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Golf: Daly withdraws after six-putting the last

Thursday 03 June 1999 23:02 BST
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JOHN DALY was not having a good day even before he reached the 18th green in the opening round of the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, yesterday. Then it got worse - much worse.

The last hole proved to be his final hole of the tournament as he withdrew after remarkably six-putting for a 10 on the 444-yard, par-4 hole, which left him with a 10-over-par 82. It was the highest score on the hole in the tournament's 24 years and proved too much for Daly to take.

The big hitter was already four over for the round as he stood over an uphill putt of no more than eight feet for par. He rolled the ball two feet past the cup, then quickly stroked the return putt four feet down the hill. He again putted quickly, pushing his uphill putt past the hole.

On his fourth putt, he took a stab at the ball and then he finally two- putted from five feet for his 10.

After his playing partners finished, he headed for the scorer's tent. He was handed a hat and after autographing it, he threw it back over his head behind him.

He signed for the 82 and then withdrew from the event, the second time he has done so in the past three tournaments. Two weeks ago, he pulled out of the Colonial after a first-round 80. Last week Daly shot rounds of 78 and 77 to miss the cut at the Kemper Open. He is 33 over par for his past four rounds.

Daly's debacle came little more than year after he took an 18 at the par-five sixth hole during the Bay Hill Invitational, putting six balls into the water.

MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT (Muirfield Village, Dublin, Ohio): Leading fist-round scores (US unless stated): 65 L Janzen; 67 F Nobilo (NZ), C Perry, S Garcia (Sp); 68 J Leonard, D Paulson, V Singh (Fiji), T Woods; 69 S Appleby (Aus), P Mickelson, B Andrade, E Els (SA), S Cink, S Stricker, Kyoung Choi (SKor); 70 B Watts, M Bradley, T Lehman, N Ozaki (Japan), L Mattiace, C Strange, J Cook, M O'Meara, B Glasson, S Flesch. Selected: 74 P-U Johansson (Swe); 76 G Norman (Aus), D Howell (GB); 79 G Hjertstedt (Swe); 83 P Sjoland (Swe).

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