GOLF / THOMAS BONK : O’Grady Says All Daly Needs Is a Solid Dose of Talk Shows

It hasn’t been the greatest of years for John Daly, golf’s bad boy. So look who has sprung to Daly’s defense

Mac O’Grady.

In his days on the PGA Tour, O’Grady had his share of controversy, too, and his feud with then-Commissioner Deane Beman was legendary. Perhaps that is why O’Grady is sympathetic to Daly, who recently withdrew from official PGA Tour events for the rest of the year after a series of conflicts.

“To me, when I look at John Daly, I see a modern-day George Herman Ruth,” O’Grady said. “Too bad this isn’t the Roaring ‘20s because he would fit in perfectly. Everybody on the tour has high levels of intelligence and immaturity. John Daly isn’t any different than anybody else if you open up the skeletons in his closet, only he does it in public.

“He’ll grow up,” O’Grady said. “Look at me. I love to watch ‘Oprah,’ ‘Geraldo,’ all the shows about dysfunctionals. That’s my psychoanalysis. I realized I wasn’t as bad as I thought.

“That should be Daly’s penance. He has to watch all the shows about dysfunctional people for the next four months and take notes. Then I’m sure the new commissioner will ask him to give a thesis on dysfunctional people he studied and how they relate to the PGA Tour.”

Daly last played Aug. 28 at the World Series of Golf. At that event, he was involved in an altercation with 62-year-old Bob Roth, father of golfer Jeff Roth, after the elder Roth accused Daly of hitting into his son’s group.

In June, Daly was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard at the Greater Hartford Open.

In July, Daly was quoted in a British newspaper just before the British Open that other PGA Tour players were substance abusers and called for drug testing. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem had a meeting with Daly right afterward.

A week later, Daly withdrew after the first round of the New England Classic, citing exhaustion.

Beman suspended Daly for four months last November after Daly had picked up his ball during a tournament in Hawaii. It was the second time Beman had suspended Daly. The first was when Daly underwent alcohol rehabilitation treatment.

Daly is eligible to return to the tour for the Mercedes Championship at La Costa, the first week of January.

“He has a history of having some difficulties,” Finchem said.

In 18 tournaments this season, Daly missed the cut in seven, withdrew from one, was disqualified in another and won in Atlanta.

Daly, 28, won the 1991 PGA Championship as a virtual unknown. In June, he signed a 10-year, $30-million endorsement deal with Wilson. Another principal sponsor, Reebok, suspended its endorsement deal with Daly until he returns to the tour.

The company released this statement from Daly: “I am looking forward to returning to the PGA Tour in ‘95, when I expect to represent Reebok and myself in a professional manner.”

O’Grady said Daly will be fine in time. Until then, and to get Daly smiling again, O’Grady suggested that Daly would benefit by playing with a new partner.

“Jack Nicholson,” O’Grady said.

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Hale Irwin isn’t surprised by Daly’s problems.

“John still has to get his life together,” Irwin told Golf Digest.

Irwin also said Daly may be adversely affected by the makeup of his gallery.

“His following is not the sophisticate,” Irwin said. “His following seems to be the rough journeyman. The good old boys. I have seen it. They don’t know anything about golf. They want to see him hit it a long way.”

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O’Grady has been keeping a very low profile since the Masters, when he made Finchem angry by saying some golfers were using beta blockers to enhance their performances. When O’Grady traveled and worked with Seve Ballesteros this summer, he did not want to be interviewed.

This earned him a nickname from Vijay Singh: “Resident PGA Tour Mystic.”

There is more, O’Grady said, breaking his self-imposed silence: “Resident PGA Tour Mystic, nonconformist and researcher.”

He is serious about golf mechanics. O’Grady is busy putting on a series of symposiums on the golf swing, based on his studies. There is one scheduled this week at Foothills Golf Club in Phoenix.

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Want to see Stu Grimson swing a stick? So what’s so unusual about that? Wearing spikes? The first Mighty Ducks golf tournament will be played Oct. 10 at Tustin Ranch Golf Club.

The event benefits Disney GOALS, a nonprofit program to develop hockey programs for underprivileged children. Details: (714) 704-2711.

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Paul Azinger, Fred Couples, Tom Watson and Payne Stewart will play the Skins Game, Nov. 26-27 at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert. Stewart is the only golfer to have won three consecutive Skins Game championships.

Stewart wound up No. 5 on the money list last season, but has banked only $134,259 this year, missed the cut at the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open and tied for 66th at the PGA Championship.

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We know that Ian Woosnam shot a 63 and followed it with a 67 on a 36-hole last day to win the British Masters. Now we know what it meant.

Said Woosnam: “It says to a lot of people, ‘Don’t ever write me off.’ ”

Golf Notes

Raymond Floyd has entered the Ralph’s Senior Classic, which will be played Oct. 21-23 at Rancho Park. . . . The fifth Cushman Reality Corp. golf tournament at Friendly Hills Country Club in Whittier raised about $325,000 for the Boy Scouts of America, Los Angeles Area Council. . . . The sixth Magic’s golf classic will be played Monday at Riviera Country Club. The tournament benefits the American Heart Assn.’s cardiovascular research and community education programs.

Stanford, with freshman Tiger Woods, is the No. 1-ranked team in the first Golf World poll of the season. Arizona State tops the women’s poll. UCLA, with senior Jennifer Choi, is No. 4, Stanford No. 6 and USC, with senior Jennifer Biehn, is No. 10. . . . The LPGA released its 1995 tournament schedule with the Nabisco Dinah Shore, the year’s first major, scheduled March 23-26. . . . Raiders Jeff Hostetler, Rocket Ismail, Jeff Jaeger, Chester McGlockton, Winston Moss, Eddie Anderson, Dan Turk, Dan Land, Jeff Gossett, Billy Joe Hobert, Terry McDaniel, Lionel Washington, Harvey Williams and Bruce Wilkerson will play in the Vince Evans celebrity classic Tuesday at Chester Washington Golf Course. The event benefits the Watts Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club.

The Southern California PGA Seniors’ Championship will be played Tuesday and Wednesday at Jurupa Hills Country Club in Riverside. Jim Petralia of San Gabriel CC is the defending champion. The event is open to all PGA members who are at least 50 and live in the Southern California section. Among previous winners are former PGA champion Paul Runyan and former U.S. Open champion Jack Fleck. . . . Entries are still being accepted for the first National Assn. of Golf Professionals tour event, Oct. 10-11 at China Lakes Country Club in Ridgecrest. There is a $20,000 purse, $4,000 in the senior division. Details: (805) 373-1211.

Brad Sherfy, head teaching pro at Mulligan Golf Center in Torrance, won the Southern California Section stroke-play championship at Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert. Sherfy, a former UCLA All-American, won the Southern California PGA match-play title at Redhawk in Temecula in August. . . . The LPGA junior golf program received $350,000 worth of equipment--1,500 drivers donated by GolfGear, with Easton graphite shafts and Grip Technologies grips. . . . Keeping an eye on the 1995 Ryder Cup standings--U.S.: Loren Roberts, Corey Pavin, Tom Lehman, Phil Mickelson, Tom Kite, Fuzzy Zoeller, John Cook, Brad Faxon, Mike Springer, Jeff Maggert, Hale Irwin and Scott Hoch; Europe: Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, David Gilford, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Barry Lane, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Pierre Fulke, Costantino Rocca, Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and Nick Faldo. Qualifying will end with next year’s PGA Championship at Riviera. The top 10 players qualify and the captains each choose two more. The event will be played Sept. 22-24 at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.