Profile / Editor / 16 April 2007 / Leave a Comment

There can be few more colourful and controversial characters than John Daly in the history of golf but 2007 could be something of a crossroads in the career of the larger-than-life star.

It seems amazing to think that it is now more than 15 years since Daly arrived in the nick of time at the 1991 US PGA Championship having been called up as a last-minute replacement, teed the ball up and promptly blew the rest of the field away to win by three strokes.

His booming drives and 'grip it and rip it' style were an instant hit and a new superstar was born at a time when golf was searching for a new idol with messrs Nicklaus, Watson etc having long since been a force in the game.

Daly followed his win four years later with victory in a play-off in the most famous tournament of them all, The Open Championship at St Andrews, and it seemed that 'Long John' had the world at his feet.

But then the problems started. A growing addiction to drink and gambling - Daly reckons he has lost up to US$60million gambling in the last 15 years, including $1.5million in a day - led to regular visits to the Betty Ford Clinic while a string of relationships with women brought him headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Daly's career was in danger of being derailed for good by his off-course antics and, despite ending a nine-year barren run with victory at the 2004 Buick Invitational, he finished the 2006 season in a lowly 193rd in the PGA Money List to wave goodbye to his playing privileges in 2007.

The 41-year-old - he celebrates his 42nd birthday at the end of this month - must now rely on invites from sponsors to compete in the bigger tournaments this year, as he is this week when he makes a rare appearance on the European Tour at the BMW Asian Open.

With the loss of his card, Daly must now decide if he wants to knuckle down at his game again to become a major contender again, or simply be content to play in an endless stream of celebrity invitation events.

The real tragedy is that Daly still retains the ability to compete with the best when he applies himself.

Winner of 11 long driver crowns including eight in a row, Daly can still hit the ball as far as anyone and his beyond-horizontal swings shows no sign of shortening just yet.

He also possesses an amazing touch around the greens for such a big man which means that, for someone with his power, low scores are always possible.

Unfortunately though, so are high ones as Daly is also renowned for his spectacular ability to blow up during the middle of a round and rack up a double-digit score on a hole.

With two Major victories under his belt, Daly knows he can play for life in the US PGA Championship and until the age of 65 at The Open, but he is likely to be striving for an improvement on his recent record in the Majors this year after missing the cut in the three he played in 2006.