Course May Not Be His Cup of Tee

The last time the Old Claret Jug got hoisted in Great Britain, the guy holding up the British Open trophy was a chocolate-chip-muffin eating, chain-smoking, shaggy-haired, golf-ball launcher named John Daly.

Well, he’s back, which serves as fair notice for those spectators who will line up along the fairway ropes at Royal Lytham and St. Annes beginning Thursday. Better not get too comfortable out there.

Daly isn’t all that sure he’s going to be able to prevent his tee shots from making a turn and heading for Preston or Blackpool or other points that would be nice to visit as long as you’re not a golf ball.

“You can count me out of hitting a lot of fairways this week,” Daly said. “The fairways are really, really narrow. And [there are] a lot of bunkers. Hell, I don’t know how I am gonna play. You’ve got to be perfect off the tee.”

Last year at St. Andrews, the Arkansas-born Daly became the first British Open champion who figured it would be a neat idea to outfit bobbies in Hog Hats.

Daly didn’t exactly come out of nowhere to win on the Old Course last year, but he was close to it. In his seven previous majors, Daly hadn’t finished higher than 45th. At the 1994 British Open at Turnberry, Daly was 81st.

But there he was at St. Andrews, invading the home of golf and hauling off the game’s oldest major trophy. It was all perfectly legal too.

And so it is that Daly arrived at gritty old Royal Lytham as the defending champion in the 125th Open Championship. He just wishes he could be playing a little better.

Daly’s best finish in a PGA Tour event in 1995 was a tie for 10th at the Kemper Open. In his last four events, Daly has tied for 73rd at the Memorial, tied for 27th at the U.S. Open, tied for 58th at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and tied for 37th at the Canon Greater Hartford Open.

If you add it all up since his victory at St. Andrews, well, don’t bother. Daly knows the answer. “I haven’t won since,” he said. “It’s been a real consistent 12 months.”

Maybe Daly is due. But even if he is, maybe it won’t be this week, not on this course, where some of the fairways are so narrow you have to hold your breath and walk down them sideways.

Greg Norman played a practice round with Daly and said he considered Royal Lytham a great driver’s course . . . presumably while gripping a steering wheel.

“You’ve got to thread the eye of the needle here,” Norman said. “There is a real premium in keeping it on the fairway.”

This could be a real problem, and not only for the defending champion. Daly isn’t sure how often he will be able to hit his driver, but even if he misses the fairways, he hopes his short game will get him out of trouble and onto the greens.

Seve Ballesteros played it the same way when he won the last two British Opens here, in 1979 and in 1988. When he won in 1979, Ballesteros birdied the 16th hole on the last day after knocking his tee shot 30 yards off line to the right and into a parking lot.

Ballesteros took a free drop and, from 93 yards away, hit a sand wedge to 20 feet and then made the putt for birdie.

When Ballesteros won again in 1988, he birdied the 16th on the last day again, but from the middle of the fairway. “Next time,” Ballesteros joked. “You’ll have to park the cars in the fairway.”

Daly said it was encouraging that a spray hitter like Ballesteros had won twice at Royal Lytham. So there might be hope for him after all, if he can merely avoid all those bunkers. There are 185 of them, stuck all over the place.

Norman said that during their practice round, Daly couldn’t believe all the sand: “John said, ‘Hell, there are more bunkers out there than I’ve had ex-wives.’ ”

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British Open at a Glance

Site: Lytham St. Annes,

England.

Dates: Thursday-Sunday.

Course: Royal Lytham and St.

Annes (6,892 yards, par 71).

Purse: $2.17 million.

Winner’s Share: $310,000.

Television: ESPN (Thursday-Friday, 6-11 a.m.) and ABC (Saturday, 7-11 a.m.; Sunday, 6:30-10:30 a.m.).

Last year: John Daly beat Italy’s Costantino Rocca by four shots in a four-hole playoff at St. Andrews. Daly closed with a one-under 71 for a six-under 282 total. Rocca made a 65-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to send it into a playoff.