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THE 3 IRISH OPEN

May 12, 2009

John Daly

BALTRAY, IRELAND

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Give us your thoughts going into the week, obviously fantastic finish last week, and now coming to a links course.
JOHN DALY: It's totally different golf. This place is beautiful. The golf course -- any time you play links, it's not really the best-ball striker; you've got to have some luck. You're going to have to land the ball short on a lot of these greens because they are rolling out pretty good. It's not really target golf. It's more imagination golf, which I love to play.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Can you transfer some of your form and confidence from last week to this?
JOHN DALY: No, it's totally different, because you're not flying the ball through the flags. Every hole changes because of the wind. And the pins, you know, these greens are pretty undulated. So the pin placements are going to be how you evaluate how you hit off the tee.
Like last week in Italy, I knew exactly what to hit off the tee on every hole; the par 3s might be a club different or something, but here, it's just totally different. One day it could be a driver and the next day it could be a 6-iron. And that's what's great about links golf.

Q. You won an Open Championship obviously on a links course in St. Andrews, and you obviously feel at home playing links golf. Can you tell us why you should be so at home?
JOHN DALY: I love it. It's so different than target golf, like I said before, it's just, I think imagination plays a big part in links-style course, you don't think, okay, that's a birdie hole. You go into it thinking, that's just a hole you've got play.
A lot of times, just like last week, I knew certain holes if I didn't make birdie, I was going to lose a shot. But here with the weather like this, you walk off sometimes with a bogey, you're happy.
But it's more or less when the weather is this bad, you make pars on some of these holes out here and you feel good about it. It's just -- like I said, it's just different golf, and this course here, I still am not comfortable off any of the tees, and that concerns me a little bit.

Q. Why?
JOHN DALY: I don't know. I just don't feel comfortable. Well, there's probably about seven of them out there, and I look at them it going, I don't have a clue what to hit off the tee when the wind is blowing like this, and I think that's kind of what happens in a lot of links golf. They said this is not even the predominant wind; it usually is coming the other way. So you're going, okay, practice two days in this wind and it changes.
It's fun. I think it's more or less patience than anything, because you're going to get some bad bounces and you're going to get some good bounces and that's what it's all about.

Q. There are not any real blind holes out there, are there?
JOHN DALY: It's more avoiding the bunkers. Yesterday on 1, my caddie tells me it's 268 to that bunker and I'm going, I don't even think I can get to that bunker. Normally I'm usually flying bunkers 290, 300 yards, and you don't worry about it. So it's more or less the bunkers in the fairways that you have got to worry about this week, because you've just got to chip out of them, pretty much like a British Open.

Q. How much would it mean to you to win or certainly get into contention over the space of the four days?
JOHN DALY: Oh, it would be great, but like I said, I would sit right down in this thing and not play any four days and just say, give me even par and I'll take it right now. If the weather is going to be like this, I'll take even par in a heartbeat.

Q. Just wondering what is your status now on the PGA TOUR? Are you waiting for a phone call from Commissioner Finchem, or what happens from now?
JOHN DALY: I haven't heard. So when they tell me, I'll worry about it then.
The deadline on it was Memphis, was the exact week that I would be able to come back but I haven't heard anything.

Q. Obviously you've taken the opportunity now to travel a bit around Europe. Would the European Tour be someplace you would feel pretty much at home if you had to make your home and work up the World Rankings from there?
JOHN DALY: Oh, no doubt. I would love to be in that Race to Dubai, if I was to get into the Top 60; I would definitely come back over and play that.
I've just got to get back, play these three and hopefully do well and get back home, and I have a week to decide. The thing for me, like I've told everybody, is I like to play three, four, five weeks in a row. I don't like playing a week and taking two weeks off. Tiger is phenomenal at that stuff, but I'm more like Vijay; I like to play a lot of golf. The more I can play, the more I can get rhythm and consistency.
If I go home, it's going to be Memphis and then if I don't have a tournament for two or three weeks, I will definitely just come back here. If I know I can play three or four, five in a row here, it's better for me to do that than try and get exemptions one week and then two off. I don't want to did that.

Q. Away from the golf a little bit, on the fashion side, do you see yourself as being a clothes horse for fashion?
JOHN DALY: I didn't realise it would get this popular. But my buddy over in the States, Larry, he's excited about it, and it is something different. But you know, you think about 60s, 70s and 80s, this really is not different than what the guys wore. You look at Johnny Miller in his career, some of the slacks he wore were kind of like this. It's not so much new; it's kind of like old, tradition stuff that they used to wear. Our colours might be a little bit brighter, but we are having a blast with it.
I think it will be a good business, because we have got a lot of hits on the Web site and people are enjoying it, and like I just told Scott, we have got the fans on my Twitter page are going to design the next 40 styles and whoever get the nicest ones or the ones we like the best will get some free clothes and stuff. It's more fun than anything.

Q. Would you be happy walking down the main street of your place where you normally live in slacks like those?
JOHN DALY: Oh, yeah. Where I live? Oh, yeah, it doesn't bother me.

Q. You all do it, do you?
JOHN DALY: I would. I'd walk anywhere. Could I sleep in them as pajamas, wake up, play golf in them, put a white or orange sport coat on and go to dinner. You could use them for anything. No big deal. (Chuckling).

Q. Do you feel at this period your career is kind of like a last-chance is a loon for new way; you've had some very troubled times and you're now very focused on what you're doing and your results and that this is it and that you have to do this time?
JOHN DALY: It's not I have to; I want to. I love golf and I love to play the game and I'm very competitive, and that's what keeps me going. I don't know if it's the last chance or what, but I feel like I'm getting up there in age. I've got seven years before the Senior Tour, but I still feel like I've got a lot of good play in me and a lot of good golf.
I think losing the weight is going to give me longevity on whichever tour I play, and I just love to play. I love to compete.

Q. What did you miss most about it when you were in these down years?
JOHN DALY: There are certain tournaments this year that I hate to miss. San Diego, Torrey Pines is one of my favourite tracks. L.A., the L.A. Open at Riviera, those two on the West Coast are two of my favourite golf courses I've ever played, and I feel good going into those.
I hated to miss those. But the most important thing is, like I said, I want to play four, five weeks in a row, take maybe one or two weeks off and go at it again. That's the way I've always done when I've had decent success on Tour, whether it's been over here or in the States, that's what's given me that success is being able to play more than one or two weeks in a row.

Q. The bookies here have a bet, 6:1, John Daly being photographed in one of the Irish newspapers drinking a pint of Guinness.
JOHN DALY: No, they won't see that. One, my lap band won't let me drink it; and two, the good thing about Guinness is when you drink beer in the States, you can drink 12 or 13 and get a little buzz, here it just takes one, because it's so strong.
No, I don't drink the heavy beer too much.

Q. Are you off the beer this week?
JOHN DALY: I haven't drank a beer since I've had the lap band, since I've had the surgery. It's not good for it. I sip on a beer maybe but I haven't really been drinking much at all.

Q. Irish whiskey maybe?
JOHN DALY: I haven't tried it. No, I haven't tried it.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Hopefully can have one on Sunday, John. Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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