Daly does the right thing in not sharing what Woods said to him explicitly when they spoke about what had been going on with Woods’ relationship with ex-wife Elin Nordgren, but Daly says just enough for me to form my own conclusions. They are: Woods wasn’t getting laid enough at home, which in turn led him to explore his curiosities outside the marriage.  It’s not clear whether Elin was holding out on him because Tiger was clearly being unfaithful or if her not fulfilling Woods’ desires prompted him to commit adultery. Anyway, what was also interesting was how Daly talked to Woods about how he could have avoided this whole fiasco if he had just gone straight to the media and told them what he had just said to Daly. ‘Long John’ believes — and apparently Tiger agreed at the time when Daly said this — that Woods’ story would have been a one day story rather than a sensationalistic drawn out affair dominating newspaper and tabloid headlines for nearly a year.

Daly joined 790 The Zone in Atlanta to talk about his relationship with Ryan Mallett and Jon Gruden, how those relationships came about, how he and Gruden both learn from each other, why Gruden is a great psychologist and the ultimate motivator for him, what lessons and things he talks to Mallett about as the mercurial quarterback gets set to embark on his NFL career, and then the really good stuff starts. Daly then fields questions and rambles on about Tiger Woods, his talk with him at The PGA last year about what happened two Thanksgivings ago, how he told Tiger that the whole mess he’s had to deal with never would have materialized had he just been candid right away about what was going on in his life, his philosophy on the expectations of sex within marriages, and his reflections about winning majors early in his career, how he then wasted talent with delusions of grandeur in the later years of the ’90s, and how it’s just a matter of finding some confidence and catching a break now that he’s recommitted himself to his game and making better decisions off the golf course.

How many folks have mentioned his recent sit down with Ryan Mallett and Jon Gruden

“It’s been pretty cool. I’ve had a lot of tweets and stuff.”

So how did that come about:

“Well me and Coach Gruden have been friends for quite a long time. We played some golf together, and me residing in Clearwater, Florida, I get to hang out with him a lot. I call him…he’s my new psychologist now.”

On what makes Gruden a better shrink than the laundry list of others he’s seen over the years:

“I know one thing — that man can motivate you. That man’s unbelievable, Coach Gruden is. I miss him coaching, but I think there’s probably not anybody in this world that doesn’t like what he’s doing for Monday Night Football either. He’s awesome.”

On why he feels the need to want to be around Gruden for psychological purposes:

“Because no matter the situation, he’s always positive, he’s always fired up, he’s just a great guy to talk to. Now, I do talk to another guy about a lot of other issues that’s helped me especially this last two or three years. But Coach, he does it to where you get right at first. He doesn’t take any crap from anybody. The way I feel when I talk to him is hey, his time is valuable so I might as well get something out of it. And he’s the same way when I help him with his golf game.  Before I went to Hilton Head last week, we played a couple days and I worked with his golf game. And I said, hey, I’m the same way, and that’s why we get along so good. We try to get what we can out of each other. We’re really, really good friends, but we learn from each other.”

On why he has been a part of the mentoring process of Mallett:

“Yeah, no doubt, and I think that’s why Coach wanted me there — not because I love the Razorbacks so much. I’ve gotten to be pretty good friends with Ryan and got to watch him probably, on the sidelines, ten to twelve games. It was just awesome to see him in action. But he’s a good kid, and he’s young and it’s unbelievable how good he is.”

How not having anybody to help him with little things like how to handle the media when he was starting out as a pro golfer played a big role in wanting to help Mallett:

“No doubt. Through the tour, we didn’t start getting media sessions with our rookies and all that stuff until the middle of probably ’94, ’95, ’96. So even when I came out, the Tour didn’t have anything set up for something that I did that fast. I mean, nobody could be ready for it. We didn’t have these meetings to talk and have media specialists come in to help and all that stuff. Where now for Ryan, the NFL has all that stuff; Major League Baseball has all that stuff; hockey has all that; golf has all that. Any major sport professionally, they all have that to help them get through it. And my only thing that hurt me the most was I wish I had thought about the question a little bit more before I answered it. And I think a lot of athletes can relate to that, especially because the media loves to get you when you’re in a bad moment. Like for us, if you have a bad round, they want to talk to you right then because they want to get something out of you that they can use, whether it’s positive or negative. And you know the media today, it’s mainly negative. So my point to him was just be careful with the answers that are being asked of you, and that there’s no time limit on an interview.”

On also taking to Mallett about personal responsibility and how things might have been different for him if he had made better choices:

“Yeah, by some of the answers I might have given and by some of the stupid stuff I did. I mean, I set myself up a lot back in the day to get ridiculed. And I deserved it, because I did some stupid things — whether I quit on the course, walked off, or threw a club, or did something stupid off the golf course — destroy a hotel room or whatever, I mean I’ve done it all. Luckily everything I’ve done was legal; I’ve never done drugs thank God. But you don’t think about things when you’re on top of the world, you don’t think about those type of things. And when I look back I wish I did, because whether it’s one fan, millions of fans, thousands, your peers, the peers that you’re playing with, your teammates, whatever — when you do something bad, it’s going to hurt not only you but someone else. And that takes a lot away from you as an individual. I mean, you can look at what Tiger’s going through. It’s embarrassing. Is he embarrassed? Hell yeah he’s embarrassed. Any time we do something bad we’re embarrassed, but the way I’ve felt good about myself is I’ve always been honest.  Whether I’ve done good or bad, I’ve always told the truth. And it gives the media a one-day story instead of a prolonged eight, nine months story that Tiger’s was.”

Has he had the chance to say that to Tiger, and would he if he hasn’t had the chance to?

“I did last year at The PGA. And what we talked about I couldn’t even fathom kind of telling you guys because it’s a personal conversation, but it made me relieved of what Tiger was going through. Do I blame Tiger for what he did, and does he? Yes. But does he have a reason? Yes. And that reason is something I don’t want to talk about. But I told him, ‘if you would have come out that night after the incident and told the world what was going on — not listened to your agents, not listened to anybody else,  just what your heart said and thought what you just told me — this story would have ended in one day.’ And he said ‘I know, I know. I just had to listen to everybody.’  I said ‘that’s the thing you’ve got to understand Tiger, you’re the greatest player that’s ever played, you don’t have to listen to anybody, you have to listen to what your heart tells you to do.’ And he says ‘I thought about talking to the media right after it all happened, I really did, and told them the truth and told them what was going on. But I was told not to.’ So, I don’t blame him in that aspect of listening to the bad advice, which I totally think he got throughout the whole situation.”

Wait, is he talking about that first Thanksgiving night, or after when all the sordid details emerged:

“Afterwards, afterwards. I think everything afterwards that everybody found out about.”

So, there was some way to get people to at least partially understand what was going on had he come out and spoken candidly?

“Exactly. I mean, you’re looking at a guy who all the way through his college days, all there was was golf, golf, golf, golf golf. And then there was more golf. And then there was more golf. The guy never had a chance to live a life, and you know, certain things that people go through they find out they like and don’t like. And as a young man or whatever, there’s certain things you like and certain things you don’t like. He found out late what he really liked because he was never around it. He didn’t have a chance to find out what women were like and what girls were like that much until he was in his late teens, late late, almost 20. I don’t think folks realize that.”

But doesn’t everybody lose the right to have sex with others after making the decision to get married?

“Well you should if your wife’s good and makes love to you when you want to be made love to, and does things with you and wants to do things with you, and wants to support you, and wants to be with you in your career, wants to take the selfish side of the player. I mean, in this sport, in major sports no matter what, even a guy that runs a multi-billion dollar corporation — a woman has to understand that it’s a lot on a person’s shoulders to deal with. You can either be a part of it, supportive and keep going, and not go your materialistic ways that I’ve been through. My exes, if you look at my life, they just quit supporting me. Plus, they didn’t want to have sex anymore. And when that happens — and I’ve always been straight up front with every one of them — I said ‘if you’re not going to give it to me, I am going to go get it somewhere else.’ And that’s just the way I’ve been whether there’s a ring on my finger or not. Is that adultery? Maybe so, but from what I understand, when you’re married they’re supposed to give it to you.”

So Woods should have gone up to a podium and said ‘I’m not getting it anymore, I’ve had enough’:

“Exactly. That’s what I did.”

And that would have kept the story from blowing up into the media circus that it became?

“I think so. You wouldn’t have had 127 or 128 women come out and say they had sex with Tiger. I mean, if people really believe that Tiger had sex with 127, then we’re not really as smart or common sense as we think we are. I mean, come on.”

If he felt like he threw away some of his natural and talent:

“I think in the ’90s, I really wasted my talent. Because I had won two majors already, and you sit there thinking about getting to 18 majors and tying Nicklaus. And I think just winning those two was so tough, I’m going ‘I don’t think I can get to Nicklaus’ record. And then when you see Tiger coming out, and by then I think he had won….right around 2002 I think he had won like 8, 10, somewhere in there. It made me realize that I’m in a sport where, hey, if I get my crap together and start working on my game and doing better, there’s a chance I can win some more golf tournaments. So I’m definitely committed again. I’ve been sober almost two and a half years now, lost 130 pounds. So I’m on the right track. Now it’s just a matter of finding the confidence after the bad injuries in ’07 from a flash camera that tore my shoulder and my ribs up. I’ve just got to find the confidence, I’m doing everything else right.”

If he could play one course with four people, where would it be and with who:

“It’d be like Angelina Jolie, Drew Barrymore, I still love Meg Ryan…It’d be all girls. It’d be wherever they want to play.”

Listen here to Daly with Mayhem in the AM on 790 The Zone in Atlanta

In fact, in the following interview, Sherrie Daly says Daly made Tiger Woods look like a saint. Clearly, Sherrie Daly has an axe to grind after allegations came out that she stabbed Daly and spent time in jail, but this is one of those cases where I’ll believe any story told about the golfer.

Sherrie Daly joined 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C. with The Junkies to discuss her story and book, her time in jail, the girls running around on tour, John Daly’s three personalities, his drinking habits, his sexual habits, the woman she caught him with on his bus and the time Daly blew more than a million dollars in Vegas in a matter of hours. She doesn’t mince words, so there are a few graphic points that may not be safe for work.

Give us the full story:

“That’s the reason I wrote the whole book is to tell the whole world that I did not stab John Daly. There would be no book if he told the truth at mediation. … As far as stabbing him, no. As far as my jail stay, which a lot of people are so intrigued with, it was not drugs. There was no drug-related crime. I wasn’t charged with that ever. It was a family business and it was a deposit of over $10,000. It was something I’d like to put behind me. And to be honest with you, it was a vacation from John.”

On jailtime being peaceful:

“[That's what it felt like] being in a house with someone that was ripping the cabinets off the walls, breaking up pictures, knocking out big-screen TVs, riding down the road with no windows in the bus, dealing with different girlfriends every time you turn around.”

On the different types of girls on the tour:

“There are four groups of hookers out there on the PGA Tour. There are the clubhouse whores, there are the occasional stops where there are strippers, then you have your prostitutes at a couple of places. And then there are the whores that just go down the money list and pick out a player and go out and follow him whether he’s married or not.”

Did she ever have a span of a week where it wasn’t chaotic?:“The first time he did that I think was in ’02 when he destroyed a house. … The decorator was there and he peed all over the walls. … We were having a charity event and I was doing some redecorating to the house … and they painted some walls, it was kind of ugly, it was pea green. It was the wrong color, but they were going to redo it. … That was about twice a year. When John wasn’t drinking, we’d have really good times. … We got along a lot.”

On Daly’s multiple personalities:

“I like John, but he has three personalities. I like John. He has J.D. I do not like J.D. I get along with Johnny. … J.D. is the demon. J.D. is the wild man. J.D. is the one who thinks he deserves sex when he wants it, whether you’ve had it with him three times in a day. If he decides that’s not enough, he can go get some more down the street and deal with it.”

Does J.D. only come out when he’s drinking?:

“After about a three-day binger, yes. I don’t have to deal with these cover-ups and being a part of that anymore.”

Is he the horniest guy she’s ever met?:

“[Three times a day] wasn’t enough. So he needed a girlfriend on the side, I guess, or whatever. Maybe.”

How many other women did she catch Daly with?:

“Put it this way, John makes Tiger Woods look like a saint, if that tells you how many. … J.D. would do all that and I could never really prove it so Johnny would come along and apologize. … I feel really stupid for being so naive all that time, but there were lots of women.”

On the pictures that she has to prove Daly’s cheating:

“Oh I know what you want to know about, the picture of the vagina. … That was in ’07 and that vagina belonged to a lady that me and my two sons walked in on John in bed with. … He was at the house in Arkansas and wanted me to come. We had kind of been having some differences … but he said, ‘I really miss you.’ So me and the kids drove over to Arkansas and when I got there everything was really calm. … He had the bus parked in front of the house and when I went on to the bus, I looked and didn’t see anyone so I pushed his shoulder and all of the sudden this girl’s head pops up.”

Was she surprised about Tiger or were there rumblings out there on tour?:

“I was very surprised with Tiger. On the tour, the players they can get houses they rent off the course and they can be there for a solid week, where as like an NBA player, they only go places for a night. So if the wife doesn’t go that week to the tournament, they can have a chance to set up with another woman for a week. … I would tell the younger wives on tour, you need to be out there or someone else will be.”

On the time in 2005 that Daly won $750,000 at a tournament, then spent about twice that much in Vegas in a matter of hours:

“Under five hours? It was under two hours! I was there. He wanted to go to the Wynn in Vegas. … I didn’t want him to go anywhere, but I realized it’s his money. … I wanted to go to Bally’s because when we got married, we won over $1 million the night before we got married. … He really did do that. We ended up going to the Wynn and I went upstairs to get the kids organized and with a babysitter and take a shower. … When I came down, he looked and said, ‘Oh my God, I just lost a million dollars.’”

Listen to Sherrie Daly on 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C. here

As one could imagine, a life of partying and drinking brings about a lot of highs and lows in life and lends a lot of material to write about.  Now that Daly is getting his life and golf game back together, he spends his spare time writing country music songs.  Daly, who has had a lifetime of ups and downs both on and off the course, has poured his heart and soul into a collection of eleven songs that are as much autobiographical as they are solid country songs.  I Only Know One Way is the title of the album and the hit single that features Darius Rucker.  The song is about his struggles with gambling, drinking, and living a hard life because he has been a golfer like no other.  He has won tournaments, won tons of money, but has always let himself get in the way of a stable life.  Fans love him because he is blue collar and has his issues just like the rest of us.  In a game where the players are mostly Polo shirt-wearing robots, John Daly is a down home country boy that likes to enjoy life.  His vocals are a bit rough, but then again, so is his game. 

John Daly joined 790 the Ticket in Miami to talk about how he got into country music and decided to become a singer, his thoughts on how good he is at writing music, and what he would do differently if he could go back and try it again.

How he got into country music and decided to become a singer:

“More of a hobby.  A lot of my friends are in the entertainment business, like Darius Rucker, Johnny Lee “the Urban Cowboy”, Kid Rock, and they said, look if you are going to write this stuff you might as well put it down, lay down tracks and stuff.  Then a friend of mine, Herky Williams, out of Nashville who was with ASCAP for a long, long time and he said that I needed to do an album.  So I had plenty of songs.  I have got a ton more to do.  It is more of a hobby.  It is more fun.  It kind of keeps me grounded now just writing music when I am sitting down on the bus during tournaments and stuff.  I love the music and the album and it is really neat to put down something and then you hear it when all of the music is together and it all comes out pretty cool.”

His thoughts on how good he is at writing music:

“I am a good songwriter, I am not a good singer but I feel like I am a pretty good songwriter because I can relate.  Everything that I write is from the heart so most of the stuff that I do write has actually happened so it is kind of cool.”

Whether there is a lot of pain in his music:

“A lot of pain, a lot of love, a lot of heartbreaks, a lot of this and a lot of that and it is good for country.”

Whether he would do anything differently if he could go back and try it again:

“I don’t know.  I think when things were really good and going great I think I ought to put more time into practicing and practice a little more, like I am not.  I think that would be the only regret now.  I didn’t put a lot of effort into the game when things were going so good and I was playing really good.  I think there were days where I could have worked a little harder at my game and gotten a little better.  Other than that there isn’t something that I would want to change that much.  I have made a lot of mistakes but l learned from them.  I kind of like where I am at now.  If I would have done some of the things in the past I wouldn’t be so grounded now.”

His thoughts on whether he could have been Tiger Woods if he would have applied himself like Tiger:

“I don’t know about that.  For me it has always been around, the chipping has always been great it has just been the putting.  I have never been a consistent, great putter.  I have always been a streaky putter and that is what has kind of held me back.  When I am on, I am on.  It is not very often I go out on the greens and go, I am just going to go out and have 18 putts today.  I think like that but it just never happens.”

Whether it is true that Tiger Woods said to him, “If I had John Daly’s talent, I wouldn’t have to practice either”:

“Yeah he said that.  That is ball striking.  I have been very fortunate that I have been a good ball striker.  Now the last three and a half years have been tough with the rib injury but I have had to work around that and that is slowly going away.  The putter, when you are not making putts that you have to make to keep a round going or to get into contention that has been the only downfall of my career and it is starting to come around.  It is everything, it is confidence.  But in order to get that confidence in putting you have got to make some.  When that starts happening than things will turn around.”

John Daly on 790 the Ticket in Miami with the Dan LeBatard Show

Click Here to preview John Daly’s album I Only Know One Way 

More than ten years later, Daly shot his lowest round at Colonial yesterday by five strokes and played bogey-free golf for the first time on the PGA Tour since the second round of the 2008 Bob Hope Classic.  That was enough for him to finish in the top-ten, but he knows all too well that tournaments are not won on the first day.  It will take an unbelievable weekend of golf for Daly to win but, although he would like to win, he just wants to improve on his game and continue to get better so that he can play on the Tour full-time and make this trip back to Colonial an annual thing.

John Daly joined ESPN Radio in Dallas to talk about how he is playing right now, what it meant when he got a call from the Colonial that they wanted him to play there, and how many more tournaments he thinks that he could have won if he had today’s mindset back in the early ‘90’s and whether he thinks back like that.

On how he is playing right now:

“I started to get some confidence and then I had a hip injury, yesterday was the first day in three months that it didn’t hurt.  The MRI showed two bulging discs, L4 and L5, a torn ligament, a pinched nerve, a sciatic nerve, I had everything going on.  Through all of this drug policy crap, we got to go through and call the Tour, is that OK with what they are shooting me up with?  They say, OK yeah that is fine, its ok, and I got shot up a week ago and it kicked in yesterday so…”

On falling apart as he gets older:

“Them forties, man I will tell you what.  As a kid you used to go, yeah right whatever.  But when you turn forty you go, I should have listened to those people.”

What it meant when he got a call from the Colonial that they wanted him to play there:

“Oh it is great.  Nah it was great.  Unfortunately all of the years that I was exempt on the Tour and everything, there was a week that scheduling, I always went overseas during the Colonial to a good tournament over there.  This is a great tournament.  The thing that I love about Colonial is the golf course is so great because it is old-traditional style, not too many changes to it over the years.  As a pro golfer you grow up playing golf at an early age like I did in the ‘70’s, all the golf course was mainly tree line, there wasn’t any target golf, it was always risk/reward and that is what Colonial is.  That is why a lot of the guys love playing here.  It hasn’t changed and it is one of those great, great old traditional golf courses that you can’t help but love.”

How many more tournaments he thinks that he could have won if he had today’s mindset back in the early ‘90’s and whether he thinks back like that:

“I don’t know.  Not too much, no, because if you think back like that I am lucky to have two of them.  You look at it and there are so many guys that have played the Tour for years and years and haven’t had a major.  It is unbelievable what Tiger has done and how Phil is playing.  These guys have won multiple, multiple majors.  If you win one of them it is like, it is hard to do, it is like winning a Super Bowl, it is like winning the NBA title, it is just hard to do.  But lucky for us, we usually get four chances a year.  I don’t look back on it too much.  I won a tournament, as growing up as a kid watching it on TV, at St. Andrews.  I always dreamed of playing over there and to win a major at St. Andrews, the home of golf, it is almost like, it is the greatest feeling in the world.”

John Daly on ESPN Radio Dallas with Galloway and Company

Daly has been attempting to get his personal life in order so that he can compete full-time on the PGA Tour and I think he is doing a pretty good job.  He no longer drinks, he has lost over one hundred and ten pounds since his lap-band surgery, and he has actually been practicing at improving his golf game.  He no longer spends more time drinking than he does practicing.  So getting this bad publicity, I guess, kind of ticked him off at how people still live in the past.  Daly remains one of the game’s most popular players and he should be able to defend himself like any person would want to do.

John Daly joined WDAE in Tampa to talk about his battle with the Florida-Times Union, what the parameters for the story that was written about him in the Florida-Times Union and whether it was about golf, and his thoughts on how the PGA Tour is handling the Tiger story.

On his battle with the Florida-Times Union:

“It was just bad taste for the timing of it and when they put it out.  You know I think I have got the players on my side on this one.  I have talked to about ten of them down there in Puerto Rico and they said they would have given his cell number to everybody too because it was wrong for what he did.”

What the parameters for the story that was written about him in the Florida-Times Union and whether it was about golf:

“No it was just living in the past.  That is what the media wants to do.  They want to live in the negative past and I am moving on.  I just thought that if he wants to put that on public record his cell phone was public record so I figured I would let my fans decide on how they felt about it.”

His thoughts on how the PGA Tour is handling the Tiger story:

“You know the thing is when Tiger comes out and he wins his first event, that is all that is going to matter.  We need Tiger.  I don’t care what anybody says.  They say that nobody is bigger than the game but there is an era in golf, Nicklaus, Palmer and Watson.  They were needed and they were as big as the game can be because people bought tickets to come out and watch them play.  And a true fan of Tiger’s when he comes out, they want to see him play golf and Dan Patrick hit it on the head about a month ago when he said, ‘People look at people at what they do.  Not off the scene and stuff.  People love Tiger for his game.’  Yeah he messed up but who doesn’t?  Why he did it, nobody knows.  That is between him and Elin, but like I said, his toughest major for him is to try to keep his family and it looks like he is doing it.  I just hope the fans come out and watch him play, don’t heckle him and stuff…  We are all tired of it.  We just want to see him out here.”

How he looks at his career:

“All I can say is that the two majors has been worth everything.  The ups and downs in my life and my career winning two majors it makes it all worth while.  Because they just don’t happen very often and very seldom guys have won majors.  If I look at it that way in a golf aspect of it, it has been a great career.  It has been a lot of ups and downs but you know what?  I keep persevering and I keep moving on and I am in the right path of where I want to go now and I am doing everything to get better at the game and do everything off the course better.  Like going back to the media, if they want to live in the past, I think most of my fans have read it all.  I have no skeletons in my closet so all I am going to do is just move on and move forward.  I have won two majors and I have to look at it that way.”

Whether he has thought about quitting golf:

“Oh yeah.  I think everybody out here has.”

John Daly on WDAE in Tampa with Dan Sileo

Physically he looks better than ever. Thanks to lap band surgery and better eating and drinking habits, Daly has lost over 100 pounds and he can actually walk all 18 holes without looking like he just got done running a marathon. He’s even become an underwear model! Unfortunately for him, just because he looks better physically doesn’t mean his golf game is in good shape. He has made just one cut in four tries this year and hasn’t had a top 25 finish since 2007.

John Daly joined The Dan Patrick Show to talk about how he felt about Tiger Woods apology, whether or not he ever had alcohol in his bag on the PGA Tour, whether or not he still drinks alcohol, and how much the weight loss is helping him.

On whether or not alcohol helped him with his golf game:

“No. I wouldn’t say it helped, but you know how sometimes you’re at a pool hall and you get that buzz going and you think you can make every ball on the pool table? That’s how it was. I felt like I could make every putt. It was amazing. You get that buzz going and you think you can make everything. That’s why I’m not making anything because I’m not drinking anymore. No I’m just kidding.”

On whether or not he ever had alcohol in his bag:

“No. Not on tour. (Host: What do you mean?) I did in a few of the old state golf tournaments. State Opens and stuff, but I’ve never had any on the PGA Tour. (Host: What was it whiskey?) Sometimes. (Host: Did you do it because it gave you that buzz?) No I think because it was so slow out there I just wanted something else to do (laughing).”

On how he felt about Tiger’s apology:

“I’m kinda like everybody else, it was about time. I think where they really messed up was not coming out a little earlier and getting it out and getting it over with. I think he’d be playing golf by now.”

On what it would mean if Tiger misses the Masters:

“It would signify that he is not ready to play basically because I think the thing is for him is that he’s got two options and they’re really not up to him right now. They’re up to Elin. If Elin stays with him, which it seems like she might be doing, that’s gonna be the toughest major Tiger has to face is to keep her and the kids and I hope he succeeds. I hope they do stay together. Apparently they are because I honestly feel that if they’re not, he would be playing already. That to me makes me feel good that they’re gonna work it out.”

On whether or not Tiger should be suspended:

“I don’t think he’s really done anything to the PGA Tour. It’s personal. (Host: But you got suspended for stuff you did off the course.) I know. I get suspended for picking my nose or something. When you’re the number player on Tour and in the world, I don’t think there’s anything that justifies him being suspended. He hasn’t broken any laws, he hasn’t hurt anybody, he hasn’t killed anybody, and so he hasn’t done anything except to himself. I always felt the same way about me. There’s a lot of times that I really didn’t feel like I should be suspended or fined, but it goes to say what is unbecoming of a professional. Is it on the golf course only? I think (PGA Tour Commissioner) Tim (Finchem) made that pretty clear when he said that there’s no disciplinary action against him. Like I said he’s the number one player in the world so I don’t think he should be fined or suspended.”

On his weight loss:

“No. I just think it’s giving me more stamina to be able to concentrate on 18 holes not just 14. When I was overweight I could barely walk 18 holes and you lose focus and not able to play the best I could play. The weight is actually helping. I don’t have anywhere to put my arms anymore when I putt. (Host: Didn’t you have a belly putter without it being a belly putter?) (Laughing) Yeah I did. Actually my belly hung so low that I could actually put the end of the grip on the belly and putt with my belly. I didn’t even have to use my hands.”

On whether he is a better singer or golfer right now:

“I’m just a better lover. (Host: Was that ever in doubt?) I don’t have a belly blocker now so it helps.”

Listen to John Daly on The Dan Patrick Show here

John Daly joined Tony Bruno on Fox Sports Radio to talk about whether he has started taping his new reality show, “Being John Daly”, losing over one hundred pounds, whether he has lost any distance on his drive due to losing weight, and what his plan is as far as playing on the PGA tour this year.

Whether he has started taping the reality show “Being John Daly”:

“Yeah the Golf Channel followed me all over Europe last year and some of the tournaments in the States. We have had a lot of fun with it and it is true reality there is no script in my show. That is one thing, we don’t have a script. Most of the reality shows now seem to have scripts but we are not going to have one.”

Whether he has lost over 100 pounds:

“Yep lost the Backstreet Boys everybody tells me.”

On how he lost so much weight and the notion that you can’t eat at Hooters and lose 100 pounds:

“Well you can. Hooters has got some pretty good food if you just don’t eat the wings without the breading and if you don’t eat bread and don’t drink the beer you can lose a lot of weight. I was fortunate to find a couple wonderful doctors. Dr. Lowry in Clearwater, FL, got me in touch with Dr. Tiffany Jessee. Her website is shedthepounds.com and she does lap-band surgery. The best doctor out here that I know that is as good as Dr. Jessie is Dr. Crohn that is out here in California as well. It has gotten around and is something that is a lot easier to lose weight. I believe it is genetics so I had my seventeen year old daughter, Shauna, do it in July and she has lost almost seventy pounds. It is a great thing and is a safe way to lose weight. I do not recommend the gastro-bypass. A lot of people die from that one. This one is safe.”

Whether he has lost any distance on his drive due to losing weight:

“No, it hasn’t done that. It has actually made me get through the ball a lot better. Me and Rick Smith, my coach, and he says that now I get through the ball too quick so now I have got to kind of lay back a little bit which is what I was doing when I was real fat. Now he is trying to get me back to where I was when I was real fat. I am too quick now.”

On Charles Barkley’s swing:

“Well nothing against Hank Haney but I wouldn’t have put his left hand on the club for about two weeks. I would have had him hitting a thousand balls with a sand wedge with his right hand only. The problem with Charles is that he doesn’t know how to get through a golf ball and he has to set it up with his right shoulder and his right arm. Hank just never got him hitting one-handed right hands. For two weeks if Charles would have just hit balls with his right-hand only with a sand wedge he could cure that hitch.”

How weird was it out in Hawaii without any Tiger Woods lurking in the background-stuff going on?

“Well I know San Diego is a very special place for not only Tiger but for me and a lot of people here. It is a great, great, great golf course. It is one of the best public golf courses in the world, if not the best one, besides St. Andrews. And St. Andrews of course. It is a great field and a great tournament. The Century Club has done their best to keep it. If I am not mistaken I think Farm Bureau Insurance or something like that picked it up and we are happy with that. I am just glad to be playing there. It is just a wonderful venue for a golf tournament.”

What his plan is as far as playing on the PGA tour this year?

“Whenever I can get in I am going to play. I am very fortunate, like I said. San Diego has been great. Hawaii let me in. Pebble let me in. I am waiting desperately on L.A. Riviera is probably, from St. Andrews and Torrey Pines, it is in my top three of golf courses every year to play and of course Phoenix is unbelievable with the sands and it is just an awesome tournament. I am waiting on those two. I am in Mayakoba, Cancun and I know that I am in Puerto Rico right now and the Greenbrier, the new tournament that is coming out on our tour this year in West Virginia later in the year gave me a spot. As far that is all I know so far but my west coast is never filled if I can’t get in L.A. or Phoenix. With San Diego and Hawaii those are my favorite tournaments. Pebble is always great now that we are not playing Poppy Hills, it is even going to be a better venue.”

John Daly on Into the Night with Tony Bruno

John Daly joined The Dan Patrick Showto talk about him playing golf at 298 lbs. vs. 182 lbs, whether he is hitting the ball the same distance or going further, what is the John Daly diet, and whether he has reached out to Tiger.

On playing golf at 298 lbs. vs. 182 lbs:

“Well I am still getting used to it. It is going to get better. Its funny when I played a couple of tournaments last year in Europe, Darren Clarke said: Dang Daly, I used to walk forty yards ahead of you now you are walking eighty yards ahead of me. A lot more energy Dan. A lot more. It is making life a lot easier.”

Whether he is hitting the ball the same distance or going further:

“About the same but I have more stamina and easier to get around the course which keeps you mentally tougher.”

Whether there are any negatives to weighing 182 after weighing 298:

“No not at all.”

What is the John Daly diet:

“I eat a lot of Clif Bars, a lot of Power Bars. The main thing with the lap-band surgery is that you can’t drink beer… If you do it right you can’t drink beer and you don’t eat bread. I can eat a little bit of chips and salsa but I just eat a lot of protein. I take Berryactircs (sp) is the greatest calcium pill that I have ever had and their vitamins are the best. When I get hungry whether it is two o’clock in the morning when I wake up to go to the bathroom or something, if I am hungry instead of eating a gallon of ice cream or drinking a gallon of milk or a whole thing of Oreo’s, I eat a Clif Bar or Power Bar.”

Whether he got a scare:

“No I was with some people at Bel Air Country Club, Dr. Lowry, probably the first week in February. I bent over a chair to bend over to tie my golf shoe and I raised back up and I said Doc I have got to have a moment here. I have got to breathe a little bit to tie the other shoe. He said: I got this. Let me introduce you to Dr. Tiffany Jessee and we are going to get this lap-band thing for you and I said that I am in.”

Are you still smoking heaters:

“I do smoke a lot of cigarettes yeah.”

Whether he can quit smoking now:

“Not right now. I don’t drink. I have got to take it one step at a time.”

Whether he has reached out to Tiger:

“I have let the media know that I am open arms and that I would love to talk to him but I don’t want to pressure him or push him. I am there for him if he needs anything. If he needs to talk or whatever but I am sure that his best asset right now is his mom. I think that she is the best advice that anyone could give would be her.”

On what went through his mind when the story first broke:

“I think a little shock you know because I never even dreamed that was going on or anything. It is to the point that it is really none of my business. I respect Tiger for his golf game and I always see Tiger as a thirteen year old kid when I played with him in Texarkana for the Big Eye Insurance Youth Classic. We were having a Hogan event there and I got to play with him and meet his mom and dad and he shot 72. I only beat him by three shots… He could have been on tour when he was fifteen. That is what I see Tiger. I see him as a little kid. He impressed the hell out of me back then just as much as he impresses me now.”

John Daly talks with Dan Patrick about his lifestyle change and his thoughts on Tiger Woods

He got on the horn with FM Sportsradio 104.3 in Denver recently to talk about that resurgence among some other interesting things. (Aside: he discusses the low prices of his merchandise; I would beg to differ.) Chief among those is his mention of Rick Reilly’s new book, in which apparently Reilly takes quotes that were supposedly off the record and sticks them in his book anyway. Not shocking from either party (even if Daly is embarrassed later) that it happened, in my humble opinion, but still — a little awkward.

On Daly’s sales:

“Oh they were great. My stuff isn’t as expensive as most people’s. You can get a hat for $20 with a signature. Everything was pretty much $20. Little lions were about $10 and I usually gave those to the kids and 8×10’s for $20. We had a good time – I met a lot of new friends and a lot of new contacts … I got ripped in the media a little bit, but I got about 150 contacts that want to do golf outings with me.”

When he plans on returning:

“Colonial has always given me that invite, and I know they would, but I think the first tournament is going to be Memphis. Cause I’m gonna be overseas, and I think the first tournament is going to be Memphis.”

Daly on golf being buttoned down, Rick Reilly using an off the record quote in his book, and the full interview after the jump.

On golf being “buttoned down”:

“It’s just weird, I mean, you know, there are certain rules. Everything’s in perception now, in life when it comes to athletes and celebrities. It’s all about the perception instead of getting the truth about the reality of someone. It’s just so easy to criticize … You’re right, everything I’ve ever done is legal. So, if that’s so bad, what’s it out there for? If legal things are so bad, why are we selling them? I’m not a gun guy, I hate guns. And there are people that hate to drink, but you know what? It’s a decision that everyone has to make with in their own mind with their lives.”

On the accuracy of Rick Reilly’s novel:

“Well, I was a little mad at Rick for writing some of the stuff he wrote about my ex-girlfriend and stuff, because I knew – you put Jack, Arnold and all these great, great guys who set records none of us will ever be able to accomplish – and you put in there about my you-know-what – just the unzipped part, Rick told me it was off the record, and I got a little upset with him over that, because there are going to be kids reading that. And we were just talking driving down the road, and I said, “Listen you’re not putting this in the book,” and he said, “No, this is all about caddying for you on that day,” and I said, “Cause you got some pretty big names in there,” and he put it in the book.”

Listen to John Daly on FM Sportsradio 104.3

Anyway, Daly is down at Augusta slinging his personal merchandise despite not being in the Masters because of a six-month suspension that the PGA imposed on the, ahem, rowdy golfer. Fortunately, he caught up with 790 the Zone, who was also nearby, for about three and a half minutes of pure Daly gold with topics ranging from the Euro Tour to the economics of gambling. As always, good times.

Any regrets you’re not inside the gates?

“Aw, hell, I wish I was, but I’ll get back in there.”

On tournament goals:

“I’m playing in Europe for the end of this month and in the end of May hopefully get in Colonial and come back and play.”

On being missed:

“Yeah, I miss it too. But Europe’s been good and I’ll hopefully get my game back and do something there and come back and do some here and probably go back at the end of the year.”

On wishing he’d done stuff differently:

“I just been blessed. I know I’ve done it before and hopefully I can do it again and make my fans happy and make me happy too.”

Has he been working out or gripping and ripping?

“I’m working with Rick Smith and working on shortening my putting stroke and trying to get my short game back. I lost about 40 pounds – I had lapdance (Ed. Note: I swear he says lapdance. I think.) surgery about 8 weeks ago and they put a tube on the stomach and tightened it up and I haven’t even had to fill yet but hopefully get down to 190 by the end of this year.”

John Daly on gambling, the Masters, and the full interview after the jump.

On gambling/playing the ponies:

“Nah, I haven’t been doing that either. Hell, I’m broke, bub, can’t do it. Economy’s so bad, slot machines are cold, everything’s cold, they got everything set so no one can win.”

On who he likes to win at Augusta:

“I haven’t seen any scores today but my dark horse is my buddy Pat Perez and I think Tiger – you can’t rule Tiger and Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh out. Vijay’s kind of had an off year and I think he’s going to play well this week.”

Listen to John Daly on 790 the Zone in Atlanta with Pollack and Bell