don’t know if this is the last chance or not . . . but I feel like I’ve got a lot of good play in me and a lot of good golf.

“I think losing weight is going to give me longevity on whichever tour I play.”

What Daly couldn’t have predicted was that he would become a fashion clotheshorse, albeit one for those with extreme tastes. “I didn’t realise it would get this popular. But, you know, it is something different. You think about it, in the 60s, 70s and 80s, this really is not different than what those guys wore. You look at Johnny Miller in his career, some of the slacks he wore were like this . . . it’s kind of old, the traditional stuff they used to wear. Our colours might be a little brighter, but we’re having a blast.”

Daly – grouped with Paul McGinley and England’s Olvier Wilson for the opening two rounds, teeing off at 12.50pm tomorrow – is looking forward to playing links golf again. “Any time you play golf, it’s not really the best ball-striker, you’ve got to have some luck . . . it’s not target golf, it’s more imagination golf, which I love to play.”

Importantly for Daly, it is his golf – and, ahem, his clothes – that have people talking about him rather than his drinking and gambling. That’s the way he’d like to keep it.

RYDER RESULT MONTY GETS THREE

EUROPEAN Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has been given a third wild card for next year’s match at Celtic Manor in Wales.

The Scot pushed for an increase on Europe’s two when the players’ committee met last night in Baltray.

The decision to grant him just one extra one, though, shows the importance still placed on trying to get the circuit’s stars to play in as many Tour events as possible.

Under the new system five players will still be selected from the European money list and four – rather than five – from the world ranking points gained in the 12-month qualifying period starting this September.

Montgomerie is expected to give a press conference today, but he said a few weeks ago: “Options are good and I would like a little more options than we have right now.”

He once commented that he would be in favour of picking the whole team like a soccer manager, but as a member of the players’ committee himself it is thought he was prepared to accept an increase of just one.