Daly Still Having Trouble Avoiding the Hazards

The memory of the conversation remains so vivid, even now nearly 17 years later. A small gaggle of reporters covering John Daly's up-from-nowhere breakthrough victory in the 1991 PGA Championship were interviewing his then girlfriend and future second wife, Bette Fulford, as Daly walked up the 18th fairway to complete his remarkable first major championship.

Standing in the scoring area near the 18th green at Crooked Stick in the Indianapolis suburbs, Fulford couldn't have been more pleasant and forthcoming. At one point, she told a few of us that she knew 25-year-old John had the talent to achieve greatness, as long as he stayed away from his good friend, Jim Beam, and other similarly intoxicating products.

"He likes to have a good time," she said that day, and her prophetic words have stayed with me ever since.

Daly, now 41, once again seems to be going through some very hard times. On the outside, it looks as if he's having a ball, pulling Tampa Bay Bucs Coach John Gruden out of his gallery to caddy for him at the Pods Championship in Tampa a few weeks ago. During a rain delay in the first round that same week, he was seen signing autographs and drinking beer with the fans in a Hooters hospitality tent. On Saturday after missing the cut, he was doing more of the same.

An Orlando Sentinel reporter and photographer caught up with Daly at a pro-am event in Celebration, Fla., the following week. In yet another hospitality tent Daly can't seem to stay away from, the newspaper reported that the Crown Royal was flowing freely at Daly's table, and also displayed a picture of Very Big John showing off his bare stomach to what appeared to look like a bunch of partying animals egging him on.

After the Tampa event, swing instructor Butch Harmon, who apparently had been helping Daly with his game in recent months, said very publicly that he was through with him. "The most important thing in his life is getting drunk," Harmon told the Associated Press. "I thought he made a circus out of the whole (Tampa) event."

Some in the golf business wondered why Harmon threw Daly under the bus like that and grumped that it was probably Butch being typical Butch, a career self-promoter who should have walked away quietly. Others viewed his comments as Harmon's attempt to smack Daly in the face with a reality-check and make him realize he really does need to get some help.

That has to be obvious to anyone who knows Daly, or ever sees him in public these days. He's been fighting personal demons ever since he burst onto the national golf scene back in '91, burned through millions of dollars at gaming tables worldwide, been married four times, smoked countless cartons of cigarettes, consumed untold gallons of his favorite distilled beverages (not to mention Diet Coke), put on 75 or more pounds and burned more bridges than a serial arsonist.

Over the years, all manner of responsible adults have tried to get him on the straight and narrow path that might lead him to greater golf glory, not to mention a more healthy, responsible life. The late Eli Callaway, founder of the world famous golf equipment company, rescued him once and told him he'd pay him a king's ransom to endorse his products as long as he went to rehab and stayed sober. That lasted about a week, and Daly walked away not only from the rehab facility, but a lucrative contract from Callaway and a genuinely concerned friend who truly wanted to see him succeed.

Former N.Y. Giants and Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Reeves tried to help him for many years, but now Daly seems far more enamored with another football guy in Gruden, who may be the latest to try to reform Daly, but certainly not the last.

The bottom line, of course, is that Daly is ultimately responsible for taking charge of his own life. But for many years he's been unable to get a grip and help himself.

The three constants through all of this have been the people who have represented him since his PGA Championship breakthrough. John Mascatello, Bud Martin and Terry Reilly have been his long-time agents in the SFX Golf sports management company that oversees his career. Martin mostly handles Daly's day-to-day affairs now, but all of them have taken criticism in the past for being Daly's primary enablers.