Long-hitting John Daly obviously grew tired of hitting 2-irons off the tees around the doglegs at Olympic Club's Lake Course Thursday and Friday. On Saturday he put the driver back into his bag. It didn't pay off in terms of scoring - Daly shot 75 to move to 9-over 219 for the tournament - but he sure had a lot more fun.
Daly hit a drive of 390 yards on the 437-yard sixth hole, leaving him a 40-yard wedge to the green, and also reached the 288-yard, par-4 seventh hole using a 3-wood."I'm not going to fear a golf course anymore," Daly said. "My golf game is hitting the driver. It would have been nice to see what would have happened if I had it in the bag the first two days. The fans didn't pay money to come out here and watch us hit 2-irons all day."
ROUGH GO: Tiger Woods said he was lucky to salvage a round of 71 Saturday, which was his low round of the tournament. He stands at 7-over 217. "I need to hit more greens, more fairways," he said. "I hit a lot of balls in the rough. I could have been in the high 70s."
THE ROCK: Little did Rocky Walcher realize what one chip in near darkness at Olympic Club late Friday would do to the field at the U.S. Open. Walcher's chip-in birdie for 70 left 60 players at 7-over 147 and better and eliminated 15 players who would have made the cut had Walcher made bogey for 71. Among those not playing on the weekend at 148: Former U.S. Open champions Tom Watson, Hale Irwin and Corey Pavin.
ETC.: Casey Martin, the first player to compete at the U.S. Open using a cart, shot 74 Saturday and is at 9-over 219. . . . Chris Perry made a hole-in-one at the 13th hole, which was playing 176 yards, using a 6-iron. . . . Walcher and Loren Roberts, playing in the first twosome Saturday, finished their round in 3 hours, 17 minutes.