KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — John Daly knew it was going to be a good day when he grabbed that driver of his and ripped it straight down the fairway.
Granted, he made par but Daly set the tone for the day with that big belt, one of 10 fairways he found in the first round on the way to a 68. He got his first birdie at the third hole, added another at the seventh and eagled No. 11. Two bogeys followed on the way home but Daly answered each with birdies to finish two strokes off the lead.
"I’ve been playing good, just trying to keep it at my own pace, just be myself and play golf, enjoy it," Daly said. "This is such a fabulous golf course, you can sit there all day long, especially starting on the front, and you can’t help but think, all day long, if I can just par the par 3s this week, I have a chance to play really, really well. It’s not just 14 and 17, the two on the front aren’t exactly easy, either.
"But to me that’s just the difference in this game. The long par 4s just give you a risk reward. It’s just a course I feel like I’ve got to take it on."
Daly comes to the South Carolina coast on the heels of a tie for fifth at the Reno-Tahoe Open. The two-time major champion made one eagle, 21 birdies, 38 pars. 11 bogeys and one double bogey in the Stableford format last week. He ranks 150th in the FedExCup, 25 spots shy of making the Playoffs for the first time, as well.
The PGA marks Daly’s sixth straight week of competition. He’s no longer fully-exempt on the PGA TOUR and plays off past champion status, taking advantage of sponsor’s exemptions when he gets them, too.
He is a member of the European Tour, though, and has played eight events across the pond with a tie for fourth at the Qatar Masters his best this year. Daly credits his good play of late to getting repeated rounds of competition under his belt.
"For me, it’s getting in a rhythm and finding out what I need to work on and what I don’t because you play two days and then you’ve got to take Saturday off, travel maybe, go somewhere, whatever," Daly said. "But I just like to keep going and keep playing. It’s kind of like last year I got this little rhythm, not quite this good, but at Canada, and then I didn’t get to play much because I had to take two or three weeks off because I couldn’t get in anything.
"It’s just a matter of just keep playing and hopefully keep building on the confidence."
