PGA wants action over John Daly's meltdown at the Australian Open BY: BRENT READ From:

CRAIG Parry was a lone voice of support for John Daly last night as players and officials condemned the controversial American and called on the world's major tours to take action after he stormed out of the Australian Open.

Daly, ranked 666 in the world and whose chequered history in this country and across the globe has earned him the nickname "wild thing", hit a series of shots - astonished witnesses and angry officials suggested as many as seven - into the water at the 11th hole at The Lakes.

Having used all the balls in his bag, Daly - seven over at the time and with his girlfriend Anna Cladakis and son John Jr in tow - bid farewell to his playing partners Parry and Hunter Mahan, handed them his scorecard, jumped in a courtesy car and left the course.

The reaction was swift and decisive. The PGA of Australia rescinded Daly's invitation to play in the Australian PGA on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in a fortnight, while Golf Australia director of tournaments Trevor Herden suggested he would never be welcome back at the Open.

Herden also said the US and European Tours needed to deal with Daly's latest indiscretion in the most serious fashion.

Daly's meltdown overshadowed the performance of first-round leader Jarrod Lyle of Victoria, who shot a seven-under 65, one stroke ahead of Americans Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney.

Daly was previously suspended by the US PGA Tour in late 2008 for conduct detrimental to the game's image. The suspension came after Daly was arrested for appearing intoxicated outside a Hooters restaurant. He also ran foul of Australian officials on at least two occasions in 2002 at the Australian PGA when he threw his putter and ball into a greenside pond and six years later when he smashed a spectator's camera against a tree at the Australian Open. Daly last night used Twitter to defend his actions and that of Cladakis, who allegedly pushed a photographer as the pair left the course.

"When u run out of balls u run out of balls. yes, I shook my partners hands & signed my card w/rules official," he tweeted.

In regard to the allegations against Cladakis, he said: "he ran into her and hit her head to try and get a shot, uncool."

Parry, the former Australian Open champion, said Daly's day had begun to go downhill when he played the wrong ball out of the bunker at the par-four 10th. Only after playing his ball out of the front bunker did Daly realise he had in fact hit a ball from the nearby practice range. He called a penalty on himself and then played the correct ball.

On the next hole, he imploded.

"He's out there trying," said Parry, who is a member of the PGA of Australia board.

"He had no golf balls, that's why he walked off. I do feel sorry for JD on that one, I really do. I like John.

"When he comes out here he does try his best. You get what you get with JD. He is a very pleasant guy. He doesn't carry on, he doesn't swear when you're in the group with him."

Regardless of Parry's support, Daly - who had his expenses paid by organisers - appears to have run out of chances.

"It's certainly unprofessional," Herden said. "I am extremely disappointed he has treated this championship this way. It's becoming a bit of a habit. It is unacceptable and I certainly hope all the tours deal with it in the appropriate manner this time.

"We have to protect the sport and the image of this championship which is the thing I am totally upset with.

"If you run out of golf balls, and you are acting in a professional manner, you will call a rules official and we will get the type of ball he is playing with and replenish his stock."

Even promoter Tony Roosenburg, a long-time friend of Daly, was critical of the former British Open and US PGA champion.

"I'm very disappointed," Roosenburg said. "This is not good. He shouldn't do this to me. I have been with him through thick and thin. I am very, very disappointed.

"I wouldn't expect him to do that to me. I am the man who has backed him for years. I would think so. I would think so.

"We don't need this."




I should be there to fish out his balls for him