Is John Daly set to carve out a TV career?

Ever wondered how a golfer fills his or her day when they’re not on the course or practice ground? Well, now you can find out, courtesy of reformed ‘wild thing’ John Daly and his upcoming ESPN Golf Channel reality show.

Daly has previously been on TV in a similar format, and in 2006 The Golf Channel broadcast a 13-part series of ‘The Daly Planet’ which featured Daly’s wild-living antics. The new show is as yet untitled but it is likely to be shown in early 2010.

Instead of focussing on Daly’s wild lifestyle, which apparently no longer exists, the show will instead follow the now-mundane life of the reformed golfer as he turns his life around. Daly has previously twice attended alcohol rehabilitation, been three times married and amassed huge gambling debts during a rollercoaster career since he burst into the public eye in 1991 when he won the US PGA as a qualifier. He has also just returned to the PGA Tour following a six month suspension.

Daly, who had a gastric band fitted in order to help him shed weight now takes his golfing career very seriously and his attempts to recapture former glories has seen the American rack up some consistent finishes since his return to the tour, while he has lost 81lbs since February.

However, despite his more mundane lifestyle, the same cannot be said about his current choice of on-course attire which features colourful trousers, shirts and pullovers. His girlfriend is also getting in on the act and at the British Open at Turnberry, BBC cameras featured her on more than one occasion sporting matching attire to the outfits of her man as she followed him around the course.

On the day before Daly competed in the first round of the Buick Open, a TV crew planned to follow him as he recorded a song he wrote at Kid Rock’s studio and also while he performed mundane tasks such as ironing the colourful attire he would wear at Warwick Hills.

Daly has mentioned on his Twitter feed that he likes the name ‘Out of the Rough’ for his new show, while there is a photoshop contest available at gunaxin.com where photoshop comedians are tasked with creating a picture of John Daly’s new show from any image of the ‘wild thing’.

Ballesteros aims for Royal Trophy return

Recently, golf legend Seve Ballesteros stated his intention to return to competitive golf at the 2010 British Open, to be held at St. Andrews.

Now, the Spaniard has also stated his desire to retake the captain’s reins from countryman Jose Maria Olazabal and captain Europe in next year’s Royal Trophy matchplay tournament against Asia.

In doing so, Seve would take another step along his road to recovery from a brain tumour. Ballesteros had captained the side in each of the first two stagings of the trophy and was scheduled to take control of the team for the first five editions. However, due to his illness, he was unable to fulfil the obligation and control was passed to Olazabal.

Under Seve’s stewardship the European team had won both the first and second matches against Asia, but relinquished the trophy in 2009. Seve will be hoping to regain the trophy in the matchplay tournament which features fourball, foursomes and singles matches when the tournament kicks off on January 8th at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand.

Naomichi ‘Joe’ Ozaki, who captained Asia to a 10-6 success over Europe in the 2009 match is likely to feature in the role again.

“I sincerely hope to captain the European team… this is a competition that means a lot to me,” the 52-year-old Spaniard said. “I hope I am able to return to Thailand to lead the European challenge on this great occasion.”

Mickelson to return to action at Firestone

Phil Mickelson will make his return to competitive golf next week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club.

The world number two has officially declared he will play in the tournament via the competition committee’s executive director Dom Padgett III. Padget revealed he is still awaiting confirmation from world number one, Tiger Woods.

Mickelson has been missing from the professional circuit for some considerable time, having taken a leave of absence from the game in order to help care for his wife, Amy, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Mickelson’s mother has more recently also been diagnosed with the disease and there were doubts surrounding the likelihood of Mickelson competing again in 2009.

Mickelson’s last competitive outing came in the US Open in June at New York’s Bethpage Black where he finished in a tie for second place with David Duval and Ricky Barnes. The major was won by Lucas Glover.

But while Mickelson elected to miss out on the Open Championship, his appearance at Firestone suggests he may take part in next month’s US PGA Championship, which will be staged at Hazeltine National.

Mickelson has previously won the WGC’s CA Championship in March this year and has also competed in each of the 10 previous Bridgestone Invitationals, where he has collected five top 10 finishes. His best finish came in 1999 when he tied for second in the inaugural event.

Formby Hall Golf Resort

Formby Hall Golf Resort Review. We travelled here over the weekend of 19th and 20th July and were really happy with the resort and would fully recommend it. The hotel itself is of a very high 4* standard and catered for our every need. The hotel was also chosen to be Padraig Harrington’s base when he won the Open Championship at nearby Royal Birkdale in 2008. Despite such illustrious guests, I’m sorry to say that my golf didn’t quite match that of Padraig!

The course at Formby is a great challenge with plenty of water coming into play as well as some interesting bunkers. The condition was really good and can see why they use this course on the professional tour. Whilst there we met others who were actually on their 2nd and 3rd trip to Formby and can definitely see why people would go back there for a golf break.

The quality of the hotel is clear from the onset and was very impressed with the food but a special mention must be made to the staff who were outstanding from the moment we checked in to departure. The rooms were very modern and had every facility you’d expect including Sky TV and an ultra large flat screen tv.
We’d definitely rate this break 9 out of 10, it was great value for money and look forward to returning in the near future, its without doubt the best golf resort in the north-west of England.

Jeff travelled to Formby Hall Golf Club on a golf break with Your Golf Travel.com who have golf breaks starting from just £79 per person including dinner, bed and breakfast and two rounds of golf. For more information simply click here or call 0800 043 6644.

Algarve Golf Holiday Review

Just returned from a 7 night golf holiday at the Pestana Carvoeiro Resort and 2 nights at the Formosa Park Hotel in Portugal. The downs were the mis directions to the Pestana resort from the internet and the apartment at Pestana was not air conditioned. The positives at Pestana were that we played four really good courses, Gramacho, Vale da Pinta, Read more

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