European Tour/Scandinavian Masters:John Daly has offered a vivid and emphatic response to Tiger Woods' sermon on the benefits of physical fitness in golf.
"Every time I worked out I threw up, and I thought to myself, 'I can get drunk and throw up, I don't need to do this!' " was Daly's view of Woods' comments after he won the 13th major of his career in the US PGA Championship on Sunday.
Woods defied the sweltering conditions at Southern Hills and afterwards extolled the virtues of his rigorous fitness programme.
"You should always train hard and bust your butt. That's what a sport is," he said following a two-shot victory achieved in temperatures well over 100 degrees. "The thing is that not everyone considers golf a sport and they don't treat it as such."
Woods did not name names, but Daly could be considered a prime example of the kind of player he was referring to, a 41-year-old smoker who has battled weight, drink and gambling problems - and gone through three divorces.
But Daly insists working out in the gym does not agree with him and has no intention of changing his ways to try to add a third major title to his 1991 US PGA and 1995 British Open victories.
"I think I did better than most players last week who do work out," said Daly, third after the opening round at Southern Hills before fading to a share of 32nd. "I saw Vijay (Singh) finding the shade of a tree whenever he could and he looked worn out. I don't think it matters if you work out or if you don't work out, I am used to the heat like that so it doesn't bother me as much as some of the other guys.
"I tried (working out) when I was at Reebok in the early 1990s but I got tired of it, every time I worked out I threw up and I thought to myself, 'I can get drunk and throw up, I don't need to do this'!
"You throw up after an hour's work-out, but you can drink for 20 hours before throwing up, so it is just not for me, I don't like it.
"I am flexible enough, but there are probably some things I could do to keep my flexibility up but I just don't want to do it. I'd rather smoke, drink diet Cokes and eat! It just doesn't mean that much to me to work out, lift weights and run. I get enough exercise walking five or six miles a day."
As Woods himself noted after the first round, Daly is "extremely talented", but he acknowledged the world number one is in a class of his own.
"That's nice of him to say that, but I wish I had his game," added Daly, in Stockholm for the Scandinavian Masters which gets under way this morning.
"I think the thing that separates Tiger from everybody is that he makes putts more than we do. Right now he is like a one-man field, the only person he has to worry about beating is himself and he just doesn't do that.
"But that is a nice comment he gave me."
Daly will play alongside tournament promoter Jesper Parnevik and defending champion Marc Warren for the first two rounds at Arlandastad.
Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie, David Higgins and Damien McGrane are the only Irish in the field.
However, there are eight Irishmen playing in the Lexus Open in Norway, one of two Challenge Tour events on this week.
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