I have a strange fascination with John Daly. So much talent for golf, and so much talent for self-destruction. His ship seem to be temporarily righted, though. He finished solo fourth at last week’s Quatar Masters, and right now is in a T29 at the Omega Dubai Classic following a 67.

Maybe the European Tour is what he needs. There, he is away from the “friends” and associates who in the past have enabled his behaviors. I’m rooting for the big guy.

It seems John Daly still has some game, going 67-73-67 to finish fourth at the Qatar Masters. The tournament was shortened to 54 holes due to high winds.

Winner Paul Lawrie shot a 65.

John Daly is amazingly in a T7 going into the third (and final) round of the Qatar Masters. It’s being cut to 54 holes due to high winds.

I imagine in the desert, those high winds would send a lot of sand into the air. I wonder if any London bookies are taking bets on whether Daly blows up and walks off before the Tournament is over.

Unlike so many of Tiger’s opponents over the years, Robert Rock didn’t melt down and give away the win.  Instead, he played a workmanlike final round, scoring 70 to Tiger’s 72 for the win. Actually, Tiger finished in a T3 with Thomas Bjorn and Graeme McDowell. Rory McIlroy finished second, one behind.

Based on Tiger’s Saturday play, I thought this one was in the bag. But on Sunday, Tiger was missing the fairways and greens in regulation that he had previously hit. The consistency that he has been talking about abandoned him again. It was almost as if this time, HE was the one feeling the pressure. And why wouldn’t he? Tiger’s still looking for his first legitimate win in more than two years.

Golf pundits (and Tiger himself) are saying that Tiger is “close.” I ask, however: close to what? Close to being the dominant player of old? Or close to being a top ten player?

I think Tiger’s a long way from being the guy who dominated the Tours. I think he instead is close to being a top flight Tour player—a guy who is in contention week in and out. Now that the rest of the field has caught up to him, I think Tiger will discover just how hard it is to win on Tour—something I’m not sure he fully appreciated before. My memory of Tiger’s disposition before the scandal is that he went into each tournament expecting to win, if not dominate. Now, he just doesn’t project that in his body language. I see a guy who gets “down,” not angry; who stares at the ground more than he glares at his opponent (as of old). I think his technical difficulties (if indeed, he even has such) are secondary to his mental slide.

Tiger doesn’t expect to win. He merely wants to win.

There’s a lot of difference in that.

I just finished watching the third round of the Abu Dhabi, having spent most of the morning at the doctor’s trying to figure out why my face hurt so badly. Turns out I have a “stone” in a salivary duct. It’s every bit as bad a pain as when I had my wisdom teeth out a couple of years ago. At any rate, I’m now home and trying to catch up on the action at Torrey Pines.

Wood’s third round was vintage Tiger. With just a few mistakes, he managed to get around in 66. Robert Rock of England, however, matched that and will play with Woods tomorrow. Rock, if you’ll remember, made a name for himself with a strong beginning at last year’s US Open, after running into customs and immigration issues on his way in, and drove through the night to make his tee time.

Neither is likely to have an easy time of it tomorrow, for hanging just two shots back is a formidable bunch, including Rory McIlroy (who would be in the lead group but for a two shot penalty for brushing sand), Francesco Molinari, Peter Hanson and Paul Lawrie.

I’m planning to get up early to see the fireworks. I predicted that Tiger would not win on Tour this year, but it looks like a European Tour victory may be in the offing.

I turned on the television at five this morning to see Tiger walking away from a tee box, looking down at the ground, shoulders slumped. Few golfers’ body language tell you as much about how they’re feeling. I just knew that he was disappointed in not meeting whatever standard he had set for himself. A visit to the European Tour website told the tale: Through nine, Tiger was -3 for the tournament, tied for fifteenth and four behind. I would personally say that’s pretty good, all things considering. At this point, he’s in weekend striking distance of the top.

The leader in the clubhouse right now is Thorbjorn Oleson at -7. Hovering within striking distance are Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington and Charl Schwartzel at -4.

McIlroy has two double bogeys on the day and has fallen to a T13. Luke Donald is T32 at -1. His second double was the result of a two shot penalty for moving some sand on the fringe of the trap from which he was taking his stance. There was a bit of official discussion over this.

Morning stationary biking is over. Off to work.

Update: Tiger’s making a charge. Through 15, he’s in a tie for second at -6. Body language has changed, too. He’s happy.

Final Update: Tiger finished his round in a T4 at -5, along with McIlroy, Robert Rock, Robert Karlsson, Paul Lawrie, and Matteo Manassero. He’s doing ok.

Tiger Woods is T7 and three shots back of co-leaders Robert Karlsson and Rory McIlroy, having carded a 70 (-2) in the first round of the Abu Dhabi Championship. As of this writing, though (5:22 am ET), other still could climb up the boards. Graeme McDowell is at -3 after eight. Lots of others still are on the course.

Tiger hit 17 of 18 greens, but needed 34 putts to finish them off. He says he made good putts, but was “fooled on a lot of my reads” thanks to “grainy” greens.

It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Update: Woods finished in a T9, still three shots back.