‘All my exes have Rolexes’

This headline, believe it or not, is the title of a song about to be released by one of the world’s most visible professional golfers – John Daly.

The man whose life would provide excellent lyrics for a country and western song has been working on a soon-to-be-released album.

Daly, whose guitar is a fixture in his mobile home, told Randall Mell of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that his disc will include some rock and blues to go with the plaintive tales of woe of C&W.

"I never would have dreamed I would have done an album, but a lot of people talked me into it," Daly said. "It's a way that I can tell my fans how much I really love them. They can understand my life through these songs. It's really cool."

Daly, 35, has remained one of the game's most popular players even while he struggled with alcohol, gambling, weight problems and three divorces. He now says he has never felt better and there are signs that his game is strong.

"I think mentally this is the strongest, toughest I have ever been in all aspects of my life, and that helps a lot," Daly said.

I have always had a soft spot for Daly ever since he was first brought to my attention by John Bland in the late 80s.

One of a constant flow of aspirant young American golfers looking for a place to play, Daly arrived unheralded. It might have stayed that way, but for one unmistakable fact… his incredibly long hitting.

Daly would become known for other character traits, but it was his driving that caused Bland to tell me to make a point of watching him.

The Lexington PGA was at the Wanderers and Bland was as wide-eyed as it is possible for him to be when he told me how he had needed driver, 3-wood, and a pitch to get to the par-five first while “this kid” was over the back with a driver and an 8-iron.

Bland was adamant that he had never seen anyone hit the ball quite as far and, when I went to watch Daly the following day, I agreed. Gob smacked I was… first by a swing so far beyond parallel that the club almost clipped his left heel and then by how far the ball went. Long off the tee took on a whole new meaning.

Daly, of course, could also play a bit. He would win the AECI Charity tournament at Randpark when he caught and overhauled David Feherty in the last round and notoriety would be added to fame when word filtered through of a violently wrecked room in Swaziland.

The talent first revealed on the Sunshine Tour – like Tony Jacklin, Peter Oosterhuis and Corey Pavin before him – came to full flower in 1991 when Daly scored an improbable victory in the US PGA championship at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana.

Less than 24 hours before the championship began, Daly was not even in the field. That he was given a place, as ninth alternative and last on the reserve list, was courtesy of Nick Price withdrawing on learning that his wife had gone into labour.

Dale drove through the night, a journey of 600 miles from his home in Memphis to Indianapolis and he teed up at Crooked Stick without so much as a practice round.

Four days later the man know to his friends as “Wild Thing” or “Macho Man” had become a folk hero; the swashbuckling cowboy defeated Crooked Stick with the biggest stick in his bag and went on to win the championship by three strokes.

This victory earned Daly an invitation to the 1991 Million Dollar and for me the chance of an exclusive interview. I had recently returned to newspapers and tournament promoter Sam Feldman, a man who understood a thing or two about maximising publicity, came up with an idea to get a spread in the Sunday Times.

Explaining that it would be difficult to get the much-in-demand Daly on his own at Sun City, Feldman made another suggestion. “Why don’t you fly to Sun City from Jan Smuts on the plane meeting John Daly? You’ll have him to yourself for at least half an hour.”

I introduced myself, asked if we could do an interview and made sure I sat opposite the mop-topped blond when we took off for the Pilanesberg. He proved to be friendly, amusing, accommodating and a font of quotable one-liners – an interviewer’s dream.

One aside provided my story line. “Jack Daniels used to be my best friend in the world,” he said in explaining that meeting his new wife, a feisty blonde whose name I forget, had enabled him to lick the liquor.

Even then there were tales of Daly’s binges and I would think back to the interview when, on the Saturday night, Sunday morning actually, I was making way into the casino and saw four security guards, one at each end of the pole, carrying the golfer, his head lolling from side to side, out. Daly, it was abundantly clear, had met up with his pal Jack again.

The next day he would disgrace himself by actually hitting the ball on the walk as he and Ian Woosnam played with all the diligence and care that comes from having a thundering headache.

Tales of Daly’s bouts of booze and betting would continue and the next time I saw him was at the British Open at St Andrews in 1995. He was not one of the favourites but he rode the high winds that blew all week like no-one else and ended up defeating Costantino Rocca in a four-hole play-off that became necessary when the Italian first duffed a pitch and then holed an amazing putt from the Valley of Sin on the regulation 72nd hole.

Daly looked like a man-o’-war under full sail in his billowing Reebok windcheater, he chewed gum at the prize-giving and at one point grabbed the microphone back from the master of ceremonies because he had forgotten to thank his sponsors.

He explained that he wasn’t drinking… having replaced one addictive habit with an incredible capacity to scoff chocolate chip muffins and M&M’s. On the Monday he would appear for his official photographs with his head shaven. No half measures for our John!

Still Daly had two major titles to his name and it seemed he might knuckle down and take full advantage of the benefits of his vast length off the tee.

It was not to be. Daly appeared hell bent on self-destruction and he even failed to respond to Eli Callaway’s magnanimous and fatherly efforts to keep him on the straight and narrow. Daly left Callaway, saying that he had been put on the wrong drugs, there were stories of him being spotted in casinos, he admitted to having the odd tipple, he incurred suspensions and he continued to slide down the world rankings.

He, however, claimed he was finding his own salvation and then last year he won the European Tour's BMW International in Germany – his first victory anywhere since he won the British Open in 1995.

Daly already has two ties for fourth this year (Buick Invitational and Phoenix Open). He's playing so well that he has rocketed from 507th in the Official World Rankings a year ago to No 42 on the most recent list.

Daly’s love affair with his driver continues. He has won a record 10 consecutive driving distance titles on the PGA Tour and leads again this year at a record distance of 316 yards per drive.

Big John’s album is titled “This is my Life,” and he expects it to be out in April. Singers Johnny Lee and Darren Norwood and the band Hootie and the Blowfish perform with him.

"The whole album is about my life," Daly said. "There is a lot of fun, a lot of humour and a lot of sadness. It's sort of about how my life has been up and down and the fans who have stuck with me."

Daly sings three of the songs. He wrote two of them and sang one with Lee called “All My Exes Wear Rolexes.” "My ex-wives probably won't like it much, but it doesn't mention their names," Daly told the Sun Sentinel.

Daly says the recording technicians make him sound pretty good. "They say I sound like Bob Dylan," he added.

A big music fan, Daly has collected 47 guitars. He has recently acquired B.B. King's Lucille, and also owns guitars that belonged to Stevie Ray, Alice Cooper, Vince Gill, Eddie Van Halen, Glenn Fry, Joe Walsh and Graham Nash.

Daly believes fans like him so much because they can relate to his problems. He's married a fourth time. He says his wife, Sherrie, is an important reason he's so content now. He also reports he isn't drinking and doesn't feel tempted.

"It's been a long time since I've had one," Daly said. "I just haven't had a desire even to have one. That option is always open, but it's not something I've even thought about lately."

Here’s hoping he continues to defeat his demons and climbs that ranking list. Wouldn’t you just love to see him “grip it and rip it” at Sun City again?