PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- The eve of the Buick Challenge was a typical night for John Daly ever since he decided once again that happiness on the golf course depends largely on whether he can get a drink.
"I had four Miller Lites and a big chimichanga," Daly said.In his lifelong battle against alcoholism, this night was a draw.
"I don't want to quit drinking," he said. "I just don't want to get drunk."
Daly was all smiles Thursday at Callaway Gardens. Grossly overweight in olive-colored pants that bagged around his ankles, he went through at least one cigarette per hole, signed autographs during his round of even-par 72 and then headed out to the driving range.
He says he is free again, no longer bound by his contract with his main sponsor, Callaway Golf, that required him to stay off the bottle and out of casinos. He says he wants to play like the slugger who won the PGA Championship and British Open.
What Daly cannot say is whether another night awaits like the one in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., two years ago, when he poured down shots and ripped up his hotel room in a drunken rage.
"You never know with me," Daly said bluntly.
In life, much like with his golf, there are no guarantees with Daly.
"I don't know what to think," said Jay Haas, one of several PGA Tour peers confused by Daly's return to drinking. "I suppose past history shows he shouldn't be doing what he's doing. Whether he can handle it this time remains to be seen."
Daly's latest attempt to stay sober ended after a 26-month run that cost him his Callaway contract when he refused to go back to a rehab center for the third time.
From a business standpoint, Daly said he regrets parting ways with 80-year-old founder Ely Callaway, who is a distant relative to the Callaway clan that developed the plush resort where the Buick Challenge is being played this week.
Daly turned his back on about $3 million, but he said maybe that's for the best.
"I think Mr. C. made it too easy for me," he said. "The money was too good, and I didn't practice hard enough. It's going to make me hungry, that money not coming in like it was. There's a ton of money out there, and it's time for me to earn my money again."
Besides, Daly said he finally reached the conclusion that drinking is part of his life. "It's in my blood," is the chilling phrase he told Golf World magazine.
Daly said he came to a crossroads and took a long, hard look in both directions.
"It was either golf and drinking, or no golf and no drinking," he said. "I made a decision to keep playing golf. This is what I do."
And the drinking, Daly told himself, is part of the package.
"I could give up the game and probably stay sober and do speeches and stuff," he said.
There is not much to suggest Daly, who started drinking when he was 8, can control his drinking this time around.
He won the British Open sober in 1995, started "social drinking" a year later and then lost control that night in Jacksonville Beach during The Players Championship, a binge that led to divorce.
"I think sometimes, you can control alcohol," Daly said. "And for everybody who has ever been there and gotten really drunk, there are certain times in their lives that they don't think alcohol does take over. It's not a good feeling when you can barely walk or are laying by a commode."
"I'm 33 years old," he said. "It's a decision I have to make."