In a rapid fire series of tweets about his decision to (apparently) quit further attempts to gain some long-term status on the PGA tour, Daly indicated…and then didn’t…and then sort of did, but didn’t…that he was done.

At the very least, Daly has shown a mastery in getting the mainstream media as well as social media all a twitter (oh, see that?  ‘a twitter’ hee hee) about him.

We were among the first blogs to get an interview with JD when he began his return to the golfing world in 2009.  We still think Daly could be great for golf and is indisputably a beloved character.

But we’re also critics of how honest he is with the public and himself.  Even this current outburst has been met with understandable skepticism of the motives.  Daly’s new ‘reality’ TV show, Being John Daly,  premieres on The Golf Channel soon.  A fortunate coincidence for driving viewership?  Yeah right.

Repeatedly Daly will say one thing, and do another.  He’s arguably always struggled with accountability.  An injury.  A bad choice. An indiscretion. A miscommunication. Something, someone, but rarely himself to blame. 

Even that character flaw was often offset by the painful reality of his humanity.

So is Daly done with golf?  Unlikely, but he may be done with touring for a while. 

Daly is clearly beyond being able to make a living on the PGA tour, but he can pull in some cash from the various pro-ams and benefit events he so religiously attends.  All of which carry a healthy little appearance fee with them.

It’s a hard thing seeing someone you like struggle.  And there are few, if any, fans of golf that don’t like John Daly.  At the same time, it’s hard for a fan of Daly to not feel like you’re being played like a sucker time and time again.

So to Daly we simply say — Good luck.  Godspeed and maybe goodbye from us too JD. 

Like you we probably need some time to decide if we too can heal and still be fans, or are just tired of it all.

With that we are proud to announce the first ever Ballzy Awards.

If you want a chance to contribute to other awards this season we’d suggest checking out what Ryan at Waggle Room is doing this year.

As for the Ballzys?  They’re based completely on our own opinion, supported by limited (if any) facts and typically done during one of our editorial sessions.

So there’s that.  And here are the first set of Ballzy Awards for 2009.

Best line of BS: Sandy Lyle calls Monty a cheater, then says he’s not then says well he really is but I’m sort of sorry about it, but not really.  It’s best because it is so shitastically bad.

Worst line of BS: Pretty much anything said by Tiger Woods at a press conference.  A T-dub interview works better than Ambien.  But at times they are still ‘interesting‘.

Hottest Female Golfer:Sophie Sandolo.  Who you say? Just shut up and look below, or here.  We also don’t care if she is active on the LPGA tour or not.  We said ‘golfer’ right?  Not ‘great golfer who is hot’.  See that golf club in her hand?  Looks like a golfer to me folks, a hot one no less. Case closed.

Hottest Male Golfer: Hey, we’re secure enough in our sexuality and masculinity to be able to say ‘that’s a handsome man’ when we see one.  Which is of course why we’ve chosen John Daly as our hottest male golfer. Any doubts in the soundness of our judgment should be dispatched by the below photo.  That’s a handsome man.

That’s all for now.  Congratulations to all of our ‘winners’ and tune in over the next few days for more Ballzys.

But how?  Don’t just walk around carrying your putter all night asking people to guess who you are – party FOUL!

No, you need to make it clear who your favorite golfer is by going all out.  Here are just a few examples of how you can do it.

John Daly: Sport some loudmouth golf pants, carry a diet coke, smoke a cigarette, have a cougarish date dressed as Hooters girl and a suitcase full of excuses and mistakes.

Anthony Kim: Wear a big shiny belt buckle, show up wasted, kick everyone’s ass…leave.

Rory McIlroy: Call and say you’ll be right there…then call and say you aren’t coming…then call and say you may be over but you’re not sure.  Lather…rinse…repeat.

Tiger Woods: Red shirt, black slacks, intimidating glare.  When asked how you like the party say:

“The party is setup really well for me.  Fair but still challenging.  I feel like I’ve done pretty well but I’ve missed some opportunities for hookups, so I’ll just look to capitalize on that in the next two hours and if I do that then things will be good.”

Sandra Gal, Christina Kim, Anna Grzebien: Buck naked yo!

Happy Halloween!

And, unfortunately it’s for reasons that aren’t as fun and flattering as his attire or performance on the European Tour. Daly shot an embarrassing 88 at The Buick Open and the subsequent excuses for why began to flow from him and his inner circle.

It’s a physical issue that has him in a ‘toxic state’.

It’s a lack of feel in his hands.

It’s an astigmatism.

And yesterday at the Tommy Thayer Legends of Golf event, Daly (jokingly?) said it was a mental issue, while in the same breath stating that physically he is fine.

You can see Daly making those comments here on a local news station clip about the event.

We’ve long been supportive of Daly in his return. He remains a gregarious and gracious person who granted NiceBallz an interview several months ago.

But at some point, every supporter has to wonder just where is this current comeback headed? We’d hoped, like many, that it would lead to a solid set of appearances. Maybe even a victory or two.

Now it’s future seems uncertain. Whether it’s a physical issue, mental, some combination of both or a separate problem altogether that Daly has yet to admit publicly, or maybe even to himself, the answer may rest simply in – rest.

Daly has undergone a significant surgery in the past year, he’s putting his body through changes involved with that surgery that are likely just as significant and he’s carried a demanding travel schedule with frequent hops between the U.S. and Europe, as well as across the continental U.S.

Daly’s financial woes are well documented and likely are compounding the issue by having him add charity events like the Tommy Thayer to his schedule and more recently adding a reality show to his list of commitments.

Only one person truly knows what is happening and unfortunately, even Daly can’t seem to consistently state what the problem(s) may be.

For what it’s worth, we’d like to see Daly try and tee it up in a few less charity events in the coming months. If Daly is cashing checks for appearing at any of these events, then you could conclude that his hands don’t seem to be bothering him.  Or if he is doing it despite physical issues then he’s only harming himself further.

We’d much rather see him focusing on getting healthy. If he doesn’t, there may be more reality for his TV show than any of us are comfortable watching.

We’ll be putting the BS-o-meter through its final phase of testing over the next few days by force feeding it the overly-polite, highly rehearsed and rarely interesting quotes from the participants and personalities at The 2009 Open at Turnberry.

Here some easily digestable and delictable quotes after Round 1:

“Not bad for an almost 60-year-old,” said Watson, who turns that age in September. “Obviously I enjoyed it.”  – Translation: “Suck on that one punks.”
 
Speaking on Watson – “That was very cool to watch,” Stricker said. “It gives hope to everybody that you can continue to play well in your later years.”  – Translation: “He’s clearly on something.”
 
“I certainly made a few mistakes out there,” Woods said. “Realistically, I probably should have shot about 1- or 2-under par.”  – Translation: “I would talk longer, but I have to text Hank Haney that he’s fired.”
 
Two days after earning a start at the British Open because another player withdrew with an injury, John Senden shot a 4-under 66 Thursday at Turnberry.

“I played solid,” Senden said. “A couple of good saves, and holed a couple of good putts on 13 and 14.”  Translation: “I’m going to be so tight tomorrow that if you shoved a lump of coal up my rear you’d have a diamond inside of ten minutes.”

Daly, his career dogged by personal and financial demons, was in need of quick cash when he agreed to a merchandising deal with Loudmouth Golf.
 
“I didn’t have any deals,” Daly said. The company’s owner, a longtime friend, asked, “Do you want to wear my pants, and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll wear ‘em.”’ Translation: “Yeah I said I’d wear ‘em for a stake in the company which is now blowin’ up baby! Love ya Woody!”

“I also got up and down when I needed to, so there is certainly something to build on. I wasn?t shooting the lights out but it gives me hope for the next three days,” said Padraig Harrigton.  Translation: “Hope, as in I hope I make the cut isn’t that what ya wanna hear Mr. Fookin’ Newspaperman?”

Enjoy.

LPGAer Kristy McPherson lost her clubs at the airport, but got them back because someone had her back yo.

Now we know who is really behind @ChrisDiMarco. Behind every great man…

Michelle Wie found the secret to good head….on beer people!  C’mon keep it classy ya’ll — is she even old enough to drink?

John Daly pimped the sh*t outta his latest sponsor.

The One Eyed Golfer made us think he could be faking his senility.

Have you seen a favorite/unusual/awkward/funny tweet from a golf personality?  Send it our way on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NiceBallz or http://twitter.com/GolferWriterGuy or email us at: staff@niceballz.com and we’ll look to include it in the next Golf Bytes.

                                                                               
 
Scott “Woody” Woodworth of Loudmouth Golf added, “No one but The Lion could pull off this look, well him and approximately 12,000 Elvis impersonators but none of them qualified for the St. Jude.”
 
In addition to the jumpsuit Woodworth speculated that depending on response this could be the beginning of a new direction for Daly and Loudmouth.  “It’s not too hard to imagine debuting a Prince inspired outfit at Hazeltine or a Liberace at the Shriner’s Hospitals Childrens Open in Las Vegas.”
 
“I’m pretty sure this is gonna get a response,” added Daly.
 
As everyone who reads our blog knows we enjoy a good tongue-in-cheek post now and again, and are confident neither Daly nor Loudmouth would ever go this far.  That said we’re looking forward to what he does bring out in attire and scores in Memphis.  For more satirical humor, commentary and reviews follow us at http://twitter.com/NiceBallz and http://twitter.com/GolferWriterGuy or at http://blog.niceballz.com/.

Each week we’ll share some select tweets that have caught our eye more than others, all from some of golf’s more interesting characters on twitter.
 
Hope you enjoy.

PGA_JohnDaly found a new pet, that isn’t of the Penthouse variety.

Davis Love III embraced his inner klepto and avoided having to ask someone to ‘spare a square’.

GolfGirl (uber blogger, soon to be published author yadda yadda yadda) makes anything sound sexy.

Addicted2Golf blogger Blaine gave sweet bourbony kisses to his babies.  G’night *hic*!

Dena Davis of The Golf Channel let us know people at her office are well, pigs.

Christina Kim made us wish we were a yogurt top.

Have you seen a favorite/unusual/awkward/funny tweet from a golf personality?  Send it our way on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NiceBallz or http://twitter.com/GolferWriterGuy or email us at: staff@niceballz.com and we’ll look to include it in the next Golf Bytes.

John Daly tried to get rid of his doppelganger (and later tweets indicate he was successful >good). 
 
Clevelandgolf probably has @StewartCink in the trunk of his car by now. 
 
LPGA’er Jane Park discovered the wonders of modern medicine. 
 
Golf and fashion uber blogger/tweeter GolfGirl lived in denial about Sergio. 

PumaGolf let it slip that they are carnivorous and easily satisfied.
 
LPGA’er and @Stephaniewei pal, Paige Mackenzie made us blush and LOL at the same time. Note: Related/prior tweet here
 
Recently seen a favorite/unusual/awkward/funny tweet from a golf personality?  Send it our way and we’ll look to include it in the next Golf Bytes.

*In full disclosure mode –  we were inspired to rip off put a golf focused take on Valleywag’s/Gawkers ‘the twitterati’ feature.  So there…we are all transparent n’sh*t.