Let's start with JD. According to John Coomber in a story posted on Fox Sports, Daly was already having a rough day at the Australian Masters when he approached his final hole of the day, the 9th hole. He pushed his tee shot and had just walked up to his ball when a spectator took a number of pictures of him. Daly consequently took the patron's camera and threw it against a tree, shattering it to pieces. Coomber writes:
After snatching the camera, Daly stalked up to the nearest tree and hurled it with all his force into the trunk.
"You want it back, I'll buy you a new one," Daly said to the fan.
As Daly completed the hole, Clegg, a 15-handicapper from Sydney club Ashlar, was left to pick up the pieces - literally.
Clegg, who had taken a leave day especially to see Daly play, said it was a disappointing way to finish the day.
"It hasn't ended well," he said.
Asked if he would be seeking compensation, Clegg said: "I don't think I'll be chasing him for the money. He's a big bloke."
First off, if you want to know what bloke means, urban dictionary defines it as a british slang term for a 'man's man.' Secondly, what was a spectator doing with a camera on a tournament day?
Apparently, the tournament director addressed this and said the spectator 'breached the conditions of entry.' The heaving of the camera is no excuse, but the spectator is to blame as well.
As for Adam Scott--let's just say the Australian golfing public isn't too happy with the former Players champ. He has dropped out of the Australian Masters for the second straight year, this time, citing a knee injury that has beleaguered him for the past few months. Scott said in a teleconference that if it had been the US Open, he would have played.
This comes as a surprise to me, especially because Scott has never been one to stir up controversy. Nevertheless, as Brent Read from The Australian writes:
The survival of the Australian tour, which has atrophied alarmingly over the past 15 years, hinges on Scott and other high-profile players returning each year. It was the same when Greg Norman was in his prime and the two-time British Open champion, a long-time supporter of Australian golf, was pilloried on occasion for failing to return home.
Scott, who opted not to play in the Australian Masters, injured his knee while at the beach on Queensland's Sunshine Coast nearly two weeks ago. There had been whispers he would not be fit to play, but organisers say they were still shocked to receive a phone call yesterday morning informing them he would not be flying to Sydney.
They were even more stunned when, during a teleconference with media, Scott was asked whether he would have played had it been the US Open, as Tiger Woods did at Torrey Pines earlier this year when he won his 14th major with a serious knee problem which later required surgery.
"Probably, yes, I would have," Scott replied. "The reason I am not coming down to play is that I could hobble around this week and get it done, but I think that would set me back so far that I would not be able to start 2009 at the Mercedes (tournament).
Those are pretty powerful words. Does playing on the PGA Tour full-time and the assimilation to American culture cause foreign-born golfers to forget their roots? I believe this certainly holds true in some cases.
And as for the Mercedes, at least there will be one top-20 golfer on site this year.
