Any excuse to run the outstanding picture on the left of PGA Tour golfer John Daly, eh?
Although a winner of two majors (1991 PGA and 1995 British Open) over a decade ago, Daly has won only golf tournament in the past 11 years. Nevertheless, he remains one of the most popular and colorful members of the PGA Tour. Married four times with periodic alcohol problems, a big heart and a reality television show to his credit, Daly is one of those larger-than-life characters who seem to attract many of the same folks who watch auto races in anticipation of the crashes.
This week, Daly raised more than a few eyebrows around the rather staid PGA Tour as a result of being the subject of a rather odd promotional campaign for his new autobiography, My Life In and Out of the Rough (HarperCollins 2006), which hits the stores on Monday. The promotional campaign is highlighting Daly’s wild days and nights on the PGA Tour and, according to this Mike Bianchi/Orlando Sentinel review, the book is not for the fainthearted. After reading Daly’s description of various sexual exploits, Bianchi notes:

It’s always amazed me why Daly is so beloved among sports fans when he is 10 times more corrupt than Terrell Owens, Barry Bonds and Ricky Williams combined. I guess it pays to be a good ol’ boy white golfer.

Meanwhile, most of the media coverage focused on the gambling habit that Daly claims in the book has cost him between $50 million and $60 million. Daly’s gambling revelations garnered so much publicity during the week that former NBA basketball star Charles Barkley was prompted to remind folks that he, too, is a character in that he had lost $10 million or so at the gaming tables. To top it all off, Daly will be the subject of the seemingly obligatory segment during this Sunday’s 60 Minutes show on CBS.

Daly’s extravagant money requirements were highlighted in the following passage from this Associated Press article this week on Daly’s book:

And there are times when Daly knows his priorities.
He wrote about winning the British Open at St. Andrews and facing a dilemma. Wilson and Reebok, his corporate sponsors, were on the phone with agent Bud Martin, desperate for Daly to get out to the Swilcan Bridge for a promotional picture. The sun was setting, so there was no time to spare.
But hold on — the president was on the phone and wanted to talk to Daly.
“My first thought was … the president of the United States wants to talk to me,” Daly wrote. “But then Bud pointed out that Wilson and Reebok were putting $4 million a year in my pocket, and all Clinton was doing was taking 40 percent away.”
He went to the bridge.

Count me as skeptical that Long John’s claims regarding the size his gambling losses are anything more than promotional flare for his new book. By my calculations, Daly would have had to generate something in the neighborhood of $150 million over the past 15 years just to be in a position to lose that much money in the casinos. Inasmuch as Daly has grossed less than $10 million in career PGA Tour earnings, after you net out the substantial expenses of playing the PGA Tour, alimony to three ex-wifes and support for his four kids, Daly would have had to average about $10 million a year in endorsement income even to come close to having enough to gamble away $50 million of it. In Daly’s best year, he has made about $7 million in off-course income and he probably has not averaged even half that much annually over the rest of his 15-year career. Despite the bulletin board-style golf shirts that he wears, his sponsors are not big-money, at least in comparison to other sponsors of top Tour players.
Thus, while I’m not doubting that Long John has thrown away a good pile of dough at the gaming tables, my sense is that $50-60 million loss figure (even if that’s reduced by roughly half through his winnings, as Daly subsequently suggested) is pure fiction. Given that, I wonder how much more of Daly’s autobiography is the same?