Emirates Australian Open tournament director Trevor Herden called John Daly &aposunprofessional&apos and told him to stay away from future tournaments after the controversial American stormed off the course and returned to his hotel midway through the first round on Thursday. Daly&aposs troubles began on the 10th when he hit the wrong ball from the bunker, invoking an automatic two-stroke penalty. The two-time major winner then reached the 11th and proceeded to put &apossix or seven&apos balls in the water before grabbing his young son and heading for the exit after telling his playing partners &aposI&aposm off&apos. “When u run out of balls u run out of balls. yes I shook my players partners hands & signed my card w/rules official,” Daly tweeted as a means of explanation. His girlfriend reportedly pushed a cameraman aside as he made his way to a courtesy car and back to his hotel. “He ran into her and hit her head to try and get a shot, uncool,” Daly also tweeted. Herden, though, was livid with Daly&aposs behaviour, saying he will never again be welcome at the Australian Open. “It&aposs very disappointing, obviously, for the tournament (and) certainly unprofessional and I&aposm extremely bitter and disappointed that he&aposs treated this championship this way,” Herden said. “It&aposs becoming a bit of a habit, something similar happened last week or the week before, but it&aposs unacceptable and I certainly hope that all the tours deal with it in the appropriate manner this time.” “We are definitely disappointed in that attitude and that behaviour. It&aposs unprofessional.” “We&aposve got to protect the sport and the image of this championship which is the real thing that I am totally upset with.” “We&aposve got the best field ever and he wants to treat it like this, it&aposs just not good enough.” “I would say this will be the last time we see John Daly.” While Golf Australia has no powers to fine or suspend Daly, Herden has called on the US and European tours to come to the party and reprimand the volatile 45-year-old. “They need to deal with it. He&aposs a tour member on the US Tour and on the European Tour he also has a status, so they need to deal with this in a most serious of fashions,” Herden said. “We can&apost fine him because he&aposs not a member of ours, but we want it dealt with properly.” PGA of Australia CEO Brian Thorburn echoed Herden&aposs disappointment, confirming Daly did not receive an appearance fee to play at The Lakes and revealing the American&aposs invitation to play the Australian PGA Championship has been revoked. “The PGA Tour of Australasia confirms that no appearance fees were payable to John Daly for his appearance at the Emirates Australian Open or for his planned appearance and the Australian PGA Championship,” Thorburn said. “This afternoon&aposs actions by Daly in withdrawing from the course constitute a breach of the PGA Tour of Australasia&aposs regulations and will be referred to the disciplinary committee as soon as practically possible.” “In view of that breach and a similar instance in Europe recently the PGA Tour of Australasia has withdrawn its offer to John Daly to play at the Australian PGA Championship.” “The PGA does not need this kind of behavior tarnishing the achievements of other players and the reputation of our tournaments. John is not welcome at Coolum.” Two years ago an enraged Daly created a major drama at the Australian Open when he grabbed a spectator&aposs phone and smashed it against a tree after accusing the fan of getting in his face.
Author: Steve Orme and Adam Lucius