An Interview With John Daly
EIGHTEEN years have now passed since an unheard of 25-year-old from Dardanelle, Arkansas, shook up the golfing world.
In the time that has passed since that USPGA victory at Crooked Stick, where the rookie started the week as the ninth and final alternate and ended it as a Major champion, John Daly has continued making more headlines than any other player in the game other than a certain Tiger Woods.
Many have been for the wrong reasons, plenty have been for the right but the 43-year-old is still going strong and, in recent months, stronger than ever.
Daly has been coming back from comebacks for a number of years but this time it feels different. For a start the two-time Major champion – he also captured the Open Championship at St Andrews in 2005 – has stopped drinking. He has also lost weight, a lot of weight.
There was little chance that someone who once said “there are probably some things I could do to keep my flexibility up but I’d rather smoke, drink Diet Cokes and eat“ was going to see the pounds drop off by exhaustive visits to the gym.
Instead Daly has turned to lap-band surgery, a procedure which involves a cord that goes to the stomach where the food goes in. Saline is then squirted into the band which fills up and tightens the tube. Over 80 pounds have already come off.
“I used to get tired during a round and wouldn’t have enough energy to practise afterwards. Now I can do more things. I got my band fitted again just before I came over to Turnberry so I have probably lost another 15 pounds and I‘m now down to 204,“ he explained.
Sitting with Daly it is only too obvious what a remarkable transformation he has made. A year previously, having slumped to a sorry second-round 89 at Birkdale, the general feeling was that he was finished. If anything things got worse as the year went on but, now, there is a healthy glow about him and a softly-spoken calmness.
For five or so days after having the band filled Daly will dine out only on soup and such like, other foods don’t stay down.
After a week he is able to stomach more solid foods. The first month was particularly hard but now he is relishing a new way of life.
As well as the new look, enhanced by a trouser sponsorship with Loudmouth Golf, the swing has also changed. To the untrained eye it might look the same as ever – long, languid and completely natural.
But, with the help of Phil Mickelson’s former coach Rick Smith, it has improved immeasurably.
“Now I’ve lost all the weight I can actually follow through again. Before I felt fat and I struggled to get on to my left side. Now, my finish is strong and I can get in front of the ball which makes you follow through which is a good tip for anyone.
“I tend to get a little quick and my swing speed’s a lot faster, maybe by five to six miles per hour so I’m working on getting the feel back into my game.”
One description of Daly that would not immediately spring to mind is that of a tinkerer. Bernhard Langer yes, John Daly no.
The popular misconception would be of him being presented with a set of clubs and then not bothering to change them for a number of years. This, though, is not the case.
"I am a big, big tinkerer. I am always looking at lies and lofts. It changes every week, a bit like the putter, I am always looking at the loft to suit different greens."
Recent results have been promising enough.
On his second start in Europe this year he tied for second behind Daniel Vancsik after shooting four rounds in the 60s. Better still, at the Open, he recorded just his second top-30 finish in a Major since 1997.
The year's first Major saw him selling memorabilia from his motorhome across the way from Augusta. Now he is contending again and is ready to win.
"I am hitting it a lot better than I’m scoring which is frustrating. If I putted like I did in the 90s, or for most of my career, I feel like I’d be winning again. I have got this new Heavy Putter now so I feel like I can make some putts."
The one thing that hasn’t changed throughout the years is Daly’s popularity, both with the fans and the players alike.
In his first tournament back, following his six-month suspension from the PGA Tour, at the St Jude Classic in June his peers lined up to greet him.
His caddy at Turnberry, Basil Van Rooyen, and friend of the past two decades is, like Smith, excited by what he sees.
“I have known John for 20 years since he played on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa. He is working very hard and is trying to make a bit of a comeback and I think he is on the right track.
“His attitude is very good, much better than it was and he is in good shape. He gives a lot and people took advantage of him but he is a wiser man now and is looking after his body and it’s great to see.”