Why Does John Daly Keep Getting Sponsor's Exemptions?

**Chas** · October 9, 2012

I have a solution. Let's create a special category of exemption, forever called the JD Exemption, that is awarded automatically to the player who has the highest stroke ratio in bad vs. good rounds (above a certain cutoff) on your average Tour event, over a given period of time. i.e. the greatest variability, but a "good" player objectively defined. Hackers like me often have high variability - I don't get the exemption. A statistician would be needed to write the code (SAS, S-Plus or R) but this could easily be done. Charges of favoritism would then be eliminated and JD would probably get it every time until he makes the Senior tour. OTOH Phil might start getting it at some point as well .... :-)

**Bullitt5339** · October 9, 2012

They were talking about this on Morning Drive yesterday.... They came up with the fact that Daly draws the 4th largest gallery in golf behind Tiger, Phil and Rory. People want to see him play, so he gets in.

**Chas** · October 9, 2012

Yes, I still clearly remember the year he won at Torrey - because it was on Thur or Fri and I was on the South course while he was playing the north. :-( I've seen him there on other occasions and he alone is worth the price of admission - having a quick ciggie between holes and then pounding it well beyond most everyone. Frankly it has always amazed me that he is as consistent as he sometimes is when you look at his position at the top.

**Strike One** · October 9, 2012

Professional golf is first and foremost entertainment. John Daly is a great source of entertainment, so people pay attention to him. Sponsors only care about one thing, getting their product exposed to as many people as possible. TV executives only care about one thing: how many people watch their show. Ticket sales are peanuts compared to TV contracts and sponsor money.

John Daly makes a lot of money for these people so he gets to play. Sooner or later golf will be turned into a reality show.

**Chas** · October 9, 2012

Thought he'd been there done that .....

**Datsyuk** · October 11, 2012

Some people would rather watch faces they know do things poorly than watch talented unknowns.

**Pablo68** · October 13, 2012

I agree with Zoid; the sponsors would rather have the spectical out there than some ham and egger that might make the cut.

That being said, I'm not a fan of JD and never really cared one way or another about him. It was a nice story back in the day, winning at Crooked Stick as the 8th or 9th alternate but his antics got old very quick.

Just like a lot the Pro atheletes and lottery winners, he's one of many people whose self destructive behavior pissed away an opportunity that was given to them. He could have been set for life and changed his lineage for the better but couldn't stay sober for 8 hours a day (time on the course and pre/post round activities). I realize he may be clean and sober now but I can't say I feel bad for him. What a waste..............

He's nothing more than a sideshow at this point and the sad part is he probably doesn't realize it.

**David in FL** · October 13, 2012

Sooner or later golf will be turned into a reality show.

They could call it, I don't know, something like The Big Break........? ;-)

**Chas** · October 13, 2012

Pablo, that is rather harsh and quite accurate IMO. I am still curious about him but also lack sympathy - he has done it all to himself.

**Pablo68** · October 14, 2012

Originally Posted by Chas

Pablo, that is rather harsh and quite accurate IMO. I am still curious about him but also lack sympathy - he has done it all to himself.

Yeah, I come across a little blunt sometimes but like you, I have no sympathy for self inflcted tragedies. I'll save my sympathies for those who just have bad things happen to them; NOT those who do bad things to themselves/others.

**Strike One** · October 14, 2012

Originally Posted by David in FL

They could call it, I don't know, something like The Big Break........?

How about A Slice of Life. Or maybe with a soap opera theme, As the Wedges Turn. Days of our Drives, All My Chipping...

**Chas** · October 14, 2012

I suppose it's easy to judge someone like that but we don't really know all the challenges he has faced in life etc etc. Also, his style of play needs very good timing. In that sense (and ONLY in that sense) he's a bit like Bubba. He is NOT one of those late-model robo players with a relatively simple, repeatable action. Still, when I see such talent 'wasted' it just seems so, well, wasteful .... ;-) Have to admire him for trying. Then again, what else is he gonna do with his time?

**joekelly** · October 16, 2012

That's it in a nutshell. What else would JD do with his time? If you were in his shoes, would you slink back to Arkansas, take a pro job at Bentonville Country Club and 'teach' all those Wal-Mart folks what golf is all about? Or maybe take a place on the Board of Directors for Hooters? I suggest that those who see JD as some kind of 'failure' to be greater than he is, please sit down and measure your own life.

**colin007** · October 17, 2012

can you imagine if JD had Tigers drive and work ethic? he would have 30 majors by now...that guy is so freaking talented, its a shame...

**Bluenoser67** · October 19, 2012

He brings in the Nascar fans who show up not to support John but to see the big crash that inevitably will happen. Nicest guy on Tour Mike Weir cant get a Sponsors exemption to the Screen Door Open and John's been pulling them in for his whole career.

**MEfree** · October 19, 2012

Originally Posted by Bluenoser67

He brings in the Nascar fans who show up not to support John but to see the big crash that inevitably will happen. Nicest guy on Tour Mike Weir cant get a Sponsors exemption to the Screen Door Open and John's been pulling them in for his whole career.

JD is ranked 196 in the world while Weir is UNRANKED.

As a fellow lefty, I am a fan of Mike Weir's, but he has gotten in to 28 events the past two seasons and only made 2 cuts earning 23 K. His game has not fully recovered from his elbow injury, but he has been given his chances to show that it has.

JD, on the other hand, has made 10 of 14 this year earning almost 700 K the past two season...with 4 more events than Weir, he has made 14 more cuts and about 30x as much $ than Weir. Weir might be a nicer guy than John, but he is not playing anywhere near the level that JD has the past two years.

**NuclearMike** · October 19, 2012

Would I go to a tournament just because he's in the field, no. Would I spend some time watching him if I was there, absolutely. Sometimes he's great (see last week's 63) and others he's like the 25 car NASCAR pileup at Talladega last week (see last week's 86/77 finish). With John there's always the potential for something interesting to happen.

**Willie Malay** · October 19, 2012

Don't cloud a good Daly-hate article with pesky facts. Let the guy talk about John's bad tournament finish...

Originally Posted by MEfree

This and his play this year was certainly good enough to warrant getting into this and many other tournaments.

Despite the weekend blow-up JD is ranked top 200 in the world (higher than many who played this week), has made 10 of 13 cuts this season, ranks ahead of guys like Charles Howell and Martin Kaymer in $ won per PGA Tour event this year, and ranks top 125 in % of available purse won.

Also, I would guess that some of his 13 starts this year came out of the Past Champions category and were NOT sponsors exemptions...he is currently ranked pretty high in the category 31 reshuffle http://www.pgatour.com/r/player_exemptions/

These are a list of the guys who played last week who are still BELOW Daly on the 2012 money list. Why have all of them and not JD?

CUT

138
Brendon Todd

color

71
73

144
CUT

139
Billy Hurley III

color

74
75

149
T36
7
141
Stewart Cink
-7
F
1
color
info
68
69
68
72
277
CUT

142
Chris DiMarco

color

67
72

139
CUT

144
Nick O'Hern

color

69
71

140
CUT

145
Charlie Beljan

color

71
69

140
T46
2
146
Scott Brown
-6
F*
-1
color
info
69
67
72
70
278
CUT

148
D.J. Trahan

color

68
73

141
CUT

150
Alexandre Rocha

color

68
72

140
T30
9
153
Camilo Villegas
-9
F
E
color
info
70
66
68
71
275
T58
1
154
J.J. Killeen
-4
F*
E
color
info
66
68
75
71
280
CUT

155
Kyle Reifers

color

71
72

143
CUT

156
Roland Thatcher

color

69
71

140
T54
14
158
Robert Karlsson
-5
F*
1
color
info
69
68
70
72
279
CUT

159
Kevin Kisner

color

74
69

143
T61
8
161
Erik Compton
-2
F*
-1
color
info
66
71
75
70
282
CUT

162
Stuart Appleby

color

72
71

143
T46
16
163
Nathan Green
-6
F*
-3
color
info
68
68
74
68
278
T64
3
165
Matt Bettencourt
-1
F*
1
color
info
68
70
73
72
283
CUT

166
Mark Anderson

color

69
73

142
CUT

167
Jason Kokrak

color

70
71

141
T22
7
168
Angel Cabrera
-10
F
-2
color
info
68
70
67
69
274
CUT

169
Danny Lee

color

69
70

139
CUT

171
Arjun Atwal

color

76
70

146
CUT

172
Miguel Angel Carballo

color

77
73

150
T13
7
173
Russell Knox
-11
F
1
color
info
66
67
68
72
273
CUT

174
Garth Mulroy

color

70
76

146
CUT

176
Gavin Coles

color

70
72

142
WD

177
Rocco Mediate

color

69
68
74

211
CUT

181
Michael Bradley

color

70
69

139
CUT

182
Cameron Beckman

color

75
72

147
CUT

183
Ryuji Imada

color

73
67

140
T13
27
185
Mathew Goggin
-11
F*
-5
color
info
68
69
70
66
273
CUT

186
Stephen Ames

color

71
77

148
CUT

187
Tom Pernice Jr.

color

73
73

146
CUT

189
Sung Kang

color

70
71

141
CUT

190
Derek Lamely

color

75
69

144
T33
7
191
Chris Riley
-8
F*
-2
color
info
68
70
69
69
276
T36
23
194
Steve Wheatcroft
-7
F*
-3
color
info
69
69
71
68
277
CUT

199
Patrick Sheehan

color

75
68

143
T46
2
201
Marc Turnesa
-6
F*
-1
color
info
70
68
70
70
278
CUT

203
Scott Dunlap

color

70
69

139
T46
2
204
Tommy Biershenk
-6
F*
-1
color
info
68
70
70
70
278
T36
7
208
Edward Loar
-7
F
1
color
info
67
68
70
72
277
T46
2
209
Daniel Chopra
-6
F*
-1
color
info
68
67
73
70
278
CUT

213
Shane Bertsch

color

72
73

145
CUT

215
Marco Dawson

color

72
73

145
CUT

222
Stephen Gangluff

color

74
69

143
CUT

239
Hank Kuehne

color

71
69

140
CUT

241
Bart Bryant

color

71
68

139
CUT

--
Casey Martin

color

71
74

145
T22
1
--
Patrick Reed
-10
F
-1
color
info
65
69
70
70
274
CUT

--
Dennis Downs

color

76
76

152
70
2
--
Hunter Hamrick
2
F*
E
color
info
69
69
77
71
286

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