EUROPEAN TOUR:FORMER BRITISH Open champion John Daly has again insisted his drinking is not out of control, and he vowed: "I'll be back."

The 42-year-old American, in Europe for the next two weeks trying to end a slump which has seen him crash to 595th in the world, also said he had received an apology from Butch Harmon over comments made by his former coach earlier this season.

Harmon stopped working with Daly, without a top-10 finish for three years, saying: "The most important thing in his life is getting drunk."

That followed an incident when Daly spent time during a rain delay in a hospitality tent and then resumed play with the coach of the local gridiron team carrying his bag.

Daly, who is playing in the Spanish Open in Seville starting today and then next week's Italian Open in Milan, said that happened because his regular caddie had a neck problem.

"Butch didn't have his facts straight. We've spoken since and he has apologised to me.

"He said he didn't realise and he felt bad about it. I told him I'd lost a K-Mart deal - that was going to be big with shirts, hopefully going into 1,400 stores - and that he'd cost me quite a bit of money with the stuff that he said.

"My marketability went down. It was just rumours, rumours, rumours that just weren't true, and Butch seemed to believe them without talking to me.

"The coach was great for the tournament. I shot one over for those six holes, which was better than I was doing.

"Off the course it's just been really weird. It's been pretty much a bunch of lies written and it's been pretty sad. I'm used to it by now. I've lived my life with it.

"I am fine. Yeah, there was drinking involved, but that does not mean I am drinking.

"The assumption my whole life has been that no matter where I go I end up drinking every night, but I am not. I will turn it on when I am home with my buddies - who wouldn't? - but at tournaments I hardly ever drink, if at all.

"The people around me know I am doing the right things. The hard work will pay off pretty soon - I will be back, and I want the fans to know that. I will be back."

By that he means winning. His last victory was the 2004 Buick Invitational in California.

A torn stomach muscle has not helped, but it is his putting that Daly feels has been letting him down. "It has to come around - I've put so much effort into it and now I've just got to go out and freewheel with it somehow.

"I've always loved the European Tour. I've always felt confident here, even at the British Open. The guys make you feel that way. I think there is a lot more camaraderie over here than our tour, where it's more 'to each his own'."

Darren Clarke, a winner again at last himself in China, will partner him in the first two rounds, and the field also includes Colin Montgomerie, back after getting married again two weeks ago.

Clarke yesterday gave an extra reason why he enjoyed his win in Shanghai so much.

He still remembers a journalist wrote last year that he was "continuing his inexorable slide towards oblivion".

"I can take criticism when criticism is due, but there was no call for that," Clarke said. "It was totally gratuitous and it's nice to prove them wrong."

Clarke is joined in the field by Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy.

SPANISH OPEN
Course:Real Club de Golf de Sevilla. Designed by José-Maria Olazábal, staged 2004 World Cup.
Length:7,140 yards. Par: 72.
Prizemoney:€333,330 to the winner.
Field:156. Includes the world's top ranked amateur, Danny Willett of England, having won the Spanish Amateur Championship.
Defending champion:Charl Schwartzel of South Africa.
First played:1912. In 1971, Dale Hayes of South Africa became the youngest winner on the European Tour: 18 years and 290 days.
Irish winners:Eddie Polland 1976, 1980. Eamonn Darcy 1983. Padraig Harrington 1996.
On TV:Sky Sports 1, 10.30-12.30, 15.30-17.30.c
Weather:clear, 27C