thirteen | The Power Fade Golf Blog

Fail of the Week 5

July 11, 2011

This week’s fail of the week goes to John Daly/Big JD/The Lion/the skinny Lion/that guy shooting in the 80s. At the John Deere Classic last week, Daly recorded a 13 on a par 4. I’ve been playing golf a long time; I’ve never put a 13 on the card.

“I heeled it really bad way right, and I really was hoping they wouldn’t find it so I’d have to go back to the tee,” Daly said. “Because I got stuck on my first approach when they did find it, I’m going how can I get it left so I can take an unplayable, because where it was there I would have to go all the way to the maintenance shed, which would probably be out of bounds.

“So I hit it a couple times and then took an unplayable, couldn’t get it out, hit it again, took an unplayable, couldn’t get it out. Then I got it far enough left that I could drop, you know, and then get in the bunker and two-putted for a 13.”

It’s at this point that the reporters missed a golden opportunity to ask the Lion–“how in the world are you a professional at this?”

Daly is a major championship winner and a lovable icon on the PGA Tour. Many fans want to see him succeed because he has done so much. But Daly’s antics have become a blight on the tour. For example, Daly’s interview a few years back while playing golf without a shirt…[[WARNING!!!!]]

More importantly, Daly was the one who proved that the last person to make it in the field is capable of winning the tournament when he won the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick. Had Nick Price not dropped out of the tournament, we may never have heard of John Daly. When he shows up to tournaments like this, he keeps one player out who would have qualified otherwise. As a competitive golfer, I know how hard it is to “make it.” I can’t imagine being the last guy out so that John Daly could get a sponser’s exemption only to watch him shoot 81 with a 13 on a par 4.