While sport and gambling have been interlinked for centuries the game of professional golf has in the main been gambling free. That is though, with the marked exception, of former British Open Champion John Daly who wrote famously in his autobiography that he had lost between $50million and $60 million during a 12 year gambling run.

These days Daly is working hard to avoid gambling as well as a number of other vices but it seems it’s a battle he’s struggling with.

In January of this year the 41 year old from California pulled out of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic citing an injured rib though it was commonly reported at the time that it was as a result of a drink fuelled over night drinking session.

The undoubtedly talented sportsman who also won the much coveted PGA Championship back in 1991 (the same year he was named rookie of the year on the tour) has gained a serious amount of weight in recent months with some thinking it may be as a result of binge eating and/or alcohol abuse.

Daly has squandered his talent, his fortune, and most chances he might have had at happiness. Now weighing in excess of 300 pounds Daly who also smokes heavily is in real danger of suffering a heart attack but the big man continues to burn the candle at both ends.

During his gambling years Daly’s losses included $1.5 million in October2005, after winning half that amount at the WGC-American Express tournament, most of it lost on $5,000 Las Vegas slot machines. Daly has been able to pay his gambling debts mostly through making more paid public appearances and through sponsorships opportunities.

Daly still has that same old magic in his arms but just needs a spell of being clean and focused to succeed. Otherwise he as a golfer and as an individual will fall from the public’s interest.