Ryder Cup and Daly

[QuigleyDU]

Pat Reed is a jerk and a cheater, but he is so much more mentally tough than Daly all other comparisons stop there. Reed is the most mentally tough golfer since Tiger Woods.

[aenemated]

In the starter's cabin/snack shop by #1 at the Old Course; the walls are decorated with a nice mural of past champions.

I'm *pretty* sure Daly was not pictured among them. Could be wrong but I really don't recall seeing him.

[dan360]

Addicts are difficult people to understand, and harder to love. JD is an addict. Not of drugs, persay, but of alcohol, gambling, smoking, and self abuse. I'd bet he has social anxiety and tried to mellow it with security blankets. Can't speak for the guy but the one time I got to talk to him he was pretty awesome considering I'm a nobody.

If one goes back into the interwebz archives and reads some of the 1995 articles from his Open Championship win, it's pretty obvious why he never was picked for a Ryder Cup team. He ruffled a LOT of feathers between 1991-1995, and continued to do so long after.

Many of the players out there past & present have partied just as hard, drank nearly as much, gambled away a tidy sum, and were/are general arsefaces, along with other vices like multiple mistresses, racism, cheating, et al...they just hid it better.

[Fade]

It is better to have a couple of majors and no Ryder Cup appearances than the other way around.

[Dave230]

It's better to have a consistent player in team golf, two of the five matches are foursomes - Daly would be firing the ball all over the place if he was off form. Could be some use in fourballs but there was no big discrimination against him, he didn't qualify automatically. If you qualify automatically, you decide for the captain. A rookie should never expect a pick.

[Ironman_32]

On a recent NLU podcast where they talked about Tiger's 2000 British Open win, they mentioned that the broadcasters kept talking about the great list of champions, but specifically didn't mention Daly even though he was the most recent champion at that course.

[Ironman_32]

On one hand, there's stories about how the guy would give you the shirt off his back. (That time he donated golf clubs to a local high school that had theres stolen)

 

But those are far outweighted by crazier, more memorable, or I guess even sad stories (knife?/scratch marks on his face, falling asleep with his eyes open drunk at hooters, going to rehab).

 

I think the bottom line is, at heart he seems like a nice guy, but he acts way more entitled than he should. Yes he's accomplished, but take a guy like Larry Mize, he won the Masters but actually went back to Q-school at one point. Has Daly ever tried Q-school (when it was a viable options).

[golfandfishing]

not picking on you personally here, the sentiment of “a rookie should never expect a pick” is a long held belief of the RC culture. But..... why? The veterans and experienced Ryder Cup players have all proved that all they know is getting beat and are quite resigned to the attitude that losing the Ryder Cup is no big deal. Maybe captains should only pick rookies, or at least players with no cup experience. Because the current group of Ryder Cup veterans have proven to be quite incapable of winning.

[RichieHunt]

I could be wrong, but I don't think he had the qualifications (something to do with PGA credentials) in 1991 to be on the team.

 

Other than that, he never came close in points because he played a lot of lousy golf

 

He had 4 tour wins in the 90's and outside of the 2 major victories he had an abysmal record at The Players Championship.

 

Everybody at the time thought the Curtis Strange pick at the '95 Ryder Cup was a horrible pick.

 

 

 

 

RH

[Old Tom Morris]

He never wanted to go to Q school. Probably consumed with fear of failing in that pressure cooker.

I would have had more respect for him if he tried. A little humility and hard work can benefit anyone and change their life.

[Dave230]

Fair point and I'd largely agree, but it was more a point on what happens rather than what should happen.

It depends on the team, US no and Europe yes. Likes of Poulter and Garcia have the track record and winning culture to deserve a pick. Likes of Jim Furyk did not despite being great individual players.

[VNutz]

Gotta love people that live by the mantra "screw you, I'm gonna be me" yet then play the poor me card. 90s golf was far more old boys club than it is today, he went against the grain and he didn't prove himself. Plain and simple, he had a decade plus to qualify for a team, yet never did. He never took the game seriously enough and never honed his craft to warrant a captain's pick IMO. He had all the talent in the world, but you never knew what you were going to get from him on the first tee, and the Ryder Cup tends to lean more to a thinker and course management way of golf than a bombers, even more so in the 90s than now.

[aarontl]

I’m surprised they didn’t pick lee janzen who was leading the money list and had won the players championship

[iBanesto]

Short answer: He didn't qualify and was never consistent enough.

Just look at his performances in 1991 and 1995. http://www.owgr.com/en/Ranking/PlayerProfile.aspx?playerID=863&year=1991http://www.owgr.com/en/Ranking/PlayerProfile.aspx?playerID=863&year=1995

[Body_Visions]

That is very true, and I had forgotten about it. I never understood it. Did he think he was above it?

[MUNIGRIT]

I see people compare Reed with Daly. Poor comparison. Reed is a cheater and always will be and doesnt even own up to it when caught red handed. Reed isn't liked by fellow players. Daly is loved by fellow players and has always been honest with everyone.

[Old Tom Morris]

His hope always was that he would get some sponsor exemptions and make enough money to keep his card. He would not go on the Nike Tour and tough it out either. I never understood that, just go out and play well. Work hard and even win out there then go back to the big tour.

[grm24]

Daly did go to Q-School. That's how he got his PGA Tour card in the early 1990's. Since then you are correct. Daly was able to accept unlimited sponsor exemptions. FWIW he also never tried to qualify for the US Open when he wasn't eligible.

[iBanesto]

Cabrera has 10 top 10 finishes in majors to 3 for Daly.

Agree that Cabrera has comfortably more consistent in majors and tour golf.

[Shilgy]

Huh, Jansen was 72nd on the ‘91 money list. 95 he was third and not on the team. He was 35th on the list in 94 which led to him not auto qualifying.

[grm24]

There was no Ryder Cup in 1994 so there was nothing to auto qualify for. A QUICK NINE WITH LEE JANZEN

[Shilgy]

I know that. Are you saying points from 94 don’t count?

[Shilgy]

The story you attached explained Watkins decision. Hindsight is always 20/20 but with 5 rookies on the team he went with experience.

The assumption was that Janzen would have played better but no one really knows.

To me it is hard to hear a player whine, of fans whine, when not picked. Either qualify on points or risk missing out.

 

edited to add...5 rookies and three that had only played one of the ten points leaders. The other two had only played twice and three times. It really was quite a weak US squad.

Janzen’s one appearance prior was in 93 and he went 0-2-0

Why would Lanny pick him?

[bscinstnct]

Its interesting to look at JDs OWG numbers over the years.

 

Starts 1989 ranked at 500 and steadily starts moving up. He gets to 169, then he wins the PGA and, boom, he’s at 54.

 

He gets as low as 47 later that year then hovers but fades and is generally between 50-100 over the next few years.

 

Then he wins the 1995 Open and he’s back at 47. But, he fades from there and by 1998 he’s down at 250.

 

He rally’s a little but then he really falls off the map and by early 2001 he’s down at 422. But then he has a good year in 2001, some top 10s and the wins the BMW and finishes the year with 3 more top 10s. He gets as low as 40th by mid 2002.

 

Then....he fades again and drops to 285 by early 2004.

 

But, the, Boom, he wins the Buick Invitational and had from there, over the next 2 years, he reels in a number of top 10s and top 5s and be the end of 2005, he is ranked....

 

23rd in the world!

 

However....it’s brutal from there. He drops and drops and by early 2009, he’s at 800.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LeoLeo99]

Sounds like a lot folks I know. Hence, common man.

[aarontl]

Janzen won 3 times that year before the Ryder cup and was leading the money list so he was in form and at the time a great pressure player

[Shilgy]

Back then wasn’t the team selected/announced the Monday after the PGA? Pretty sure that’s correct and if so that third win was after the team was announced.

[Old Tom Morris]

The final event to qualify on points was the PGA Championship. Double points in final year and another double for a Major. The captain also made his picks that week following the PGA.

[Shilgy]

That’s what I thought and what I was saying to the post I had replied to. He said Janzen should have been picked with three wins that year before the Cup. But the third wn was after team selec.

[Low Diamond Phillips]

I remember watching an interview with Colin Montgomerie (probably late 90s) and they asked him why the US team always fared so poorly in the Ryder Cup. He said that one issue with the team was their Captain's picks, and specifically suggested John Daly as someone they should think about picking, pointing out his length and how that could go a long way in a Ruder Cup format. I remember him saying something like, let's be honest, a player like Lee Janzen is not going to intimidate any of the European players. I remember thinking he had a point at the time. The US team definitely needed some kind of spark and maybe Daly could have provided it. But of course, we'll just never know if that's true or not.