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TARGET WORLD CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY WILLIAMS

December 8, 2004

John Daly

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, John, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Target World Challenge. Your first time here.

JOHN DALY: Yeah, it's kind of weird. I'm going to have to keep my score in this tournament. Usually it's team ball. We played the Shark Shootout here, but it's always a great golf tournament, always fun to play, and I'm just glad Tiger invited me this year.

Q. Your invitation was overdue.

JOHN DALY: Well, I don't know.

Q. Didn't you think you'd get invited after you won in Germany?

JOHN DALY: Tiger had already committed to a couple other guys before I won that. No, I didn't let him have it. It's just good to be here this year.

Q. When did you get your invite?

JOHN DALY: I think it was the week of Boston, somewhere in there, so that was kind of neat.

Q. This is a comeback year. You won for the first time in a while. What do you think about 2005? Are you looking at a good year? Are you happy with your game?

JOHN DALY: The latter part of the year, right around the British, I just wasn't putting as good and wasn't quite hitting it as good, but I'm going to work really hard over the holidays like I did last year, stay out here on the west coast and get ready for Hawaii. It's nice to play in those tournaments where there's no cut, it really is. You're getting yourself off to a great start, whether you're playing good or bad.

I haven't been back to Hawaii for a long time for the Mercedes, so it's a great way to start the year, hopefully do what Stuart Appleby did, knock that first one off and start the year.

Q. Have you played at Kapalua before?

JOHN DALY: I played it when it was the Lincoln-Mercury. It was kind of a fun event in the later part of the year, but now it's a serious event.

Q. I know you struggled a little bit, but you still had a pretty good year. When you won at Buick, was that pretty much what set you up for the whole year?

JOHN DALY: Yeah, I mean, I was hoping to not miss a cut on the Tour this year. In Greensboro I was 3-under par and the windstorm -- I shot 3-under and played in the worst two days. I missed that cut and then missed Disney. You know, it was a great year, and hopefully I can just feed off of it and hopefully get a little better next year.

Q. You've always been a fan favorite. People everywhere seem to support you. Do you sense that and does that keep you going?

JOHN DALY: It does. You know, it's unbelievable when it's going good, but even when it's going bad, it's pretty special. The PGA was the worst I played all year, just a couple bad swings, and they were still behind me. It keeps you trying and keeps you motivated to hopefully somehow -- that's what happened this year a lot was some bad rounds, and what should have been some high scores turned into decent rounds and kept me in it. The Memorial this year, I shot 42 on one side and came back with a 30 and still finished almost in the Top 10.

Now if I'm playing bad, I feel like I can still get it back instead of forcing it.

Q. I know over the years you seemed upset with yourself when something would go wrong. Do you tend now to have a little better control?

JOHN DALY: I don't know if I was disappointed in myself, but I used to get more aggressive when I had a bad hole and it would turn into another bad hole and another bad hole. Now me and Peter, we've worked on if we have a bad hole the worst we want to make on the next one is a par. We've been doing that since he's been working for me, and that's worked out pretty well. That's the thing that can save rounds. If you have a bad hole, you just don't want to continue to get more aggressive and more aggressive like I used to. Now it's just what's the best way I can make a par, and just go from there.

Q. The award you received last week, Comeback Player of the Year, was that a big deal?

JOHN DALY: I just want to win. You know, it's a great award, but it just shows that you didn't do very good last year (laughter). But it is, it's a cool award, and I take pride in the fact that I worked very hard to come back like I did. I just want to try and continue that hopefully.

Q. How do you look at this tournament? Is it a kickoff for you for next season or is it just a year-end fun kind of thing?

JOHN DALY: It's kind of balanced. You want to play really well. You could end the year and really play good to end the year, and it works both ways. It builds your confidence for next. It's the last tournament of the year for me, so I'll hopefully feed off of it.

Q. What do you think about the changes in the Ryder Cup Point system?

JOHN DALY: It's kind of about time really. I mean, for so many years it always seems to be somebody is always hurt.

Q. (Inaudible).

JOHN DALY: I was thinking about it. If we would have been on a one-year system, since I've been out here I would have been on four Ryder Cup teams. Definitely 91, 95, 2001 and this year.

Q. You led the Tour in driving for so long. What are your thoughts on so many guys up there now?

JOHN DALY: Technology and the way the game is, it's going to keep getting longer and longer probably. The thing is this has been a great year. I don't know what my fairways hit was, but I felt it was a lot better, ever since I went to a cut. This is actually the first year that I really, really trusted the cut off the tee every shot that I hit. I've only been doing it -- this is my third year.

It's not that important. That's why I went back when I signed the deal with Dunlop to go back to the drawing board and play with a golf ball that was like when I played my best in the early 90s. I don't care if it doesn't go as far as these balls with big dimples and it doesn't go a lot further. To me I can control those type of balls, low trajectory -- especially with the irons, the trajectory is always the same. That's what was so great about a balata ball; the trajectory was always the same. A lot of guys on Tour can control those, but that's the way it is for me. That ball I'm using right now is so great around the greens, and that's the reason why I think I had a great year.

Q. Do you feel like you're back to where you were in the early 90s?

JOHN DALY: I think this is kind of like a year like 91 without a major, very consistent all around, but to be even close to what Tiger and Vijay do and Phil and Ernie and those guys do year in and year out, it's just one year. They do it every year. I've got to feed off of it, look at the stat that was the worst this year and just take it from there.

Q. Is it good for the game of golf that there's competition with more than one guy?

JOHN DALY: Yeah, I mean, what Vijay did is remarkable. I mean, it's the most unappreciated season of any human being that's ever played the game of golf, I think. It just didn't get the recognition that I think it really deserves. Vijay did something nobody has done. I mean, Tiger set millions of records, as well, but that's a lot of wins and a lot of money. It's incredible.

Q. You're very accessible, Tiger is very accessible and he's not accessible. Don't you think that hurts him in a way that he's not out in the public eye like a lot of guys are?

JOHN DALY: Yeah, I think Vijay is just to his own. He doesn't really worry about that stuff. You know, me and Tiger, we want to be sort of accessible. We want to -- Vijay promotes the game of golf with his game. He doesn't do it in words, and Tiger does the same thing, and I feel like I've had spurts of doing that, but he's a great guy once you get to know him. He's funny. I've had a chance to play a lot of rounds with him this year, but I think he's just to his own. All he wants to do is hit balls and play golf. He doesn't care if anybody watches. He just wants to hold a trophy up on 18 on Sunday like all of us do, but he does it in a very quiet manner.

Q. I guess it goes without saying that you want to play in at least one Ryder Cup, don't you?

JOHN DALY: Well, two records I got. Like I said before, I was the only guy that had won one major that's never been on one, and now I'm the only guy that's won two that's never been on one.

Q. You want to play in a Ryder Cup, don't you?

JOHN DALY: I think it would be great, but I think it's great we're doing it on the year of the Ryder Cup this year. That's the way the Europeans have doing it. It makes it kind of more of a level playing field this way.

Q. It's also a sport where because guys can play well into their mid-40s, so I guess you feel at your age it hasn't all passed you by where you don't have a chance for the Ryder Cup?

JOHN DALY: I mean, I've got a lot of golf left. My godson told us the funniest thing I've ever heard. He had said you're going to be the greatest senior player that ever lived because when you're 50 your swing will just be parallel. You'll never lose the distance. That's kind of cool. That's what's great about the game. It's not even until your 40s. It's all the way -- Gene Sarazen, he's still hitting it, and how old is he, 90, 92? It's a great game to play all your life.

Q. Do you wonder where the years went? In other words, 91 to 04? Have they gone too fast? Do you ever regret, saying, "if I'd done this or that I'd be further along"?

JOHN DALY: Yeah, I could, but I look at it if I wouldn't have done that. Maybe I wouldn't have won the 91 PGA or the 95 British. To me there's more good in those years, did a lot of growing up, a lot of maturing that needed to be done, and I feel like I needed -- it just took me a little bit longer than most.

You know, I look at the good things and not the bad and I try not to make the same mistakes that I used to. Not having to pay a fine on the PGA TOUR in over five years, hell, that's a record for me (laughter). I'm setting all sorts of records for myself.

My godson's name is John Michael Sissini. He's 13.

Q. If you're Commissioner for a day, what do you change about the Tour?

JOHN DALY: What do I change? Wow. I think he's done a pretty good job myself. I wouldn't know what to change. No cuts would be great. I think Tim has done a wonderful job. Tough times that we've had, September 11th and stuff, our fields got stronger, the money has gotten better and stuff, and the only thing I've ever thought would be different in tournaments is -- we do a pretty good job, but sometimes we have a tournament that's a little further away than what you would think it would be back and forth, but I think he's done a wonderful job, I really do.

Q. What kind of boat are you taking to Hawaii?

JOHN DALY: I don't know, I hope it's got a casino on it (laughter). Then the bus will fit on it.

Q. Where did you come from and how long did it take you to eventually get here?

JOHN DALY: I left Memphis -- I've been here for about a week now. I've got a great sponsorship in Mark Christopher. They're out of California. This is my 12th year with them, and it's just a great relationship. I'll always come out early and hang out with those guys. Tommy Lasorda has been one of their spokesmen, Lawrence Taylor, Eric Dickerson, just a great bunch of guys. They've got a great golf course there at Red Hill Country Club that's got some of the fastest poa annua greens you've ever seen in your life, and it helps my game get ready for the poa annua here. It takes me I think 26 hours to drive from Memphis to Ontario. I slept for about four or five hours and got back up and drove.

Q. You've had a couple of silly season invitations this year and now you're in Tiger's tournament. Does it give you a sense of belonging? Does it feel like you're one of the guys?

JOHN DALY: I've always felt that way because when I did score, some of the guys would always say, look, you need to concentrate on this and do this. There's only been a few guys -- I don't even know their names, but people saying that -- there's one guy that wanted me banned from the Tour in the middle of the 90s. Most of the guys are very -- have always been great. I mean, that's one thing about our Tour, the European Tour, they back their guys, no matter what. Tom Watson, Palmer, I've sat and talked with Arnold a few times when things were tough, and that's just what's great about the veterans of the game, and if I could be half as good as those guys were to me, you know, there's always going to be somebody struggling in life when they come out, no matter what sport. I look at a guy like Artest for the Pacers, I really feel bad for him. He's got some guys there that are going to help him. You can't continue without support from the people you're playing against, and most of them have supported me. There's been a lot actually.

Q. Is there one good example that a player did that you wouldn't have expected?

JOHN DALY: When I was really, really struggling, when I was in rehab, and I got phone calls from -- Norman called me, Fuzzy called me, Watson called me, Beemer called. Just when things were really, really bad in 97 was probably the worst it was, and just the guys calling me saying, "hey, we're thinking about you and can't wait for you to get back." That doesn't happen too much. That was really cool.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, John, for joining us.

End of FastScripts.

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