FanHouse JohnDaly

And the slog up to mediocrity continues for John Daly. Despite an offseason of introspection, fueled, in part, by the threat of bankruptcy, the struggles persist for two-time major champion. After a respectable showing at the St. Jude Classic -- he was never in contention but he made the cut (hey, it's a start) -- Daly was back in Europe hoping to build on his first first PGA Tour event after serving a six-month suspension.

Except that, lap-band surgery and clown get-ups aside, J.D.'s 2009 results on the European Tour look a lot like his 2008 results. Given all he went through last year, it's hard to say he's made progress.

John Daly spent the first half of the year in Europe, playing tournaments on that tour while he waited out his PGA Tour-sanctioned six-month suspension. He returned to the States at the St. Jude Classic two weeks ago, and relatively speaking, played well.

Nothing spectacular, but he made the cut. Given how last season unfolded -- it started with Butch Harmon dumping him a few months after they started working together, and it ended with a bucket of hot wings and an orange jumpsuit -- it was a welcome change.

But Golf Digest's John Strege makes an interesting point about the new-and-improved John Daly: despite the physical and mental changes, the results aren't much different from '08, perhaps the most forgettable year in a career littered with them.

In the scheme of things, 2009 has probably been one of the most uneventful years of John Daly's professional life. He's not regularly drinking himself stupid (or the target of subsequent interventions); he still doesn't have his PGA Tour card, but he has lost weight, narrowed his focus, and despite recent trouble with enormous immovable objects and tour buses, he's playing relatively well in Europe. It's a start.

But with a history as extensive as JD's it's hard to escape the past. And this week, a judge ordered the two-time major winner to fork over $272,000 in legal expenses for the unsuccessful defamation lawsuit he filed against the Times-Union and its parent company in 2005.

Two weeks ago, John Daly made his first PGA Tour appearance of the year. Thanks to a sponsor's exemption, he was in the field at the St. Jude Classic, and not only did he make the cut, his four days in Memphis were relatively uneventful. No pit stops at the Hooters hospitality tent, no on-course outbursts. Just JD, dressed like an overweight Carnaval performer, taking in a leisurely 72 holes of golf.

If nothing else, it was different.

Now, before you freak out, shake your head and wonder what John Daly is doing alive, I should probably point out that this story is slightly less wince-worthy than the title indicates. Daly did crash a bus into a tunnel, but it was because he wasn't paying attention to the clearance sign leading into the tunnel. (As opposed to, you know, getting really sloppy at Hooters and then doing it.)

Apparently, there was another distracting sign next to the clearance and Daly -- driving his daughter to Florida so she too could have lap-band surgery -- and when his bus hit the tunnel, a number of parts went flying into an oncoming Cadillac, driven by the good Reverend Jimmy Roberson. Who may or may not have neck injuries.

The best word to describe Brian Gay's week: methodical. Fairways, greens, and a lot of birdie looks. Not particularly exciting -- and CBS would confirm as much -- but a win is a win, and for Gay, he made it look effortless.

And while he'll never be mistaken for Tiger Woods, he played the role of Boring Robot Golfer perfectly. (And let's be honest, if Tiger wins like this, we're slobbering all over ourselves to extol his greatness. And, yeah, I'd be leading the charge.) And the way Gay played the 72nd hole was a microcosm of his week. Middle of the fairway, second shot to four feet -- CBS' David Feherty described it, mid-flight, as "unnecessarily good." That turned out to be an understatement -- and, predictably, a birdie to top off a splendid 72 holes of golf.

Eleven days ago, this was news: Tiger Woods and Hank Haney were working hard to fix his driver. Actually, that's been the story for most of Tiger's career, but it was especially relevant because he was coming off an uninspiring performance (as uninspiring as another top-10 finish can be, I guess) at Quail Hollow, and the Memorial and the U.S. Open were the next two tournaments on his schedule.

Tiger went out and hit 84 percent of his fairways at Jack's event, won convincingly, and now that the golf universe has righted itself, we're all able to get on with our lives. For Woods that means preparing for Bethpage Black, and in his spare time, trying to fix the unfixable: Charles Barkley's golf swing.

There are any number of ways to compare NFL quarterbacks. Conventional stats, advanced stats, Pro Bowl appearances, Super Bowl rings, celebrity ladyfriends. And now: golf scores on U.S. Open set-ups.

Any other year and we'd be talking about guys using the this week's tournament to prepare for next week's U.S. Open. Instead, the story line is Phil Mickelson's return to the course three weeks after learning that his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. He gutted out a 68 on Thursday in possibly his best round of the year.

The next biggest story -- a distant second to the Mickelson family news -- was the return of John Daly to the PGA Tour after a six-month suspension for various Hooters-related issues. Daly used the time away to reinvent himself; he's 40 pounds lighter, nattily dressed, and, for the first time in a long time, admits that he's taking golf seriously.

John Daly's six-month exile from the PGA Tour ends Thursday when he tees it up at the St. Jude Classic. It'll be his first professional start on American soil since last October's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Naturally, Daly missed the cut.

Now 40 pounds lighter, Big John has a renewed focus on golf. Maybe because this could really be his last chance, or maybe because he's broke and hasn't fully embraced the idea of humping a real job for a living. Whatever, he's back, and it starts in Memphis where he has a history. Via the Wikipedias: