Columnist image

TSN Senior Reporter

| Archive

It wasn’t a win, but John Daly emerged as a winner in his own right in his first start on the Champions Tour. 

Long John ended up tied for 17th at the Insperity Invitational but, as he often was on the PGA Tour, was the biggest draw of the tournament. Daly had large galleries - often seven deep by some accounts - following his every shot and on Sunday, it appeared that gaggle might see something special. The long bomber came out of the gate with three birdies to climb into contention but was felled by a triple on the par-4 17th after hitting his second shot into the water. 

Still, it appears this will be the start of a beautiful relationship between Daly and the 50-and-over circuit. He said he plans to play as much as he can and for a guy who hasn’t had exempt status anywhere since 2007, that’s good news. 

“I played better than I thought I would,” Daly told reporters about his maiden run. “I hit a lot of fairways this week. The irons weren’t all that great. I was really close to being good.”

---

Stephen Ames didn’t finish in style at the Insperity Invitational, posting a double bogey on his final hole, but he still finished in a tie for 12th. 

The Vancouver resident now has four top-20 finishes in five starts on the 2016 Champions Tour and sits 28th in the Schwab Cup, the season-long points race. 

This week, Ames is coming up on the 10th anniversary of his most prestigious victory, the 2006 Players, where he beat the best field in golf by six shots in one of the tournament’s most dominant performances.

“It seems like a long time ago,” Ames said last week, reflecting on the victory. “But I remember it very well, that’s for sure.”

---

Really, James Hahn was just happy to be working the weekend. Winning was something almost beyond his belief.

On Sunday, Hahn won the Wells Fargo Championship in a playoff over Roberto Castro, ending a lengthy spell of bad play. How bad? He’d missed the cut in his previous eight starts and hadn’t broken 70 in his last 18 rounds. 

The two-time winner on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada had no answer for his streak of bad play. He’d been putting in lots of hard work on his game, trying to break out of the slump. Last week, a heart-to-heart talk with his caddie Mark Urbanek reassured him he was going to come through it all. 
"You're playing bad and you're missing cuts and there's nothing funny about that," Hahn said to reporters after his round.

Winning, though, that’s lots of fun. Especially when it comes after some solid play and with a cheque for $1.3 million. 

---

On the course, it wasn’t a great week for Graham DeLaet who ended up tied for 77th. After two good rounds of 71 on Thursday and Friday, he tweaked his neck before Saturday’s round and struggled to a 76-78 finish, playing in some pain.

But where DeLaet did come through as a winner was in his support for the victims of the fire in Fort McMurray. Before his first round, he pledged $500 for every birdie he made – he had 11 of them – and was joined in the fundraising by Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin. 

DeLaet also put up a pledge page and invited his fans to join in and by the end of the weekend, more than $22,000 had been raised. With the federal government matching the donations, DeLaet’s efforts will bring close to $50,000 to help the Red Cross in its efforts to aid those affected by the blaze. 

---

The Players Championship is one of the PGA Tour’s marquee events and it draws what is perhaps the best field of the year. And much of the focus for the week comes on one hole – the 17th, the infamous par 3. 

Most players are not fans of the hole, certainly not when it comes so late in the round. It has changed the outcome of the tournament many times. 

But just how many balls find the pond? Last year 39 ended up in the watery grave – roughly 10 per cent of all shots taken. That’s about the average for the tournament going back to 2003. The fewest water-logged balls for any year in that stretch is 29 (2003, 2010) and the most is 93 in 2007.