On Wednesday John Daly called into the Golf Channel’s Grey Goose 19th Hole show to once again explain he never intended to retire:
I guess [Golf Channel producer] Al [Pollack’s] boss was on his rear to do an interview. I hate talking to anyone — whether I play good or bad. When you play good or bad, your adrenaline is so high, you just want to be left alone for 30 to 40 minutes unless you won a tournament or something like that…I really didn’t want to talk to Al, but he said I had to. It just ended up being a disaster.
So you see, it’s the GC’s fault! As a former competitive golfer, I understand the reluctance to speak to people after a round, especially when my game was struggling. Anyone who has played golf can relate. But it’s arguably part of Daly’s job to talk with reporters, particularly since he has a reality show with that network, which is giving him good publicity and a paycheck. Plus, he ultimately has control over what he says — or doesn’t say.
There are those cliches (I’m sorry, I hate them, too) that go something like, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “Don’t kill the messenger.”