Golfer John Daly spends night in jail after passing out at Hooters

**OfficerResource.com** · 11-02-08, 04:04 AM

Former PGA golfer John Daly spent a night in jail this weekend after Winston-Salem police found him drunk outside a Hooters restaurant, police said.

Daly, of East Collierville, Tenn., was held early Sunday at the Forsyth County Jail to sober up, Lt. Tyrone Phelps said.

About 1 a.m., paramedics went to the Hooters on a report that Daly had passed out, Phelps said. They called for police, who arrived to find Daly intoxicated and unwilling to go to the hospital.

Officers said Daly smelled of alcohol.

"He didn't want to talk to them," Phelps said.

Daly had been traveling in a tour bus and told police that the people on the bus didn't want him back on it. Hooters was closing, so the officers decided to use a state law that allows them in some cases to take someone to jail to be held overnight to sober up, Phelps said.

Daly was later released. A friend, Ira Lee Dean, 39, of Chapmansboro, Tenn., was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.

"The friend got a little excited and got out of hand and called the officers names, so he was arrested," Phelps said.

Dean was released on an unsecured bond.

Daly, 42, is a two-time major champion who hasn't had his PGA Tour card for the last two years. He burst onto the scene in 1991 when he came out of nowhere to win the PGA Championship. He was the ninth alternate but got into the tournament and won it.

He has won five times on tour including the 1995 British Open, but hasn't had full playing privileges on the PGA Tour since 2006.

Daly, who has been divorced four times, has been suspended twice by the tour at least twice.

In March, Daly and his swing coach at the time, Butch Harmon, parted ways after Daly spent time in a Hooter's corporate tent at a PGA Tour tournament in Tampa. Harmon said that Daly wasn't serious about the game of golf.

According to reports, Harmon said: "The most important thing in his life is getting drunk."

Hooters has been one of Daly's sponsors since 2005.

Alexis Aleshire, a spokeswoman for Hooters, said Daly was not in Winston-Salem representing the company.

"From what we heard he was just there to have dinner," Aleshire said.

Daly was given a sponsor's exemption to play in the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro in August where he surprised many by shooting 70 and 67 to make the cut. He wound up finishing tied for 50th.

This year on the PGA Tour, playing on sponsor's exemptions, Daly played in 17 tournaments and made just five cuts to win $56,017 to rank 232nd on the money list.

For his career Daly has made nearly $10 million. He has made $9,109,268 to rank 89th on the PGA Tour's all-time money list.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2...-being/sports/

**Second Chance** · 11-02-08, 08:19 AM

Those are some good wings.......................LO L

**Pinki** · 11-02-08, 08:48 AM

It sounds like he has a lot of talent that he is just throwing away. Prayers that he finds it within himself to sober up and value the life he was gifted with.

**CTR man** · 11-02-08, 10:50 AM

Amen. Or he is going to find himself 6 feet under dead from alcohol poisoning. He needs to sober up and quit playing around, become a human again and stop the pity party and alcohol consumption. It appears that he clearly can't handle the destructive cycle that he has put himself in.