Different Strokes: John Daly needs work on his pitching, on the baseball mound

For the man whose grip-it-and-rip-it style earned him the moniker of “Long John” Daly, a venture into the world of baseball didn’t go to plan for the now 55-year-old who was given the honour of performing the first pitch at a Cardinals game against the Dodgers.

In St Louis to compete in the Ascension Charity Classic on the PGA Champions Tour, Daly – wearing a Cardinals jersey with the number 91 on the back (a throwback to his 1991 US PGA win) – took centre stage in Busch Stadium with the intention of mimicking his golf moniker by throwing the ball long into the crowd.

Except, he slipped . . . and he came up short with his throw as the ball failed to clear the spectator boundary fencing.

A laughing Daly quipped, “Now I know where you need cleats on that mound.” On retrieving the ball, he moved closer to the boundary fence and tossed the ball into the crowd. “Someone’s got to get it,” he said.

Different Strokes: Shane Lowry looking to seal Ryder Cup deal

---

Different Strokes: Going, going, gone for €333k – one Tiger Woods putter, never used

---

Different Strokes: Curtis Cup cohort lay down a Conwy marker

---

Different Strokes: World Invitational events continue to make giant strides

---

At least everyone in the crowd got to remember Daly in a different way: every spectator was presented with a John Daly bobblehead on entry as a memento.

As for the golf? Daly finished in tied-33rd, eight shots adrift of David Toms and Dicky Pride who went into sudden-death where Toms won at the first playoff hole.

Mehaffey out to blaze a trail in Portland

Olivia Mehaffey has secured a sponsor's invitation to play in this week's Cambia Portland Classic on the west coast of the United States as she aims to take her place alongside Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow on the LPGA Tour.

“So excited to play my first LPGA event in the US as a professional,” posted Mehaffey, who graduated with a master’s degree from Arizona State earlier this summer and who has already negotiated a route through stage one of the LPGA Tour’s qualifying school as she bids to secure a full tour card for the 2022 season. Stage two takes place in Florida next month.

Mehaffey’s professional debut on the main circuit came in last month’s ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle in Co Antrim, where she finished tied-17th.

Mehaffey and Meadow are in the field for the LPGA Tour stop in Portland, Oregon this week. However, Solheim Cup star Leona Maguire is not scheduled to resume playing until next week’s Walmart Arkansas Championship.

By the Numbers: 28.9/34.5

No mistaking the age differential in the two teams which will contest the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin next week: the USA has an average age of 28.9 years, while Europe – with four forty-somethings in the team – has an average age of 34 and a half years.

Word of Mouth

"I certainly had my heart set on Ian and Sergio being the hearts of the team, the soul of a Ryder Cup team. They have shown it and proved it in the past" – Europe captain Pádraig Harrington on why Poulter (who has lost just six of 22 matches he has played in the match, and unbeaten in singles) and Garcia (the all-time points record holder) were chosen as the heartbeat of his team.

Twitter Twaddle

Dreams do come true! Let's go @RyderCupEurope – Bernd Wiesberger (something of the forgotten man) on making the team by right.

So happy for this legend right here. Open Champ and one of the most in form players the last 6 months. He will be a force – European vice-captain Graeme McDowell, posting a pic of Shane Lowry, expecting big things of the Offalyman.

Absolutely delighted and very proud that @TheOpen is coming back to @royalportrush in 2025. Players and caddies loved it in 2019 and it will be another special week – Darren Clarke, who hit the opening tee shot two years ago, on the Dunluce links getting the 153rd Open.

On this day: September 14th, 2003

Retief Goosen had a roller-coaster final round before finally getting the job done to win the Trophee Lancome, at Saint-Nom-La-Breteche in Paris: the South African saw a five-stroke lead dwindle to just one shot during the closing round as Paul McGinley chased him down, only to recover to add a 70 to his previous rounds of 63-65-68-70 for a total of 18-under-par 266. McGinley ultimately finished four strokes back in solo second.

In lifting the trophy for the second time in four years, Goosen won for the fourth time in his career in France and for the first time that year since the birth of his son Leo: “My mind has been elsewhere. It takes your concentration away a bit from the golf course, all the changing nappies and sleepless nights. Travelling becomes a lot more difficult and carrying him around I get a stiff back.”

In the Bag: Billy Horschel - BMW PGA Championship

Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees)
3-wood: Titleist TSi2 (15 degrees)
5-wood: Titleist TSi2 (18 degrees)
Irons: Titleist 620 CB (3), Titleist 620 MB (5-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (52, 56 and 60 degrees)
Putter: Ping Sigma 2 Type 4
Ball: Titleist ProvV1x

Know the Rules

Q
In retrieving a coin from his pocket to act as a ball marker on the green, Player A drops the coin which then hits and moves the ball. Is there a penalty for such an action?

A
No. Rule 13.1d(1)/1 covers such scenarios where there is no penalty for accidental movement of ball or ball marker on the putting green.

In this case, if a player drops a coin – or, indeed, a club – hitting the ball and causing it to move, the ball must be replaced and there is no penalty incurred. If the exact spot from where the ball was moved is not known, it must be estimated.