Daly to end Tour hiatus in Vegas

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 1998 | 12:56 p.m.

John Daly, whose personal problems often have overshadowed his professional accomplishments, will end a six-week hiatus from the PGA Tour when he competes in next week's $2 million Las Vegas Invitational.

Daly was one of six players to formally commit Monday to play in the 16th annual LVI, which will be held Oct. 14-18 at three area courses.

Daly has not played in a PGA Tour event since he missed the cut at the Greater Vancouver Open in late August. During the opening round of that event, Daly began shaking uncontrollably and tears streamed down his face while waiting to putt on the 15th green.

The 32-year-old Daly, who is a recovering alcoholic, played out the hole and finished the round with a 3-over-par 74. He returned the following day and shot a 1-under 70, but missed the cut. It marked the eighth time in 23 tournaments that Daly had failed to survive the cut.

"(The field) just keeps getting better," LVI tournament manager Charlie Baron said after learning Daly had committed to play in this year's event. "This is shaping up to be one of our better fields."

Daly burst onto the golf scene in a big way in 1991, winning the PGA Championship in his rookie season. Four years later, Daly became the youngest active player on the PGA Tour with two major championships when he claimed the 1995 British Open before his 30th birthday.

After several suspensions from the PGA Tour and a like number of rehabilitation stints for his alcoholism, Daly began this season by playing his most consistent golf as a professional.

After three straight top-20 efforts on the West Coast, Daly put together back-to-back fourth-place finishes in March at the Nissan Open and the Honda Classic. Daly followed a 53rd-place showing at the Bay Hill Invitational -- during which he took an 18 on one hole during the final round -- with a 16th-place tie at The Players Championship in late March.

Daly struggled from that point on, however, failing to post a top-20 finish and missing seven cuts.

Daly said in an interview before the Greater Vancouver Open that he was considering taking the rest of the season off.

"It ain't worth it," Daly said after shooting a 2-over-par 74 when the rain-delayed Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was concluded in August. "I used to be able to tee it up and shoot 69 without breaking a sweat.

"Now, I'm hitting it great and making a lot of putts and nothing is happening."