John Daly is slimmed down and fired up for Hollywood
By Jay Busbee
www.yahoosports.com
As one golf star falls, another rises.
For the past two decades, the name "John Daly" has been synonymous in golf circles with the kind of lifestyle better suited to country music than the soft piano tones you hear on every golf telecast. He could grip it and rip it better than anybody on Tour, and played his way into two majors, but off the course his life was one long speed down a dark highway with the lights off.
Daly hit rock bottom around this time last year. He was found passed out outside a North Carolina Hooters, and later smashed a fan's camera while playing in Australia. The PGA Tour suspended him for six months, and it looked like the long, hard road of golf's most famous party animal was about to end in an ugly fashion.
But then Daly did something nobody would ever have expected -- and considering what he'd done in the past, that's saying something:
He cleaned up. And now he might be going Hollywood.
Daly, as the photos above indicate, has shed well over 100 pounds in the last year as a result of lap-band surgery, and he's now a slim, trim 185. He's talking about writing a new book, and at a press conference Tuesday prior to the Australian PGA, he noted that he'd also like to see a movie made of the insanity that has been his life, both on and off the course.
He's already thought about who would play him in the movie. He recommended pal Kevin James for the "before" version. And for the "after"? "I just saw Matt Damon, how he swung a golf club, and I thought if I ever made a movie, I want him to be me," Daly said.
"The problem is, who is going to play all the ex-wives?" Daly laughed. He has four ex-wives whom he immortalized in a song, "All My Exes Wear Rolexes."
Daly's in the middle of a yearlong redemption tour. In addition to playing well at the British Open -- he made the cut where Tiger Woods didn't -- he's now back in Coolum, Australia at the site of one of his most famous blowups. In 2002, he carded a triple-bogey 7 on the 18th hole, then threw his ball and putter into the lake and stormed off without signing his scorecard, disqualifying himself from the tournament. He was fined nearly $6,000 by the Australasian PGA Tour and ordered to write an I'm-sorry letter. It doesn't look like Daly will be producing those kinds of sparks this weekend, but that's probably for the best.
Daly may no longer have the biggest waistline on tour, but he's still -- sappy sports metaphor coming -- got one of the game's biggest hearts. He donned pink pants in support of Phil Mickelson's wife Amy in her fight against breast cancer earlier this year. And Tuesday, he took a not-so-subtle shot at players like Jesper Parnevik who have criticized Woods for his alleged off-course behavior: "I'm not too happy with what some of the players have said. Without him our tour would not survive as what it is when Tiger plays."
Whether or not Woods returns any time soon, it looks like Daly is back to stay. And that's very good for golf indeed.
Prepare for a new John Daly book, then the movie?
www.golf.com
COOLUM, Australia (AP) — Now that John Daly has his weight problem sorted out, he figures a movie about his up-and-down career - and life - might not be far behind.
Just before heading out to the revamped Hyatt Regency resort course for a practice round ahead of the Australian PGA, the slimmed-down Daly, who has lost 115 pounds, entertained an early morning news conference Tuesday with his cinematic plans based on a new book he would write himself.
He nominated "King of Queens" star Kevin James as the actor who might play him before his weight loss, and ahead of February's lap-band surgery.
And who'd play the now-185 pound Daly?
"I just saw Matt Damon, how he swung a golf club, and I thought if I ever made a movie, I want him to be me," Daly said. "The tough part is who would play me at 290 pounds. Now Kevin James, he's my bud, but he'd be good."
When asked what the main storyline might be, he said: "It would just be the life, it would be the whole thing. The guts of it all."
"The problem is who is going to play all the ex-wives?" added Daly, who has four ex-wives, to laughter.
The most recent book about his life, "John Daly, My Life in and Out of the Rough," was published in 2006.
Daly's trip Down Under this year has been better than last, when he failed to qualify for the weekend in all three Australian events, the Open, PGA and Masters. He didn't play this year's Australian Masters, won by Tiger Woods.
He made the cut at last week's Australian Open, then shot 78 in the third round at New South Wales Golf Club. But he rebounded with a 1-under 71 in the final round and finished tied for 28th, 17 strokes behind winner Adam Scott.
"I feel I got a lot more out of last week that I thought I would," Daly said. "I hit my irons better. The short game is not real good but there are some good things coming out of it."
The Hyatt Regency resort course at Coolum was the scene of one of Daly's most famous meltdowns.
Ini 2002, after taking a triple-bogey 7 on his last hole, Daly threw his putter and ball into a greenside pond and later failed to sign for a 78 on his scorecard, disqualifying himself from the tournament.
He was later fined $5,600 by the Australasian PGA Tour and was ordered to write a letter of apology to a tour official he verbally abused.
This year at Coolum, Daly and others in the field, which includes Scott and defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, will play a redesigned course with six new holes, including a par-5 first that is guarded by water along the left side of the fairway and in front of the green.
Five holes situated between a nearby coast road and the Pacific Ocean on the original course, which was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., have been earmarked for resort development.
Before he left for his practice round, Daly took a swipe at players who have criticized Woods for his recent marital problems.
"I'm not too happy with what some of the players have said," Daly said. "Without him our tour would not survive as what it is when Tiger plays. I just hope for him and (wife) Elin that they get through it."
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