Daly Is News With 66

John Daly, whose career has bounced around like a golf ball on a cart path, elbowed his way into a share of the first-round lead in the PGA Championship, got a leg up on almost everyone and acted as though he knew Winged Foot Golf Club like the back of his hand.

Daly’s four-under 66 on a sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy Thursday was matched just before dusk by Davis Love III, who birdied the last two holes.

Love bogeyed both par threes on the back but finished with a flourish. He rolled in birdie putts of 20 feet and 12 feet in the growing darkness to catch Daly.

His was a simple recipe for success, Love said.

“I was pretty relaxed, I was hitting good putts and they were going in,” he said.

Love sounded as if he almost expected his 66. But if there was anyone more surprised by Daly’s score than Daly, he would be harder to find than a flat green at this place.

Afterward, Daly was asked how he felt.

“Pretty much in shock,” he said.

That probably would be accurate. After all, Daly has been in trouble more times than there are trees at Winged Foot . . . and this place would be called a forest if it weren’t already called a golf course.

Five tournaments and nearly four months after a stay at the Betty Ford Clinic, Daly birdied the last three holes, then watched everybody else try to overtake him.

Robert Allenby of Australia bogeyed the 18th hole or he would have been there with Daly and Love. Allenby is alone in third with a 67. There are eight tied at 68, an eclectic group of Greg Norman, Bob Tway, Paul Azinger, Justin Leonard, Tom Kite, Chris Perry, Paul Stankowski and Shigeki Maruyama.

As for Daly, opening day was a valuable experience, basically because it put him in good shape to make his first cut at the PGA in four years.

It is supposedly a healthier Daly attacking golf balls off the tee at Winged Foot this week. While he may not resemble a poster child for physical fitness, Daly said he weighs only five pounds less than he did when he showed up at Crooked Stick in a smoking jalopy and won the 1991 PGA.

Azinger, who played with Daly and Tway, took note of the reformed Wild Thing.

“Well, actually I was impressed with his drives more than his weight and his personal looks,” Azinger said.

Consider the way Daly played the three finishing holes. Each one a par four of at least 448 yards, Daly hit three-wood off the tee and still needed no more than a nine-iron into any of the greens.

His nine-iron from 157 yards at No. 16 left him five feet from the hole. His wedge from 137 yards on No. 17 stopped four feet away and his nine-iron from 156 yards on the 18th rolled to within one foot of the pin.

Daly gently coaxed in all three of the putts, which probably more than made up for the chocolate doughnuts he no longer allows himself.

“Three of the hardest holes in golf, or pretty close to them,” Daly said. “Yeah, it just really made my day.”

There are 20 golfers within three shots of the leaders. Tom Lehman, Phil Mickelson, Steve Jones, Jim Furyk and Mark O’Meara head a group of 11 players at one-under 69.

Tiger Woods finished with a 70, which could have been much better if not for his double-bogey seven at No. 12.

Woods’ three-wood second shot missed the green to the right and wound up under some trees. From there, it was an adventure in forestry.

Woods hit a seven-iron and the ball popped straight up, rattled off some branches and dropped back down. His next shot was a nine-iron and he still didn’t get the ball to the green. Woods hit a wedge on and two-putted for double bogey.

“Obviously, you’re going to be a little disappointed after you make a seven any time,” Woods said. “But, you know, overall I made some good putts in my back nine for par just to keep myself in there.”

Leonard was satisfied with his 68 because he didn’t drive the ball well. In fact, the British Open champion spent a lot of time in the rough, but he found something good about that.

“My shoes are still nice and clean,” he said.

Kite toured the last holes in two over and even though he may have played as though his glasses were fogged up, he felt good about himself.

Now, the Ryder Cup captain sounded as if he might be considering a another name to add to his list of players. His own.

Kite was asked if his play might be confusing the selection process. “Yeah, it confuses it,” he said “Darn right it does. My list is still pretty long. And throwing my name in there makes it even longer.”

Speaking of long, Daly said the rough is just about as long as the drive to New York City. But the mood he was in, it didn’t bother him much.

“It was funny when they said the rough here was four inches,” he said. “We pulled a blade of grass yesterday on the 14th hole and that blade was nine inches long. So it may be four inches somewhere. . . .”

In the Las Vegas sports books, Daly began the PGA as a 100-1 longshot, approximately the same odds of him dumping as much salad dressing on his plate as he used to.

“I just put it on the side,” he said.

Instead of doughnuts, Daly has gone to chocolate yogurt and adds peanut butter cups as a topping.

“That’s not really that bad for you anyway,” he said. “I could eat that all day.”

He didn’t say anything more about Winged Foot, maybe because he ate that place up already.

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LEADERS

At Mamaroneck, N.Y.--Par 70 18-Hole Scores

John Daly 35-31--66 -4

Davis Love III: 31-35--66 -4

Robert Allenby: 32-35--67 -3

Paul Azinger: 35-33--68 -2

Tom Kite: 31-37--68 -2

Justin Leonard: 34-34--68 -2

Shigeki Maruyama: 34-34--68 -2

Chris Perry: 34-34--68 -2

Paul Stankowski: 33-35--68 -2

Bob Tway: 33-35--68 -2

Greg Norman: 34-34--68 -2

OTHERS

Tom Lehman: 35-34--69 -1

Phil Mickelson: 34-35--69 -1

Mark O’Meara: 32-37--69 -1

Tiger Woods: 32-38--70 E

Mark Brooks: 38-32--70 E

Ernie Els: 34-36--70 E

Payne Stewart: 33-37--70 E

Fred Couples: 34-37--71 +1

Tom Watson: 34-37--71 +1

Steve Elkington: 37-35--72 +2

Nick Price: 36-36--72 +2

Colin Montgomerie: 39-35--74 +4

Jack Nicklaus: 37-37--74 +4

Nick Faldo: 39-36--75 +5

Jesper Parnevik: 37-39--76 +6

J. Maria Olazabal: 39-40--79 +9

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How They Fared

How top 10 players in Ryder Cup standings fared in the first round of the PGA. Par is 70 at Winged Foot:

UNITED STATES

No. Player (Points): Score

1. Tiger Woods (1,185.000): 70

2. Tom Lehman (1,016.286): 69

3. Justin Leonard (888.500): 68

4. Jim Furyk (867.500): 69

5. Phil Mickelson (809.286): 69

6. Mark O’Meara (801.250): 69

7. Brad Faxon (727.500): 73

8. Scott Hoch (721.953): 71

9. Tommy Tolles (689.286): 75

10. Davis Love III (657.167): 66

EUROPE

1. Colin Montgomerie, Scot. (842,230.78): 74

2. Darren Clarke, N. Ireland (593,990.35): 74

3. Ian Woosnam, Wales (505,574.69): 77

4. Bernhard Langer, Germany (504,907.96): 73

5. Lee Westwood, England (459,530.17): 74

6. Ignacio Garrido, Spain (366,396.22): 70

7. Per-Ulrik Johansson, Sweden (333,710.30): 73

8. Thomas Bjorn, Denmark (327,011.59): 72

9. Miguel Angel Martin, Spain (324,400.30): DNP

10. Costantino Rocca, Italy (314,555.29): 69