The Tiger Woods Side of John Daly

Evidently, the love and adoration shown Big John Daly by TAH and the golf fans Down Under is starting to take its toll.

Yesterday, Mr. Tan, Rested and Evidently-Not-So-Ready smashed a spectators camera into a tree in route to posting a 6-over 78 in the opening round of the Australian Open.

The pukefest makes it likely that our run of great Da(l)y photos might come to and end as the Arkansas Bomber may well miss the cut for the third consecutive week in this particular hemisphere.

According to the blokes at AP, after pushing his tee shot wide on the ninth hole—his last—Daly walked into a clump of trees, where spectator Brad Clegg took take several pictures (according to Daly) at close range. Daly then snatched the camera and smashed it against the nearest tree, telling the man, “You want it back, I’ll buy you a new one.”

He later released a statement via tournament organizers saying Clegg got too close.

“I was looking to take a drop and a camera was 6 inches away from my face. If I was 10 under, I would have felt the same,” Daly said in the brief statement. “My eyes are still burning from the flash of the camera. (Dude, your eyes may be burning, but we wager it’s got something to do with camera flashes…)

“I feel it was very rude to put a camera that close to somebody’s face in any situation. The guy that had the camera had already taken a dozen shots at close range.” (OK, we’ll give you that, enough is enough.)

Without saying another word, Daly took his penalty drop, finished the hole with a bogey and stormed off the course.

Asked if he would seek compensation, Clegg told the Australian Associated Press: “I don’t think I’ll be chasing him for the money. He’s a big bloke!”

As of publication, TAH could find no information regarding whether or not Daly spent the night asleep at a Cooters (the Australian version of Hooters) after his disastrous round.

 

The entire ugly episode may explain exactly why Tiger isn't playing in camera-happy Australia.

(AFP/Torsten Blackwood and Mark Nolan/Getty Images)