GOLF / THOMAS BONK : Daly Says His Back Was the Problem

There’s no image like a good image, at least on the PGA Tour, which is one of the more intriguing aspects of the John Daly situation.

Commissioner Tim Finchem told reporters at the Tour Championship that image is pretty important to him.

“To me, it is the most important charge of this office,” Finchem said. “There isn’t anything more important to this job than dealing with that.”

Last month, Finchem announced that Daly had voluntarily withdrawn from PGA Tour events or sponsored events the rest of the year. Finchem implied Daly’s action was a result of Daly’s conduct.

Daly had been involved in a series of incidents, including a scuffle in a parking lot with the father of national club pro champion Jeff Roth, who accused Daly of hitting into his group at the World Series of Golf.

However, Daly said last week it was his decision, not Finchem’s, to stop playing and that back problems were the reason.

“This was all my doing,” Daly told Glenn Sheeley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I told Tim, ‘Look, I’m not going to play the rest of the year because of my back. . . . He (Finchem) said, ‘That’s fine. That’s a very smart decision.’ ”

Daly told Sheeley, “It was just a voluntary withdrawal. . . . My back was killing me.”

Finchem said he would not comment on Sheeley’s story. But he did say he planned to talk to Daly about it.

Daly said he thinks he hurt his back playing his guitar.

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Get an interpreter: Nick Price, the money leader and sure winner of the PGA player-of-the-year award, has played the Tour Championship like someone needing some time off.

The Olympic Club isn’t very friendly to a fatigued player.

“These greens are like trying to read Japanese,” he said. “I can’t read them for love or money.”

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Dr. Dirt and pay dirt: It might not rate much of a headline anywhere, but the Brad Bryant-Mark Brooks duel bears watching.

Bryant, affectionately known on the Tour as Dr. Dirt, is No. 30 on the money list and needs to finish there to play in the Masters for the first time since he turned pro in 1976.

There is only one player Bryant, 39, has to beat--Brooks, who is No. 31 on the list and playing because Jose Maria Olazabal didn’t play enough PGA Tour events to qualify.

Bryant, six under after 54 holes, has a $6,818 lead on Brooks, who is even par.

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Bill Glasson, who has had four knee operations, said he hurt his knees when he was a youngster playing basketball.

Said Glasson: “Before I realized I wasn’t going to be 6-10.”

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What size? Lee Trevino told Golf World that he still feels pressure.

Said Trevino: “I still sweat. My guts are still grinding out there. Sometimes I have enough cotton in my mouth to knit a sweater.”

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Overheard: Steve Lowery hit a shot in his second round of the Tour Championship, the ball stopping on top of some television cables.

Lowery was awarded a drop. When he moved the cables, playing partner Mark McCumber ran over to him.

Said McCumber: “Are we in the union?”

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Captive audience: There was sort of a media mix-up before the women’s Solheim Cup last week when newspaper reporters and TV crews arrived at the Lewisburg, W.Va., airport to interview the U.S. team.

A 747 jet adorned with an American flag landed and the media got ready. However, the women who got off the plane were a group of convicts being transferred to the federal prison nearby.

The U.S. team arrived a few minutes later on a charter.