John Daly Calls Writer A 'Jerk' For Leaking Secrets

Sports News - March 3rd, 2010 - Written By John Ritter

After having his private conferences with PGA officials revealed publicly, golfer John Daly is outraged at the writer who outed him.

He called Florida Times-Union golf writer Garry Smits a "jerk" on Twitter and encouraged his followers to harass him via cell phone.

Smits wrote an article Tuesday that revealed how many times Daly had been reprimanded by the PGA Tour, and how severe the penalties were. Smits obtained the information when it was made public after Daly's unsuccessful lawsuit from a year ago. The 456-page file shows that Daly had been suspended five times and cited another 21 times for anything from poor effort to "conduct unbecoming a professional".

"here’s the JERK who writes NON-NEWS article on debut of my show—CALL & FLOOD his line & let’s tell him how WE feel," Daly Tweeted before then posting Smits' phone number.

He also said, "Over the haters—To me, this isn’t journalism, it’s paparazzi-like gossip. Please try harder to find some REAL news next time Gary," and "Gnight ALL but here's GARY SMITS cell number in case you didn’t get it...non sports writer."

The writer added that he got about 30 angry calls Tuesday night, and then another 100 the following day, but assured that there were no threatening callers.

"His fans are very unhappy," Smits said.

Daly took down the Twitter messages Wednesday afternoon, but told the Associated Press via text,"Gary left his cell number and e-mail address from phone number he left in the article public record far as I’m concerned."

Daly's file was made public after he sued the Florida-Times Union's parent company for libel. Lawyers obtained his private files as part of the investigation, and made them public once the case was over.

The 43-year old golfer lost the lawsuit, and had to fork over $272,000 in legal fees. He was not a fan favorite in court, and past PGA Betting Lines have indicated the same.