john daly, 81
He’s leading — by far — our poll for a captain’s pick on the Ryder Cup, but John Daly just about shot himself out of contention. Hal Sutton probably would not have picked him anyway (read in between the lines of his comments about playing well on the par 3s and 4s and making putts on the 18th), but JD gave Sutton the easy way-out with his opening day round of 81, which had a snowman 8 on the 18th hole.
I’m very sad for JD because, until yesterday, he had been playing so well and consistent. Two weeks ago, he finished 2nd to Vijay Singh. I would have loved to see him in the Ryder Cup. But it looks like, not this year.
Because I’m a JD fan, I need someone to blame. I could blame Hal Sutton, but it would be hard to the way Scott Verplank, Chris DiMarco, and others are playing at the PGA (Jay Haas looks like he will finish in the top 10 for the Ryder Cup on points). So I guess I have to blame the tournament hosts for suddenly switching 5 different tees to the “up” position, dramatically changing the yardage on those holes from the practice rounds. They changed the 18th hole to the up position, and John Daly decided to hit the 2-iron, when he probably hit driver all week. I know this is a bit of a stretch, and everybody had to adjust to same course, but sometimes neither life nor golf is fair to John Daly.
