Truth and Consequences

Filed in archive Golf News on October 30, 2007

John Daly finished off his 2007 season by withdrawing from the Ginn Sur Mer Classic on the weekend, giving no reason for his decision to quit after the third round. Of course, his scores were not good but at least he'd made the cut and was in line for some sort of pay cheque.

Goodness knows he could use the money; he only made 248 thousand and change this year and running that big motor home must eat through a huge chunk of change in fuel costs alone.

Looking back over the past five seasons, John Daly has withdrawn from 18 tournaments - and keep in mind he does not play in very many of them; he's certainly no Vijay Singh.

He has missed 48 cuts in that time, 10 of them in 2003. This year he missed 10 cuts, as well, while entering only 24 tournaments. In other words, he was cut in just about half the tournaments he entered.

As his career grows longer, his game does not get better. It remains up and down, like his life.

I am a big believer in the power of self; we create our own realities through the choices we make, the thoughts we think and the actions we generate. Daly is no exception. The successful players on tour have swing coaches, head coaches, trainers and physiotherapists; Daly proudly rejects all of that. Choices.

It's not that he wants to do it his way, because "doing it my way" contains a seed of effort and a desire to do well. It's just that John Daly doesn't really want to do it at all. I wonder if he'll ever confront himself and ask himself why?

Speaking of confrontations, the two Ryder Cup captains did a little "sparring" at the Muhammed Ali Centre in Louisville, Kentucky on Monday.

Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo have a little history between them, which they were careful to couch in amusing terms at their press conference.

But I have a growing feeling that, given Nick's still prickly nature and his penchant for shooting from the hip, by the time next year's Ryder Cup arrives, we'll have all the makings of 1999 all over again. I certainly hope not because there's far too much jingoism surrounding the Ryder Cup now, especially since Brookline.

The recent President's Cup offered up exciting golf and a dramatic finish without devolving into a war between nations. We get enough of the real thing in the daily news.