PONTE VEDRA BEACH - After shooting 80 on Sunday, John Daly held out no hope that he would receive an invitation to the Masters.
His prognosticating turned out to be as bad as his play.
Despite finishing 79th, Daly earned a spot in next week's Masters because he remained 10th on the PGA Tour money list. The top 10 as of today, or those among the top 50 in the world rankings, get the last invites to the year's first major. "I'm totally excited to be back in the Masters again," Daly said in a statement released by the tour. "I live to play in the Masters, like most of the guys out here. I haven't been there too often in recent years, so it's a thrill for me to be going back.
"I feel like I'm playing well enough right now that maybe I can contend this year. If I can keep hitting the driver well and putt it halfway decent, I should be okay. I love it there. I love being there."
Daly would have been knocked out of Augusta had Kenny Perry finished second at the Players Championship. But Ireland's Padraig Harrington overtook Perry for second, finishing a shot behind winner Adam Scott.
Hours earlier, Daly bemoaned the fact the Masters no longer automatically takes PGA Tour winners from the past year. Now it's a moot point.
Daly entered the TPC ninth on the money list. He earned $14,560, but was only passed by Scott, who earned $1.44-million to vault to third behind Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson. Daly is 10th with $1,284,206 and finished $135,531 ahead of Darren Clarke.
BOUNCING BACK: Davis Love didn't defend his TPC title, but after opening with 77, he was happy to make the cut and shoot two rounds under par. "My teacher, Jack Lumpkin, said it best," said Love, who tied for 33rd. "He called me last night: "At least you hung in there and you got to play the weekend. You don't want to go to Augusta missing the cut and not playing in Atlanta.' I got to play, I got to test my game, I got to play the fast greens. I think it was important to have a little bit of confidence going for Augusta, rather than having two bad days and being out of here."
MONEY GRAB: Today's Tavistock Cup between members of Lake Nona and Isleworth in Orlando is more than a friendly competition. The members of the winning team will take home $100,000, with $50,000 going to the losers and bonus money being paid for Tuesday's stroke-play action. The made-for-TV event, which will be broadcast on the Golf Channel, has such players as Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen on the Lake Nona squad and Mark O'Meara, Clarke and Stuart Appleby on the Isleworth team.
AROUND THE TPC: Clearwater's John Huston likely will miss the Masters by two or three strokes. He needed to finish in the top 15, but shot 73 and tied for 26th. "Honestly, I don't think I could have shot the number," he said. "This is just such a frustrating course. I leave here with such an incredible headache every day." Huston entered the tournament 56th in the world rankings. ... PGA champion Shaun Micheel was headed to Augusta on Sunday night with Chad Campbell to play a practice round today. "I have yet to set foot on the property yet," Micheel said. "I'll get a chance to see the place without any spectators. I'm looking forward to it." Micheel shot a final-round 67 for ninth, his best finish since winning the PGA. ... Tiger Woods finished outside of the top 10 for the second straight week. His final-round 73 was good for a tie for 16th. ... Harrington's 30 on the back nine was the low nine-hole score of the tournament. ... The scoring average of 73.004 was the highest this year on tour. ... Scott joined Woods and Campbell as the only players in their 20s to win on tour this year.
