Eager Daly hoping to prove his fitness in time to tee off

Published on Tuesday 7 July 2009 22:55

STILL troubled by the rib injury which affected his back and forced him to pull out of the French Open after 17 holes of the first round last week, John Daly is assessing his fitness to tee up in the Barclays Scottish Open tomorrow.

The former Open and US PGA champion had the rib 'popped' in the European Tour's physiotherapy van yesterday and isn't certain to take part in this afternoon's pro-am. "They found a sprain last week and I just couldn't keep playing any more," the golfer said. "He popped it on Saturday and has just popped it again just now. It's OK for me to go and play now. I'll go nine holes and then see how it feels.

"Hopefully I will be able to play in the pro-am, but they know my situation. Then I hope it's all right for me to play on Thursday. It's a case of taking it day by day. I've been so ready to play all year ever since I came back that it's frustrating. The golf course near Paris last week was so good and I hated not being able to play on Friday. I didn't want to risk this thing."

Daly likes Loch Lomond and has been telling other visitors from the PGA Tour about the high standard of the greens. "I've told everyone these are the best greens by far on the European Tour," he said. "Even when it rains at Loch Lomond these greens are still good."

The American is also enthusiastic about returning next week to Turnberry where he led after nine holes in 1994. "There's no doubt playing in Scotland, where I won The Open, is always special for me," he said. "Turnberry is my second favourite links after the Old Course."

Looking trim after undergoing a gastric band operation and losing more than five stone, Daly hopes to shed at least another stone. "I've lost 75lbs and still have another 15lbs to go. I'd like to get to 190lbs. The doctors told me to go on a 1,200 calories a day diet. So what I eat in seven days now is what I would eat in one day before…"