John Daly: It's not a comeback yet

John Daly does seem somewhat dedicated to resurrecting a career gone awry, to wit the weight loss and the newfound patience he has shown when his golf is uncooperative, the latter evident by the fact that he hasn't withdrawn from a tournament in more than a year. The w/d once was a staple on Daly's resume.

The fact that he finished second in the Italian Open in May gave rise to the perception that better days were here, that his bountiful skill would again be allowed to flourish and would carry him to the top of the golf world. Indeed, when he returned to the PGA Tour at the St. Jude Classic, CBS' David Feherty interviewed him and wondered whether the new John Daly might even be prepared to add a third major championship to his record.

Daly on Friday missed the cut again on the European PGA Tour, this time by three strokes at the BMW International Open. That's four missed cuts in eight European Tour starts on the '09 schedule. By way of comparison, in 2008, when his career was bottoming out, Daly also made the cut in 50 percent of his European Tour starts (three of six).

In other words, it's less a comeback than more of the same.

The next three weeks should be telling about where he's at in his attempted comeback. He's scheduled to play in the French Open, the Scottish Open and the British Open, which would give him four starts in a row against formidable fields.

We won't be looking for a victory, necessarily, but we will be looking for progress.

-- John Strege