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John "Wild Thing" Daly is the Diary's favourite golfer-songwriter from Arkansas, bar none. Just thinking about his epic performance at The Cavern two summers ago, especially the autobiographical number, "Lost Soul", which has the opening line, "I lost my mom three years ago, dad pulled a gun on me", can bring a tear to the eye quicker than the bill from the Bollinger tent. So it is sad to report the ongoing bitter war of words between Daly and his recently ex-coach, Butch Harmon.

Daly said of Harmon yesterday: "I think his lies kind of destroyed my life for a little bit." This was in relation to suggestions by Harmon that Daly – the Open winner of 1995 – spent hours getting drunk in a Hooters tent during a rain delay at a tournament in March, and then resumed play with a mate – Jon Gruden, coach of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers – carrying his bag instead of his caddie. Harmon stopped working with Daly afterwards, saying: "The most important thing in his life is getting drunk."

Daly refuted the original allegations yesterday. He said that, during the rain break in question, he drank Diet Pepsi, and only used Gruden because his caddie had a sore neck. Daly said that on a separate visit to the Hooters tent – the firm famous for, err, hooters, is among Daly's sponsors – he had "a coupla beers" while signing autographs and selling charity raffle tickets.

"The stories about me drinking in the tent, it's a joke," Daly said. "I would never do that in a round. Butch said I was a drunk. He just made up stuff without getting his facts straight. He really needs to stay as far away as possible from me."

Harmon was sticking to his guns last night, telling the Diary: "Typical John Daly. He blames everyone else but himself. Until he learns to take responsibility for himself, he'll always have those problems."

Daly, meanwhile, says he has nothing to fear from golf's newly introduced drug-testing regime. "All they're going to get out of me is nicotine and caffeine."

VIP treatment responsible for fairway foul-up

The new 17th green has been causing a kerfuffle but at least it was intentional restructuring. The same cannot be said of damage done to a valuable bit of land just a wedge shot away, on the 18th fairway in fact. A lengthy stretch of turf – six inches deep at least, according to one eyewitness – was ripped out when a delivery lorry backed on to it by mistake. But don't expect anyone to be making too much fuss. The supplies truck was servicing the poshest stop on its route at the time, the Patrons' Tent, where the likes of Rolex, Lexus and RBS wine and dine their VIP guests in private. And they certainly wouldn't want to be associated with wrecking the course in any way, shape or form.

No child's play for Lawrie

On the subject of a different Lawrie, the golfer Paul is understood to be a tiny bit miffed (but no more than that) that the on-course crèche caters for kids only up to the age of eight. His son Michael is nine. As one wag said: "The tournament hasn't even started and a Lawrie has already missed the cut by one."

Bad reception for Garcia

Using mobile phones on the course is forbidden. So what do the organisers think of our spy's report that Sergio Garcia has been chatting away during practice? "We're sure it was an important call," says a spokesman. "But, strictly speaking, he shouldn't be doing that. It winds up all the punters who've had to leave their own phones at the gate."

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