ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - There is power in the spirits that inhabit the Old Course, enough Thursday to resurrect the magic in the long lost game of an adopted son.
The U.S. may have tired of John Daly's act, but once an Open champion, always an Open champion. Here it is always 1995 for Daly and his followers, and here he was Thursday, gripping and ripping the driver to the tune of a 6-under 66.
"He said on the flight over, 'I'm going to win this tournament,'" said girlfriend Anna Cladakis, who followed him wearing a purple paisley skirt to match his purple paisley pants.
"There's just something peaceful about this place," Daly said. "You don't really think about it too much. It's just more of a place whether the wind is blowing 50 miles and hour or it's a calm day like today. ... It's just one of those places that I just love."
The love is reciprocal.
The galleries adore him. So do two young Scots, Scott Macfarlane and James Hair, who held placards just outside the barriers on 18. One said, "John Daly Living Legend," the other "Daly for President" on one side, "The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment," on the other, with an 'X' drawn through a picture of wrestling legend The Rock.
The R&A wouldn't allow them to carry the signs onto the course - "I reckon that's for Tiger," said a disappointed Macfarlane.
"He's a great role model," said a straight-faced Hair.
That may be debatable, but there's no question that if Daly can carry this through, it would be a remarkable comeback.
The round was Daly's best since the 2007 Frys.Com Open in Scottsdale, where he shot 63 and tied for 44th. It beat any round he shot in winning the Claret Jug in '95 and equaled his best-ever Open round at Sandwich in '93, where he tied for 14th. Daly hit driver on every hole but two, with 1-irons on Nos. 1 and 7. If he didn't have a wedge in his hands, he was putting onto greens from 40 yards out.
"I feel the game is coming around and when I'm hitting the driver the way I am right now, it brings confidence," he said. "I haven't been in this position in a long, long time."
Between his self-induced problems and his more recent struggles with a rib injury, Daly has been more sideshow than anything else. He endured a PGA Tour suspension in '09, taking refuge in Europe.
Now, at 44, he insists he has "learned a lot." And at least he looks more presentable, down to 195 pounds after lap-band surgery.
"I just can't eat as much of the bad crap as I used to," he said. "The thing I miss most about having the band put in is I can't drink...whole milk. I used to drink half a gallon of that a day. When you used to be as hung over as I used to be, it was great. Got rid of everything."
The media center erupted in laughter at that one. It probably explains the affection for him.
Daly was so low that at San Diego this year, he spoke about giving up the game.
"But I love the game too much," he explained Thursday. "A lot of guys have said it. I was the idiot who said it on TV."
Now that "idiot" has a chance to win the British Open... again.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2010/07/15/2010-07-15_plenty_love_st_andrews_john_daly_former_british_open_champ_opens_6under_66.html#ixzz0tr9uONLZ
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