Instead of capturing his first tournament win since the 1995 British Open at St Andrews, John Daly was forced to settle for a share of fifth place behind Bob Estes in the Fed-Ex St Jude Classic at Southwind, near Memphis on Sunday. But the one-time "Wild Thing" still saw his performance as greatly encouraging.
Daly, who remains a major draw, shot rounds of 69, 65, 63 and 73 to be four strokes adrift of Estes. "I can feel my game coming back," he said. And there was much to admire in his play, especially a glorious three-iron into the long 16th to set up a simple, two-putt birdie on Saturday.
In a game in which many American players can look like college clones, Daly has always stood out as a competitor with a different, more human side to him. And the fact he seems to be keeping a notoriously volatile temperament in check, makes him equally popular with tournament sponsors.
He was top of the leaderboard for a spell on Sunday but began to slip away when an over-zealous tee-shot finished through the green and in water at the short 11th. And later, needing no more than a six-iron second shot at the long 16th, the best he could do was a par when he overshot the green there too.
The cheque for $127,750 which he collected for his weekend labours, was badly needed by a player with an extremely complicated love-life and who has squandered valuable contracts with such leading companies as Callaway, Reebok and Wilson. And coming into this year, he had won less than $1 million in the last five seasons.
He has now amassed $449,775 in tournament winnings so far this year. Interestingly, the most official earnings Daly ever managed in a season was back in 1991, when victory in the USPGA Championship at Crooked Stick helped him to reach $574,783. But a considerable bonus is the fact his British Open triumph ensures him exempt status on the US Tour until the end of 2005.
Daly has only four tournament victories to his credit - the 1991 USPGA, 1992 BC Open, 1994 BellSouth Classic and 1995 British Open. This gives him the best major-to-regular-tour-event victory ratio since Andy North, whose three tournament victories comprised the 1977 Westchester Classic, along with US Open triumphs in 1978 and 1985.
Meanwhile, Daly decided last year that instead of flying to tournament sites, he would purchase a large mobile home which he drives to many events. And it seems that he still finds time to play the guitar. Perhaps he and the rather serious Estes should get together, given Sunday's winner lists music among his interests.
