The people's golfer

PROFILE/ John Daly is riding on a new high as his dreams of making a Ryder Cup debut gets closer

He is one of golf's greatest characters. Big built, and alternating between smiles and grimaces, John Daly packs in a great deal of power and is one of the longest hitters in the game.

His is an amazing story of talent and a turbulent personal life, and even without a winning streak, Daly is a celebrity every time he steps on the course.

The 38-year-old player, who has two Majors "" the 1991 PGA Championships and the 1995 British Open "", is, however, still waiting to make a Ryder Cup debut.

This year his performance has been fantastic and this gives him a good chance to make an entry. He rose to No 20 in Ryder Cup standings despite being edged out to the second place by Vijay Singh in the Buick Open last week.

Daly could make it to the Ryder Cup team if he enters the top 10 of the Money List by finishing in top two at the US PGA Championships at Whistling Straits. Or if the US Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton selects him as one of his two players.

Also in Daly's sights is a place in the Tour Championships, which he has never played earlier because he has never made it to the top 30 on the Money List.

This year, Daly beat a world-class field at Torrey Pines to win the Buick Invitational in February and came close to winning again at Buick Open last week.

Torrey Pines was his first win, where the field included Tiger Woods.

After the Buick Open last week, he registered his fifth top 10 of the season, equalling his best season of 1992, and earned $2.1 million. While Daly had never made more than $828,914 in a single season, he is now 14th on the Money List.

As for his play, it has been amazing. He is No 1 in the all-round ranking, which is a combination of eight key categories. He is third in driving distance and third in putting, showing how fluidly he can handle every aspect of the game from hitting, chipping, putting to iron shots off the fairway.

Daly almost knocked Vijay off the perch when he began the final day with an explosive birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie start and started the day two behind Vijay. He ultimately lost in a play-off.

He may well have played the Ryder Cup way back in 1991 but for a rule change that year. Before him, the reigning PGA champion was an automatic selection to the Ryder Cup team, but this rule underwent a change.

That year, Daly started out as the ninth alternate at Crooked Stick, who got a last-minute call and drove all night to reach the venue. To cap an emotional story, he won his first Major.

After that, he won the 1995 British Open, ending a streak of 26 events without a top 10. That year, Daly missed a Ryder Cup spot narrowly. He needed to finish fifth at the PGA Championship to earn a spot on the team.

He missed the cut at Riviera and captain Lanny Wadkins chose the more experienced Fred Couples and Curtis Strange over him.

Daly has suffered a series of broken relationships, fought a severe drinking problem, and overcame weight problems and near nervous breakdowns.

But despite all his obvious human failings, he has remained a people's golfer, and whose gallery is probably next only to Tiger Woods.