Finch full of praise for brave big John

Jul 20 2008 By Brian Mcsweeney

RICHARD FINCH last night paid tribute to gutsy John Daly for refusing to do a Sandy Lyle by throwing in the towel despite his horror second-round collapse.

Former Open champ Daly limped in late on Friday night with a nightmare 89 to leave him joint last on the leaderboard at 29 over.

But Englishman Finch, playing alongside the big American, revealed Daly suffered a recurrence of an injury to his right hand at the start of the second round.

And Finch, who fired a third-round 78 to leave him 16 over, paid tribute to one of his heroes for gritting his teeth and playing through the emotional and physical pain.

The 31-year-old, who won this year's Irish Open, said: "John's such a great guy it was a pleasure to play alongside him.

"I admired him as a youngster when I used to watch him on TV and although he was suffering it was great to see the crowd's reaction to him as he went round.

"John played on when it was obvious he was in a lot of pain. He picked up an injury to his right hand at the second hole but kept going.

"He kept taking his right hand off the club on impact and wasn't striking the ball as well as he can.

"But he realised the galleries were there to see him and despite the round he had he still got a tremendous reception up the 18th.

"At the end I put my arm round John, thanked him for sticking it out and told him it was a pleasure to play beside him.

"He was hurting and that's understandable after what he has achieved in the game but he'll bounce back from this."