The question of John Daly being afforded invitations to compete on the European Tour is under the spotlight given the double Major Champion missed the halfway cut in the Castellon Masters.
Daly carded scores of 73 and 70 on the Club de Campo del Mediterranean course by one stroke with a one over par tally.
John Daly in action earlier this year and playing on an invitation in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. (Photo - Phil Inglis/www.golffile.ie)
The American could look back to his final two holes on Thursday when he finished with a pair of double bogeys.
However it is the third cut in succession the 1991 U.S. PGA champion and 1995 Open Champion has missed on the Race to Dubai Tour.
Daly sat out the weekend rounds of the Madrid Masters and also the Portugal Masters while he walked off after being unhappy with a rules decision at the Austrian Open, and a week before finishing 39th in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
But while the 45-year old is a member of the European Tour he has now played nine of 10 events this year through invitations and made the cut in just two.
Daly also contested the Open Championship but then he is exempt into golf’s oldest Major to age 60.
He’s currently lying well down in 218th on the money list with earnings from his 63rd in Qatar and 39th at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship of Euro 30,824.
Daly’s last win on the European Tour was a decade ago in capturing the 2001 BMW International Open in Munich while his last success anywhere was the 2004 Buick Invitational in San Diego.
Of course, Daly is a still a popular figure and very colourful with his ‘Loud Mouth’ line of clothing.
He has attracted good crowds to the last four events he’s competed in.
But at this time of any season there’s questions being raised why Daly should be afforded invitations when there’s many European born players struggling to hold onto Tour membership.
Just ask the likes of England’s Simon Wakefield (116th on the money list) and Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth (136th) who are desperate to avoid returning to next month’s Tour School
But then there is that special side to John Daly that we’re not always aware of as there is a great photograph on ‘Twitter’ of four U.S. Army personnel stationed in Afghanistan proudly wearing ‘Loud Mouth’ trousers Daly had shipped to them.
