Wednesday, March 03, 2010

John Daly tries to Twitter his own back on golf writer

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
John Daly was so irritated that a Florida newspaper wrote about his US PGA Tour disciplinary file that he referred to the writer as a "jerk" on Twitter and posted the writer's mobile phone number for his followers to call.
The Florida Times-Union reported on Tuesday that the Daly file was now public record through the player's unsuccessful libel lawsuit against the newspaper. The file is 456 pages and notes that Daly has been suspended five times and cited 21 times for not giving his best effort.
"Here's the jerk who writes non-news article on debut of my show – call and flood his line and let's tell him how we feel," Daly said on Twitter, adding the cell phone number of golf writer Garry Smits.
The story appeared the day Daly's reality show made its debut on The Golf Channel.
Smits, the golf writer for the Florida Times-Union, said he received about 30 calls after a series of three tweets late Tuesday night, and nearly 100 calls by early Wednesday afternoon. Smits said most of the callers hung up, and about 30 left messages.
"His fans are very unhappy," Smits said.
Daly removed the tweets by mid-morning on Wednesday. Bud Martin, president of SFX World and Daly's agent, could not be reached for comment. The US PGA Tour would not comment on Daly's tweets.
"Over the haters – To me, this isn't journalism, it's paparazzi-like gossip. Please try harder to find some real news next time Gary," said Daly's second tweet.
It was followed by, "Gnight all but here's Gary Smits cell number in case you didn't get it ... non sports writer."
The US PGA Tour does not comment on player discipline, but it was forced to turn over Daly's file to attorneys for the newspaper's parent company when Daly sued for libel. The file is now public record.
The lawsuit was dismissed a year ago, and Daly was ordered to pay nearly $272,000 in legal fees.
The 456-page file includes several newspaper clippings and incidents that already have been reported during Daly's tumultuous career. It also included some startling numbers – he was placed on probation six times, ordered to go to counselling or alcohol rehab seven times, cited for conduct unbecoming a professional 11 times and fined nearly $100,000.
Daly has not had his full US PGA Tour card since 2006 and has been playing on sponsor exemptions.

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Copyright © Colin Farquharson

If you can't find what you are looking for.... please check the Archive List or search this site with Google