Sober John Daly's Drink Is Diet Pop Now -- Daly's Next Goal Is Winning The Other Two Majors

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - At a sobering morning hour, John Daly sat down to a plate of chocolate chip pancakes, a pitcher of diet cola and a smoking cigarette at a Myrtle Beach restaurant.

Call it the breakfast of champions for the 29-year-old Daly, who captured last summer's British Open title while fighting alcoholism.

Though he pops Peanut M&Ms like a pill addict, drinks Diet Coke like water and smokes like a chimney, Daly has managed to stay sober for more than a year.

Winning his personal battle made winning the British Open more special than his breakthrough 1991 PGA Championship.

"It's huge for me," said Daly, in town for the grand opening of Wicked Stick Golf Links, where he served as a consultant to architect Clyde Johnston. "I don't think anybody can ever take that feeling away from me. It wasn't winning as much as it was the way I won it. I won it sober."

Staying sober hasn't stripped the charismatic Daly of his sense of humor.

When a woman approached meekly for a picture with him, Daly obliged with a grin.

"I ain't a baseball player," he laughed, posing for the picture.

Why Diet Coke for breakfast, instead of coffee?

"I don't like coffee," he said with a wink. "Well, maybe with a shot of something in it."

The only player under 30 with two major championships, Daly has turned his attention to winning the other two majors, the Masters and the U.S. Open, and earning a spot on the 1997 U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Daly, one of a handful of strong candidates passed over for last month's Ryder Cup Matches by U.S. captain Lanny Wadkins, jokingly postured for special favors from dining partner Gary Schaal, the tournament chairman of the recent matches and one of more than a dozen partners at Wicked Stick.

"I'm going to try to talk Gary into making me captain," joked Daly. "Then I might have a chance to make the team."

Wadkins never approached Daly about the Ryder Cup team, despite Daly's British Open victory only a month before the U.S. captain made Fred Couples and Curtis Strange his two wild-card selections.

Daly didn't argue with making Couples the first pick, but he didn't agree with Wadkins' Strange selection.

Strange went 0-3 at Oak Hill, blowing a lead to Nick Faldo in the pivotal final-day match.

Ironically, it was Strange, who told Daly to "crawl back under his rock," last year when British newspapers quoted Daly making allegations of widespread drug abuse on the PGA Tour.

Daly was disappointed for Lee Janzen and Jim Gallagher, who have combined for five Tour victories this year.

"Lee or Jim should have been playing," said Daly.

What would Daly do if Schaal could grant his wish to be captain?

Daly said his team would include Tiger Woods, if the Stanford phenom turned pro in time.

"I'd go with a lot of young players," said Daly, pointing to the success of Corey Pavin, Phil Mickelson, Tom Lehman and Couples at Oak Hill. "It would be fun to be captain, especially in Spain."

Daly loves traveling. His winter schedule includes the PGA Grand Slam in Hawaii and events in Korea, Jamaica and Australia. He left Monday night for the World Open in Atlanta.

With the $200,000 first prize at the British Open, Daly finished 57th on the PGA Tour money list with more than $321,000.

"My year hasn't even started," said Daly. "I wanted to stay fresh for late in the year."

He's only played a few times since beating Costantino Rocca in a four-hole playoff at St. Andrews.

After watching Rocca sink an almost impossible putt to tie him on the final hole of regulation play, Daly quickly seized control of the playoff with a par on the first hole and birdie on the second.

"That's the story of my life - up and down," said Daly. "I attacked those four holes like never before in my life. I had a weird feeling and I became very aggressive on the first tee."

Daly has left New Year's Day open in hopes of watching his Arkansas Razorbacks play in the Sugar Bowl.

Since watching an inspirational tape of Daly winning the British Open, the Razorbacks have lost only one game and own the inside track to the Western Division spot in the Southeastern Conference title game.

Daly, who played golf at Arkansas and served as a volunteer coach last year while sitting out a suspension from the PGA Tour, has attended three Razorback football games this year. He hopes to help design a new golf course for the university.

The 175-pound Daly played a little football. As a high school player in Jefferson City, Mo., he kicked three field goals in a playoff game.

With his team reeling from a season-opening defeat to Southern Methodist, Arkansas coach Danny Ford brought Daly in to show a tape of his British Open victory.

"I went in there and spoke to the team and showed them the tape," said Daly. "The players went nuts.

"I'm not saying I'm responsible for turning the team around, but the tape showed them the emotional changes that I went through coming back and they could relate to that after losing."