Golf: Daly off Tour for treatment

JOHN DALY, who has had several alcohol-related brushes with the authorities since his surprising victory in the 1991 US PGA Championship, is to check into a treatment centre and withdraw from the US PGA Tour.

Neither the location of the centre nor the date the treatment will start was mentioned in a joint announcement issued yesterday by Daly and the US PGA Tour commissioner, Deane Beman.

The action followed an altercation over Christmas weekend in which police were called during a party at Daly's home in Castle Rock, Colorado. There were reports that Daly allegedly threw his wife, Bettye, against a wall and destroyed many objects in the home. No charges were filed in the incident.

Earlier this year, Daly was asked to leave a flight during a stopover after he became abusive to a cabin attendant.

'There is no timetable on this,' the Tour spokesman, Sid Wilson, said of the rehabilitation. 'It'll just be as long as it takes.'

Daly was 'Rookie of the Year' in 1991 but has won only once since his surprise in the US PGA, taking the 1992 BC Open. He was scheduled to open the 1993 season in the Tournament of Champions in Carlsbad, California on 7 January.

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