Daly's Dozen

At first glance John Daly's 12 in the second round of the BellSouth Classic had "give-up" written all over it. Not so, says Lanny Wadkins, who was playing with Daly. A recap: Daly drove into a pond right of the fairway on the 550-yard, par-5 8th (his 17th hole of the day) and took a penalty drop (2). He blocked his next shot into a creek bed, and his escape attempt ricocheted off a branch and landed next to a tree (4). Forced to play lefthanded, Daly whiffed three times (7) before taking another drop (8). He pitched into a bunker, blasted to within five feet (10) and missed the putt (12). He failed to make another short putt on his final hole to miss the cut by one, but Daly wasn't going through the motions.

"He didn't give up. He did not just throw it away," says Wadkins, who less than a year ago refused to make Daly one of his captain's picks for the U.S. Ryder Cup team because the British Open champ has been known to pack it in when things don't go his way. Wadkins was proud of the way Daly, who will turn 30 later this month, handled last week's adversity. "He's grown up," Wadkins says.