Els’ 66 Is a Little One-Upmanship

John Daly draws attention more out of curiosity than respect these days.

We watch to see whether he’ll smash a ball to smithereens with his driver or self-combust after another series of errors.

At this point he has about as much to do with golf as Mike Tyson does with boxing.

He shot a four-over-par 76 in the opening round of the British Open on Thursday despite ideal conditions. As first-round leader Ernie Els said, “You get a day like this today, you’ve got to take advantage.”

Daly didn’t. And if he can’t do it here and now, at an Old Course with wide fairways on a day when the skies are blue and the winds are gentle, it’s time to ask if Daly, 34, is done.

He’s asking the same question himself lately.

“I’m starting not to believe it [can come back],” Daly said. “You get to a point where you wonder if it is going to come back. But I don’t know what else to do.”

He plays because he can and he might as well.

“I’m exempt till 2005,” Daly said. “So I’ve got to keep plugging.”

He has five years left on the exemption he earned here by winning the 1995 British Open.

He hasn’t won since. In fact, he has been a bigger threat to post some astronomical number--such as the 14 he put up on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach last month--than he has been to win a tournament.

He has only one top-25 finish on the PGA Tour this year (a tie for 16th at the Honda Classic). He has made the cut only six times in 17 tour events, and he’s in serious jeopardy of missing this one.

“The way the scores were this morning, the cut’s going to be pretty low,” Daly said. “And Tiger will shoot seven or eight [under] tomorrow. It’s one of those rounds where I really shot myself out of the tournament.”

You can sermonize about Daly’s life, about how he has quit and resumed drinking, gone on and off medication, swelled up and slimmed down. When it comes to his golf game, the problem is summarized in one word:

“Putter,” he said.

How long has he had this problem?

“Five years now,” Daly said.

“It seems like forever. The harder I work, the worse I get.”

When Daly won here in ‘95, his putting accuracy was just as big a factor as his long drives.

That’s no longer the case. He can still boom it out of the box. For most of the second shots Thursday, Daly was the last member of his threesome to hit, because his ball had traveled the farthest.

But the more telling order of play was this: On most holes Daly was the last to tee off and the first to putt. In other words, he wasn’t winning many holes among his group and his approach shots weren’t landing near the pin.

He three-putted the first two holes. He had to play a relief shot when his drive landed in the thick shrubbery on the sixth hole and took a six. He missed an eight-foot birdie putt on the par-five 14th.

Even with the generous fairways, Daly often found his ball in the adjoining fairway.

The only thing he did with consistency was puff cigarettes, about one a hole.

If there was any magic reprieve for his career, it would seem to be here. This is where he seemed to revive it in 1995, five years ago, out of the blue.

And St. Andrews is set up well for a long driver, particularly this week. But it seemed to dupe him instead.

Not only is the weather unusually warm, what little wind there is comes from an unusual direction.

“I’ve never played competitively in a round on this course where the wind’s dead in your face on the back nine,” Daly said.

“So it was really weird trying to figure out what [to do]. Usually if it’s right to left and down, I know exactly what to hit off the tees. But today it was weird. Even on the front nine, you’re sitting there guessing yourself on 1, 2, 3 and 4, what to hit off the tee, when normally it’s pounding in your face so hard you can just hit bullets, drivers, on 2, 3 and 4. But it was really weird. The ball’s going so far on the front, it wasn’t going anywhere on the back.”

His long drives still draw oohs and ahhs from the gallery. And, yes, he still has his followers, who Thursday included a guy with a white “Grip It and Rip It” T-shirt that featured Daly’s Web site address. Two other guys who showed up at every hole wore black and white “Cat in the Hat”-style hats.

Perhaps the reason Daly has some remaining popularity is he’s just so darn regular.

Daly bears a closer resemblance to the American tourists outside the ropes than the stuffy members inside the clubhouse.

He sure hasn’t received the royal treatment in the first British Open held at St. Andrews since he last won it.

He has been featured in pictures and asked to participate in the Past Champions challenge Wednesday. But you get the sense that’s only because the Royal and Ancient had to, the way you have to invite all of your relatives--even the obnoxious uncle with the loud laugh who likes telling off-color jokes--to the family reunion.

They haven’t gone out of their way to feature him, and didn’t include him among the pre-tournament news conferences. (They even brought Jean Van de Velde into the interview tent.)

Unfortunately, Daly hasn’t celebrated his return in any special way either.

Is it good to be back?

“Yeah,” he managed, wearily, making his way back to the practice range. “I just wish I could play better.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.