Daly disqualified at Bay Hill

2008-03-12

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By Andrew BothPA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) -- John Daly''s career took another turnfor the worse Wednesday when he was disqualified from playingat this week''s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

A day after being unceremoniously dumped by his coach, Dalymissed his pro-am tee time at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, anoffense that earns automatic disqualification from thetournament.

Daly told PGA Tour officials he thought his tee time was 9:47 amEDT - when, in fact, it was 8:40.

Daly''s absence caused some collateral damage, as two otherplayers, Ryuji Imada and Nick O''Hern, also were expelled fromthe tournament for missing the pro-am. They were the first twoalternates for the morning pro-am, but were not on site.

It has been a rough week for Daly, the two-time major winnerwhose rollercoaster career appears to be in a serious declineamid a series of poor performances and continuing off-courseproblems.

After missing the cut at last week''s event, Daly spent thefollowing day in an on-course bar, his exploits documented in aseries of photographs published on a local newspaper''s web site.

Then came the news that coach Butch Harmon, who only startedworking with Daly recently, had ditched the player, reportedlyaccusing him of being more interested in drinking thanpracticing.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said he had not spoken to Dalyabout his behavior last weekend.

"I''m not fully briefed on the details, and we have not engagedJohn on that at this point in time, but we are available to workwith him," Finchem said. "We hope he can deal with his issuesin a way that allows him to continue playing golf.

"Over the years, you''re well versed in the issues that haveplagued him and his life and how he''s dealt with them, and mostcases not dealt with them."

Other players were reluctant to comment on Daly''s situation.

"That''s not my role to talk about it or get involved in it,"Phil Mickelson said. "I hope things get better, but that''s notmy area of voicing opinions."

Daly, who finished 188th on the PGA Tour money list last year,does not even have full playing status this year, insteadplaying tournaments mostly on sponsor''s exemptions.

Daly, 41, has not posted a top-50 finish in seven starts,slumping to 573rd in the world rankings.