St Andrews revisited: John Daly
This week's Open marks the 150th year since the tournament began as play returns to St Andrews, where some of the most unforgettable competitions in the history of the major have taken place. All this week, we revisit some of the greatest moments at the Old Course.
John Daly
John Daly's 1991 win at the PGA is truly the stuff of legends - or implausible Hollywood movies, perhaps. But in a sense, the big man's victory at St Andrews four years later was more improbable still, the burly American being written off in every quarter after failing to impress on the PGA Tour following that first major victory.
In fact, the sense that Daly was in serious danger of going off the rails was well deserved. Daly -struggling with alcohol issues as well as a general self-destructive streak - had already served two PGA Tour suspensions for quitting tournaments after becoming frustrated with his poor play. When he ventured to St Andrews in '95, the man's game already seemed to be in irreversible decline.
Daly's previous record at the Open didn't augur well either, the Californian's best previous result coming in 1993 when he finished tied for 14th - a year later he could only finish in 81st place, having placed 75th during his first visit in '92.
Still, somehow the American briefly recaptured his spark in Scotland. Daly had revelled in his unapologetically oafish persona here, typically busying himself between shots by eating donuts, smoking cigarettes and making barely coherent statements like: "I hate them rules and c**p," when asked if he would consider joining the R&A (the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews).
But amusingly vulgar behaviour aside, Daly also battled admirably over the four days to claim his second major. He ate up the St Andrews yardage with the same irrepressible appetite he had for junk food, Daly's trademark huge hits finding the fairways with impressive accuracy - he hit only five bunkers during the course of the entire tournament. Daly's putting was also a revelation, the player two-putting from 180 feet on the 12th during Friday's round.
On Sunday his game showed signs of disintegration. Three ahead and with three to play, mistakes were creeping in, Daly bogeying the 16th and 17th to offer Italy's Constantino Rocca a way back in. Indeed, Rocca briefly ousted Daly from the limelight with a combination of the ridiculous and the sublime - a terrible, mis-hit chip to the green on the 18th that flew only five yards before rolling a further 30 and left Daly and co already celebrating the win - followed by a killer 60-foot putt that tied the game, and left Rocca flat on the ground, his hands pounding the turf in disbelieving joy.
That putt was Rocca's last act of brilliance however, the Italian failing to shine over the extra four holes that were used in the play-off, Rocca finding himself five behind Daly on the fourth extra hole, the 18th, where Daly made a routine par to take the victory. The American may have been dead last of those who made the cut at his previous Open, but almost unthinkably he had captured one of golf's greatest honours at the game's oldest course, doing so with a finesse that belied his coarse manner.
Daly would never again hit these heights, but at St Andrews he was controlled and assured, offering a glimpse of the player he could have been, perhaps, if he'd ever been able to rein in his more damaging instincts.
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