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Notes from the FedEx Cup at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

On Saturday, I heard from a very reliable source that John Daly's intake during Monday's Wyndham Pro-Am included (over 18 holes): 21(!) cigarettes, eight Diet Cokes and four bags of M&M's.

My response was, initially: "Get the #%^@ out" and secondly, "Okay, now I have to actually follow Daly on Sunday and write this all down."

Yeah, a pretty repulsive way to spend an entire Sunday afternoon, right? Well, I've had worse. Until today.

What follows is kind of like a "Where's Waldo?" game for cigarettes and Diet Coke. Don't bother looking for any water -- I'm pretty sure Daly hasn't had a sip of water since at least 2002. Originally, I was going to post a picture of every cig and every Diet Coke, but ...

It wouldn't be a Daly round if I didn't have to fight through what some anonymous people referred to as "the Wal-Mart crowd". And by "fighting" I mean "taking tons of pictures of people in jorts (jeans + shorts - belt) and Mason Crosby jerseys". And the fans, folks, are way, way more entertaining at this stage of his career.

Notes from the FedEx Cup at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

On Saturday, I heard from a very reliable source that John Daly's intake during Monday's Wyndham Pro-Am included (over 18 holes): 21(!) cigarettes, eight Diet Cokes and four bags of M&M's.

My response was, initially: "Get the #%^@ out" and secondly, "Okay, now I have to actually follow Daly on Sunday and write this all down."

Yeah, a pretty repulsive way to spend an entire Sunday afternoon, right? Well, I've had worse. Until today.

What follows is kind of like a "Where's Waldo?" game for cigarettes and Diet Coke. Don't bother looking for any water -- I'm pretty sure Daly hasn't had a sip of water since at least 2002. Originally, I was going to post a picture of every cig and every Diet Coke, but ...

It wouldn't be a Daly round if I didn't have to fight through what some anonymous people referred to as "the Wal-Mart crowd". And by "fighting" I mean "taking tons of pictures of people in jorts (jeans + shorts - belt) and Mason Crosby jerseys". And the fans, folks, are way, way more entertaining at this stage of his career.

Notes from the tail end of the FedEx Cup run at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

Charley Hoffman is pretty awesome, as you can see from the right. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention the number of f-bombs I heard him drop today, but it was a ton almost zero. Seriously though, Hoffman kind of rules. Having him paired with Daly made the majority of my day far more enjoyable.

And in the ever-clear and 20/20 vision that is hindsight, I kind of wish I hadn't semi-bashed Garrett Willis for his shrug off of a fan yesterday. It still took him about half a day to shake the bad karma, but we caught him when he made a mini-run at the Wyndham Sunday, and the dood is pretty funny.

He told someone creeping by in a clunker and slowing down to watch a tee shot that he should just "buy ah ticket", which was so solid. Of course, he's cool, but he's no Charley Hoffman.

Hoffman flew a drive to the right side of the crowd rope on 17 Sunday that caught the cart path, plugged a young fan in the arm and then skidded back into the fairway. (In case you don't believe me, proof of the plunk below.)

Notes from the tail end of the FedEx run at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

Carl Pettersson didn't have the lowest score on Sunday at the Wyndham. He still won though, primarily because of the sick 54 hole cushion he'd built for himself. Oh yeah. And because Scott McCarron likes to three putt.

That's not take away from what Pettersson did though -- his 259 stands as the seventh lowest four day round in the history of the PGA and only five strokes off of Tommy Armour's record from the 2003 Valero Texas Open.

Petterson fired three under on the front nine Sunday, but started trying to give strokes back after he made the turn, throwing up bogey - bogey on 10 and 11 before spraying a tee shot well off the green (and about four feet from my right leg) on 12.

Notes from the tail end of the FedEx Cup run at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

John Daly told me at Hooters on Wednesday night that he didn't plan to use driver anymore than three times per day at the Wyndham Championship. Of course, that's not going to stop him from making sure he's ready to use it on the practice tee. The big dog is, naturally, fueled by cig smoke. (Sorry for the quality of the digital zoom, but the range was slammed early with jorts -- a.k.a. jean shorts -- galore and I had to go the far end to get a look.)



And yes, careful YouTube viewers, that was in fact the ball bouncing out the back of the driving range.

Notes from the tail end of the FedEx Cup run at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

I'm of the opinion that if a professional golfer shanks a ball (relatively) to the left or right and hits a fan -- even if the fan should have been smart enough to get out of the way -- that said gallery goer should land some free stuff.

It doesn't have to be as much as a freaking Rolex (Lefty) and it doesn't have to be as little as a glove (Tiger, and actually that's a really awesome thing to hand out) -- anything at all will suffice. A signed Pro-V1? Yeah, that takes all of 30 seconds.

What about for the fan who gets hit by a shanked ball and then incidentally knocks it back into the fairway with his huge ass broad shoulders? Yeah, if I was a pro golfer, dude is getting an old wedge or something cool. But I'm not Garrett Willis, who, apparently doesn't believe that fans should be rewarded for accidentally helping out their favorite golfers.

Notes from the tail end of the FedEx Cup run at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

Rocco Mediate charmed the pants off of America with his beguiling smile and tireless attacking of a one-ACL'd Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open. People knew who Rocco was before that, but they didn't love him. Now ... they freaking love him.

So it was great news for the Wyndham Championship when the two time former winner committed to come to Greensboro and play. He is, after all, arguably the second or third biggest crowd drawer in golf available (Phil's not playing and Tiger is injured), which is scary in it's own right, but important when you consider the Piedmont Triad's need for a big turn out.

However, if you've been following the Wyndham at all this weekend, you have likely noticed Rocco's absence from the field. From the press release last week:

Rocco Mediate, Angel Cabrera and J.B. Holmes have withdrawn from the Wyndham field, it was announced today. Mediate withdrew to spend time with his family

Aw. Well, that's nice and all, but Rocco's reason was later specified as "fatigue". So, not: "Family emergency." Which, frankly, is the only thing that should have kept him from competing in this tournament.

Notes from the tail end of the FedEx Cup run at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

The Wyndham Championship this week as seen some odd crowds -- Brandt Snedeker (defending champion), Drew Weaver (High Point native amateur), John Daly (general debauchery) have all had pretty big followings, especially Saturday as the tournament reported a full sell out.

But Carl Pettersson has been arguably the most popular golfer in Greensboro. It's easy to do that, of course, when you're the leader. It's also easy when you went to both high school and college within 90 miles of the tournament site.

Pettersson is originally from Sweden, so he doesn't sound like he ain't no North Carolinian. However, he's a Grimsley High School graduate and that more or less makes him a local to the thousands that have swarmed to Sedgefield Country Club in anticipation of how a pretty stout field (relatively speaking) would turn out.

And Pettersson hasn't disappointed anyone either: his 191 through three rounds is the lowest in the history of the GGO/Wyndham/etc and it's the fourth lowest 54-hole round in PGA history, tied with Tiger Woods' score from the 2007 TOUR Championship.

Pettersson cooled down on the front nine Saturday but on Thursday and Friday annihilated the first half of the Donald Ross course, going six under Thursday and five under Friday with 10 birdies, an eagle and only one bogey. He still managed a three under -- one eagle and one birdie -- in the early afternoon Saturday to end up with a 64-61-66 total, still only good for a two stroke lead heading into the final day.

But for a guy smelling his first win in nearly two years, all while in his back yard, that seems like a pretty decent cushion.

Notes from the tail end of the FedEx run at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

I really don't think it was unfair to have tremendous expectations about John Daly's appearance Wednesday night at the Hooters in Greensboro, N.C.

He was here, of course, for the Wyndham Championship and he was there, of course, because he's sponsored by Hooters. Or maybe, like every other dude in a wifebeater with a pool cue Wednesday night, he likes women, beer and wings.

Those three wonderful things combined with John Patrick Daly had me envisioning a madhouse scene: Greensboro's upper crust pounding bricks, swinging pool cues, offering to buy Daly shots, showing off inked up mammalian glands, and blowing enough cig smoke to exhume Marge Schott.

So, armed with a digital camera, a Care to Get Nice trucker hat and four cartons of Marlboro Lights -- should such a bribe be necessary to get 15 minutes of Daly's time -- I headed up to Hooters to meet some friends of mine (Mr. Coffin seen above right, Mrs. declined to be photographed at Hooters).

When I parked my car and started walking towards the restaurant -- the Cult's "Fire Woman" blaring from the 100.3 Buzzard-mobile -- I was pretty sure it would be madness inside.

I was way wrong.