Daly out to avoid nightmare 10 again

LOVE him or loathe him, it’s hard to ignore John Daly.

The 1995 British Open champion is at Royal St George’s this week and while he is a 500/1 shot to win the title, he is among the favourites to take at least 10 shots at a hole.

Last week, in Illinois, Daly had a 13 during the John Deere Classic. And although it is hard to keep an exact record of all his adventures over the years, the 45-year-old is now thought to be in double figures for double-figure scores in his career.

At first he told playing partner Todd Hamilton — winner of the British Open at Troon in 2004 — to put him down for an 18, which would have equalled his own record from Bay Hill 13 seasons ago. Then he started counting up again, revised it to 11, but settled on 13.

“I just lost track there for a while,” said the controversial American, who went from two under par for his first 12 holes to seven over after 13. He finished with an 81 and missed the cut by 15.

“I just hit a horrible swing — just a heel shank,” he added. “I deserved it.”

Even off a bad drive on a par four, though, it still takes some doing to rack up a 13.

He was only 179 yards from the green, but in rough so thick his second shot moved the ball four yards, his next two a yard each time, his next six feet, his sixth 18 feet, his next 12 feet and his eighth a yard again.

That is all according to ‘Shot Tracker’, the system used in the States to log a player’s progress during any given round, although there was an alternative report that there was a penalty drop in there somewhere.

Daly finally decided he did need to take a penalty drop — perhaps his second. That counted as his ninth stroke, the 10th found a greenside bunker and after splashing out to 20 feet, he two-putted.

It was not, however, the highest score on a hole on the PGA Tour this year. That was Kevin Na at the Texas Open with a 16.

“All a blur,” said Na, who this week plays his second British Open after coming 27th at St Andrews last summer.

If Daly does go into double figures this week, it wouldn’t be his first time in the event. He hit 10 on Birkdale’s final hole in 1998.