You've just got to like John Daly. He's got his life together, drives from tournament-to-tournament in a motor home and, despite being tormented more than any other player by the demands of the TPC at Sawgrass, continues to search for a way to beat the course.

Yesterday, at last, he did. Earlier in the week, at a charity clinic also attended by the US Tour's commissioner, Tim Finchem, who inquired how he thought the player would do this week, Daly had joked that his average score around the Stadium course was "about 80.5" and that he simply hoped to beat that.

"This course has always been tough for me," remarked Daly, who missed the cut five times and withdrew twice in his previous 11 appearances in the Players.

Daly, though, got his act together in yesterday's opening round, resisting the urge to grab his driver out of his golf bag and instead opting to use three-wood or even two-iron off the tee. "I probably used the driver three times, that's all," he said.

The new self-restraint proved worthwhile too, as Daly fired a two-under-par 70.

"I'll tell you, it's nice to finally get off to a decent start. But, to be honest, I've nothing to worry about - I'm more concerned about our troops in Iraq.

"They've got to cross that so-called red line soon and who knows what's going to happen. If I have a bad day, I've just got to go out and figure what I have done good," remarked Daly, in attempting to put some perspective on a golfer's lot.

Daly's performances in the Players have been poor - his best finish was tied-16th in 1998 - and this season he has found it tough to reproduce his best form, missing three cuts in five appearances. And on the two occasions that he did survive into the weekend, his self-destruct mode was such that the best he could finish was 56th in the Bob Hope when he finished with a 75.

Yesterday, at least, there were signs that Daly's managed to recover some form with four birdies and two bogeys - both dropped shots coming at the end of each loop, on the ninth and 18th - as he rediscovered a way to get into contention in a tournament.