Daly walks off course at Australian Open

[November 10, 2011]  SYDNEY (AP) -- John Daly walked off the course at the Australian Open on Thursday after hitting seven balls into the water on the 11th hole at The Lakes.

Infuriated Australasian tour officials, calling Daly's actions unprofessional, responded immediately by banning the controversial American from playing in the Australian PGA in two weeks.

It started on the short par-4 10th when Daly tried to drive the green. He thought his ball was in the front bunker, but after blasting out to about 4 feet, he realized he had hit a practice ball from the adjacent range. That's when he was told his ball was in the back bunker, and with a penalty shot and a three-putt, he wound up with a triple bogey that left him 7 over for the round.

Daly was annoyed, then hit his second on the par-5 11th into the water. Then he hit another into the lake. And another. And another. The final tally was seven balls, and it might have been more except that he had none left in his bag.

Daly turned over his scorecard to Hunter Mahan and Craig Parry and walked off the course. Daly later said on Twitter, "when u run out of balls u run out of balls. yes, I shook my player's partners hands & signed my card w/rules official."

He would have been up to a total of 16 strokes on the 11th hole if he had continued.

"Once I saw two go in, I think the effort went down pretty fast," Mahan said. "It doesn't do anyone any good for John to do what he did. It's unfortunate, J.D. is a pleasant guy."

Parry was mostly sympathetic toward Daly, saying he had the right club to reach the green, but the wind was stronger than he realized.

"I like John. He's a great guy," Parry said.

Trevor Herden, Golf Australia's director of tournaments, called Daly's actions "unprofessional" and said action needed to be taken against him. And Herden said running out of balls was no excuse for walking off the course.

"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," Herden said. "We can do that. For him to treat it as 'that's it' and 'see you later', that's not good enough."

Herden said Daly appeared to become upset after hitting the wrong ball out of a bunker on 10 -- apparently there were two there, one from the nearby practice range.

"I believe he has gone down 11, hitting five or six balls in the water -- I am not exactly sure," Herden said. "Anyway, he walks right off the golf course, with his son behind him, got in the courtesy car and went straight back to his hotel."

Herden said he was "bitter and disappointed" by Daly's actions.

"It is very disappointing for the tournament ... that he has treated the championship this way," Herden said. "It is a bit of a habit, but it is unacceptable and I certainly hope all the tours deal with it in an appropriate manner this time."

Asked why the Australian Open would have paid him appearance money to be here, Herden replied: "I am not going to talk about appearance money, but he likes to come back this time of year to Australia.

"He is a major winner, we have to pay him some respect, too, even though his times have moved on slightly. But I would say this will be the last time we will see John Daly."

The PGA Tour of Australasia later issued a statement saying no appearance fees had been paid to Daly. It also said Daly's actions Thursday would be referred to a disciplinary committee.

Daly, now ranked 666th in the world, was scheduled to play at the Australian PGA at the Hyatt Regency course at Coolum in two weeks.

"I think you might find that might change," Herden said, and the statement later said that the tour had withdrawn its offer for Daly to play at Coolum.

"The PGA does not need this kind of behavior tarnishing the achievements of other players and the reputation of our tournaments," the statement said. "John is not welcome at Coolum."

In 2002, after taking a triple-bogey 7 on his last hole at the Coolum course, Daly threw his putter and ball into a greenside pond and later failed to sign for a 78 on his scorecard, disqualifying himself from the tournament. He was later fined $5,600 by the Australasian tour and was ordered to write a letter of apology to a tour official he verbally abused.

Two years ago at the Australian Open, he smashed a spectator's camera into a tree at Royal Sydney's ninth hole. He was given a suspended fine by Golf Australia.

In 1998 at the PGA Tour's Bay Hill Invitational, Daly hit a 3-wood into the water six times in the final round, took an 18 on the par-5 sixth hole and shot an 85.

In the 2000 U.S. Open, he had a 14 on the par-5 18th hole and withdrew after an opening-round 83. Daly dumped three balls into the Pacific Ocean and hit another into a backyard adjacent to the fairway.

[Associated Press; By DENNIS PASSA]

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