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John Daly May Call It Quits


John Daly says it might be time for him to walk away from golf until he can get his game straightened out.

"I've had it with this," he said Monday after shooting a 2-over 74 to finish 13 strokes back in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. "It ain't worth it."

Frustrated by working harder than he ever has but getting nothing in return, Daly planned to withdraw from this week's Sprint International in Colorado and won't play another PGA Tour event this year.

"Only the fun events," he said, mentioning the Fred Meyer Challenge, the Shark Shootout and the J.C. Penney Classic, a mixed event he plays with Laura Davies.

Daly is supposed to play with Mark O'Meara and Tiger Woods in the Dunhill Cup in October, and is even having second thoughts about that.

"If things don't change, I may ask to be replaced," he said. "I wouldn't help Tiger and Mark right now. I'd only be hurting the team."

Daly finished in the top 20 in five straight tournaments during the spring, kept going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and spent more time on the driving range than ever.

"I used to be able to tee it up and shoot 69 without breaking a sweat," Daly said. "Now, I'm hitting it great and making a lot of putts and nothing is happening."

He missed the cut in four of his last 11 tournaments. In one of the few tournaments where he played on the weekend, he closed with two double bogeys in the third round at Memphis and was disqualified for walking off the course without signing his card.

"That was stupid," he said.

He played the FedEx St. Jude Classic because it was close to his home in Arkansas and he wanted to appease his friends, even though the course doesn't suit his game.

"I figured I'd get ripped by the press if I didn't play," he said. "And I got ripped anyway."

If Daly indeed planned to walk away from golf, he seemed to be in a big hurry in the final round at Pebble Beach, where he walked 40 yards ahead of playing partners David Frost and Kelly Gibson down every fairway.

How fast was Daly playing?

After the final putt was holed at No. 17, Daly walked 40 yards over to the 18th tee and launched a 330-yard drive into a 10 mph wind. Elapsed time: 48 seconds.

©1998 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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