John Daly has thrown golf clubs during fits of frustration over the course of his wild career. He said his putter going into a lake at a PGA Tour Champions event last week was not one of them.
"If I throw a putter, it's going to be in two pieces, not one," Daly said Wednesday. "And it's going to be 50 yards in the lake, not 5."
Daly said reports of him throwing his putter into the lake at the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Fla., were lacking context.
The two-time major champion said his sciatic nerve was acting up and he probably shouldn't have played. He decided to withdraw after the seventh hole. While walking off the green, he flipped the putter over his shoulder to his caddie, who wasn't watching, and the club went into the water.
There was no video of the incident.
A writer for linksmagazine.com posted a photo on Twitter of the top of Daly's putter in the water as fans gathered around for a look. Daly said the thick, foam grip enabled it to float.
"I take responsibility," Daly said. "I shouldn't have tossed it."
He was more distraught at losing the putter, which he described as a 50-year anniversary model of the Ping Answer that company Chairman John Solheim gave him. Daly said he called the head pro at The Old Course at Broken Sound to see whether he could get it back, but by then someone already had retrieved it.
Daly's most recent club throw was at Whistling Straits at the 2015 PGA Championship, when he put three balls in the water on the par-3, seventh hole. After hitting the green on the fourth try, he slung his 6-iron into Lake Michigan.
"That was a proper throw," he said.
Daly finished 71st on the money list last year in his first season on the 50-and-older circuit. His best finish is a tie for 11th. Daly said he had his back worked on and plans to play in the Chubb Classic this week in Naples, Fla.
Body talk
Hideki Matsuyama doesn't always look happy with his golf shots, even when they turn out well. Such was the case at the Phoenix Open, when the Japanese star would finish with one hand on the club only for the ball to finish in reasonable range for birdie, or his shoulders would slump and the ball would split the middle of the fairway.
"Sometimes how you're playing and the results don't coincide," Matsuyama said. "So for me, when I do a one-handed finish, to me it's a missed shot. It's just the result was good."
When he was jokingly asked whether he did that to confuse the TV announcers, Matsuyama smiled and said, "No. That would be fun."
Technicality
In 54 games before Wednesday this season, Sacramento's DeMarcus Cousins has been called for 17 technical fouls. His 18th technical foul, and every other one after that, will result in a one-game suspension for Cousins.
"It's obvious I can't be myself," Cousins said. "Me playing how I play is what makes me the player that I am. Obviously it's not acceptable, so I'm trying to find a way to, you know, do what these guys are asking me to do. It's not easy, but I'm trying to find a way."
Sports on 02/16/2017