GOLF -Daly 'Hurt' by Backlash from Aussie Snafu
November 30, 2011
Truth & Rumors: Daly explains ‘Tin Cup’ incident
John Daly caused a stir when he walked off the 11th tee in the first round of the Australian Open earlier this month after hitting six balls in the water. Reuters’ Bernie McGuire reports that Daly defended his walk-off at a media conference in Hong Kong this week. According to McGuire, Daly said he was frustrated by a penalty he incurred on the 10th hole for hitting the wrong ball out of a bunker, and then didn’t realize how many balls he had before sending them all into the lake.
"I had found the bunker with my tee shot and then when I got up there I hit a great bunker shot, and when I threw my caddy the ball to wipe it, I find it's not my ball.
"Then on the 11th it was my ego that got in the way and I thought we had plenty of golf balls.
"But the question I keep asking is what were range balls doing in the bunkers out on the championship golf course?
Daly took issue with reports that he “stormed off” the course.
"I shook hands with Craig and Hunter and said that I've run out of balls, and I said that also to an official and he said to me that was unfortunate," Daly added. "But what hurts me is that it was then reported I stormed off. Well, I never stormed off. I just walked back to the clubhouse."
He added that he wasn’t "banned" from Australia, so he has that going for him.
Daly was fined an undisclosed sum over the incident and while his Australian PGA invite was revoked the American is still free to compete in Australia.
"I didn't get banned from Australia but I really don't know what is going to happen in the future," he said.
U.S. Open champ Michael Campbell almost quit game
Michael Campbell, the New Zealander who beat out Tiger Woods to win the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst and has since fallen into the slump of all slumps, said he came close to giving up golf last year, according to Stuff New Zealand.
Campbell made his remarks in his home country, where he is playing in the New Zealand Open:
In his first extraordinary performance, albeit in the media centre at Clearwater yesterday, Campbell revealed in an all too rare interview interlaced with candour and honesty, he was on the verge of chucking it all in last year.
He had not banked a cheque for months.
He was hitting balls like a club hack.
Yesterday, he said: "I remember one time I went to bed and I said to myself `OK, this is it, Michael'.
"I said `look, go to bed with an open mind and say to yourself when I wake up tomorrow you'll have an answer to this question. The question is, do you still want to play golf tournaments?' I woke up the next day and I said, `yeah, I do'. So that was the answer."
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