On Her Way Back : With Injury Behind Her, Golf Has Become Fun Again for Beth Daniel

Beth Daniel couldn’t remember the last time she had an interview at 8 in the morning. Actually, she couldn’t remember the last time she had an interview, period.

“I used to have requests for interviews every day,” Daniel said. That was when she was winning. Ironically, it was also when she was more shy and less comfortable talking with people she didn’t know.

“In the last year and a half, I’ve probably had four requests,” she said. “It’s been quite a change.”

When the birdies stop falling, the press stops calling.

Coming into this week’s LPGA Kyocera Inamori Tournament at the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, the thin 5-foot 10-inch, 28-year-old hasn’t won a tournament in 1 1/2 years.

She has been hampered by a back injury, problems with her swing and the pressure of continually wondering if this will be her week.

“I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself,” Daniel said with a determined grin, “but the pressure of coming out of a so-called slump is immense.

“I almost feel like a rookie again in wanting to win.”

Daniel has competed in eight tournaments this year, and her top finish was a tie for fourth in the Women’s Kemper Open in March. She shot a three-under-par 285, and finished in a tie for 11th place in the Dinah Shore Tournament last week.

“I felt like I could have won last week,” Daniel said, “and I haven’t felt that way for a long time.

“Golf is beginning to become fun again. Now, I’m able to hit some shots that I wasn’t hitting, and that makes it exciting.”

There was a time when hitting exciting shots was second nature for Daniel.

From 1979 to 1982, she won 12 tournaments, and overtook Nancy Lopez as the young shining star on the LPGA tour.

Winner of the Rookie of the Year award in 1979, Daniel went on to lead the LPGA tour in earnings in ’80 and ’81. In 1982, she became the first woman golfer to win more than $200,000 for three consecutive years.

She reached the three-quarter million mark in earnings faster than any woman golfer in history.

With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why the past 2 1/2 years, and particularly the past 1 1/2, have been torture for her.

“It has been a very rough time for me,” Daniel said. “When I played poorly, I began to have a lower impression of myself. I thought maybe I was a bad person. I know it’s kind of stupid.”

Sort of indicates how much golf means to the soft-spoken woman from Charleston, S.C.

Daniel is a self-proclaimed golfoholic who has tasted success. And she wants another taste.

“There have been a few times when I wished somebody would find me a second career,” Daniel said, “but it would be very hard for me to quit on a down note.”

Her last really up note was at the McDonald’s LPGA Kids Classic in Malverne, Penn. in July, 1983. That was her last victory.

In 1984, she won $94,284, and she finished in the Top 10 in four major tournaments, but she didn’t win.

Not winning was not only hard for Daniel to accept. It was hard for her to believe.

“After I started playing well, I never thought I would go a year without winning,” she said. “I didn’t think I could have a worse year. Then 1984 was worse.”

In the past couple of years, back has become a key word in Daniel’s vocabulary.

Back as in coming back, and back as in having a healthy back.

The week after her victory in the Kids Classic, Daniel’s back went completely out. Suddenly, the All-American girl with a powerful swing couldn’t touch her toes.

“At the time, I thought I’m 27 years old and I have back problems,” she said. “It was only natural to feel a little sorry for yourself. Then, I figured that wouldn’t do me any good in the long run.”

Self pity was replaced by rest, a period of five weeks when Daniel admitted she got very antsy.

As soon as she got the doctor’s approval to start playing again, she did. In her first tournament, she lost in a playoff to Pat Bradley in the Columbia Savings Classic at the Columbine Country Club in Denver.

The back injury recurred last spring, and Daniel was forced to miss four weeks on the tour.

This time, Daniel realized she might need more than rest. She went on a six-day a week flexibility testing and weight-lifting program.

“At the first tournament this year, I felt stronger than I’ve ever felt,” Daniel said.

Her back was feeling better, but she still wasn’t back in the winner’s circle.

“I sort of tried everything and anything to make my golf better,” Daniel said.

She saw a sports psychologist, switched golf pros and switched caddies. She said the psychologist was helpful and an interesting experience, the pros enabled her to improve her swing, but neither had the impact of her caddies.

Daniel has always maintained a very close relationship with her caddie. Each of Daniel’s three caddies were married at the time they worked with her, and she insists on maintaining a close businesslike relationship with them.

“The caddie-player relationship is very important,” Daniel said. “It’s a high-pressure situation with someone you are close to. It’s almost like a marriage. But I don’t get involved in their personal affairs, and they don’t get involved in mine.”

In her rookie year, Daniel worked with Tommy Bell, a former sportswriter who quit his job to caddie for Daniel.

When Daniel began to feel that she and Bell were too emotional together, she fired him.

Then came the Dee Darden era. For four years, including the two when she was the top money winner on the tour, Darden and Daniel formed a solid team. A little more than a year ago, she decided it was time for the two to part ways.

“We’d been working together too long,” Daniel said. “Call it burnout.”

Just days after splitting with Darden, Daniel hired longtime caddie Bill Buskey, who was free because current LPGA pro Janet Anderson decided to take some time off.

“He needed a bag and I needed a caddie,” Daniel said.

Buskey, who went to UCLA and lives in Redlands, has a laid-back Southern California temperament that seems to be the right complement to Daniel’s high-strung personality.

“He just walks away and let’s me get mad,” said Daniel, who has been know to express her temper on the course.

Becoming looser, both on the course and with her swing, has been one of Daniel’s goals.

“If I could make myself relax and not think of consequences,” she said, “I’d be a lot better off. . . .

“But I keep trying to analyze every single thing that happened. Going over the rounds when you’re not playing well is like pounding negatives into you.

“I’m a perfectionist in everything I do, and it’s a terrible trait.”

Because Daniel is so concentrated on hitting a solid drive or smooth iron, Buskey goes out of his way to keep things light.

“I try to talk to her about anything but golf,” he said. “We talk about movies, women’s basketball, the men’s golf tour and the Boston Red Sox. I still haven’t figured out why she likes the Red Sox, but we have fun kidding around.”

Buskey takes pride in seeing Daniel smile on the course.

He tells the story of how Daniel missed a short putt on the 15th hole at the Dinah Shore tournament a year ago. On the same hole, Juli Inkster and Sally Little made birdie putts.

At this year’s tournament, Daniel also missed a putt on the same hole, and her two playing partners made birdie putts.

“She smiled, and said ‘Deja vu,’ ” Buskey said.