Daly admits £33m losses and reveals gambling is 'a problem'

'If I don't get control of my gambling, it's going to ruin me'

John Daly's capacity to shock has long been his trademark although even the "Wild Thing" has excelled himself this time with the confession that he has lost up to £33m in gambling in the last 12 years. Wayne Rooney eat your heart out.

In John Daly: My Life In And Out Of The Rough, his long-awaited autobiography that is published next week, the 40-year-old winner also admits that after receiving a runner-up's cheque for £425,000 last October he drove straight to a Las Vegas casino and blew more than twice that amount on slot machines.

"If I don't get control of my gambling, it's going to flat-out ruin me," writes Daly. Incredibly, however, the twice major winner remains upbeat in the book. "I'm off the medications," he says. "I don't drink JD [Jack Daniels] any more. I don't beat up on hotel rooms and cars as much. Only gambling remains a problem."