John Daly Shoots a 62 in Final Round at Hong Kong, Surprises Everyone

It is probably hard to read that headline and believe that a guy who played 42 rounds on the PGA Tour this year and broke 70 only seven times could have fired a round like that. Especially when the guy is John Daly.

Big John was just one of three players all week in the Hong Kong Open to shoot an eight-under 62, which he did in the final round to jump 38 spots to finish t-17. Daly fired two rounds of 68 to open the tournament but a 73 on Saturday, that included a four-over 40 on the back nine dropped him out of the hunt. His final round brought him right back in it.

"It feels really, really good. It feels like, 'Yeah, maybe I still can play a little bit,"' Daly said. "I wasn't expecting this much this week and to shoot one of probably my best rounds in three years, I'm pretty happy with it."

This is a great start for Daly on the European Tour since he said he's planning to play most of his golf across the pond this season. As much as we dog Big John around here (and how could you not after the Hooters experience), the guy is actually playing some solid golf lately. He made two of his final three cuts on the PGA Tour at the end of the season and his scoring average over his last 14 rounds is a svelte 68.86.

Now John goes from China to Australia for the Australian Masters next week and the Australian PGA the week after that. The PGA is played at Coolum, a place where Daly had an interesting encounter in 2002.

Daly also apologized for his ill-tempered last visit to Coolum in November 2002 when he threw his putter and ball into the water after shooting a 78.

He had received a $200,000 appearance fee but was disqualified for failing to sign his card and fined $5,600 and ordered to write an apology to a tour official he verbally abused. A scuba diver retrieved the ball and putter and it has been mounted in the pro shop at the Hyatt Regency Coolum course in Queensland state.

Sounds about right. The solid finish earned Daly $32,675.99, just a hair behind his $56,017 he earned the entire '08 PGA Tour season. Maybe getting a little frisky at Hooters and ending up in the slammer puts things in perspective for the 42-year-old. That or he enjoys the China Diet Coke a little better.