John Daly is out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational after missing his pro-am tee time.
That follows being fired by his coach Butch Harmon.
“My whole goal for him was he’s got to show me golf is the most important thing in his life,” Harmon said. “And the most important thing in his life is getting drunk.”
What Daly’s doing to himself is bad enough. What’s even worse about missing the Arnold Palmer tee time is that he cost two other players an opportunity:
Imada and O’Hern were alternates for the pro-am, and both thought they were assigned to the afternoon group. Instead, they were the first two names called when Daly didn’t show, and when neither was around, they also were disqualified from the $5.8 million event.
O’Hern lives only five minutes away at Isleworth and was furious to learn he would not be eligible.
“When I should have been on the tee, I was giving my girls breakfast,” O’Hern said. “I thought common sense would have prevailed. This is a tough one to take. Unfortunately, we got caught up in John’s snowball effect.”
Daly hasn’t had a tour card for two years and has been existing off sponsors’s exemptions. Rumors say that he’s millions in debt and has a serious alcolhol problem.
It’s sad to see such talent go to waste. I’m afraid that at the rate he’s going, it’s only a matter of time before he hurts himself or someone else.
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Uggh. I wish Daly would get it together. It does sound from his story (of course he denies responsibility in everything) that the mix-up this morning was a miscommunication on the tournaments part- but who knows? I wouldn’t doubt him being in debt- however, he did just buy a 1.6m house across the street from my club- which he will probably never play- he would probably drive 10 or so of our par 4s (we have 2 18s at our club). I would expect he might be out there hitting balls, but I haven’t heard of anyone seeing him there. (He also would drive off the end of our range onto a par 3 in the 350 yard range). The guys that I know that do know Daly think the world of him, but they don’t like his wife Sherrie at all.
As far as the alternates- that really sucks. Dude lives 5 minutes away? I understand the need for alternates being available, but if they are already scheduled for the afternoon- they shouldn’t be expected to be there all the time. The tour needs to put them on call with a reasonable 20-25 minute response allowed in something like this.
I remember that, Daly once claimed that he drank a fifth of Jack Daniel’s every day during the year he was 23 years of age, and the various reported incidents include being removed from a British Airways airplane by airport security for harassing a flight attendant while drunk. He has entered into various alcohol addiction programs, including the Betty Ford Clinic, at least three times, and has experienced three divorces since becoming a professional golfer.
Athlete doesn’t always has a healthy life.