ShareThisSherrie Daly would like you to know that she did not stab her husband.
She is sitting across the table and telling her version of what happened at the Memphis golf tournament two years ago and it does not include coming at John Daly with a knife.
"It was a complete lie," she said. "He did it to himself. It looked to me like scratches. What did I do, cut him? And then he turned around and let me cut the other side? Stabs are like random."
OK, but why talk about it now, now that John is back in twon, slimmer and playing better golf and trying to make a comeback on the PGA Tour?
"It's been two years now," she said. "I go to all these different schools, my kids are in schools with different kids. Of course, they want to have friends to play with. Don't you think the parents think, 'Oh, God, that's the girl that did it?'"
She shrugs. She is aware she may come across as the bitter ex-wife. Although, for the record, she would like to remind you that she is still the actual wife.
The woman who has been traveling with Daly of late is his girlfriend. Pending the outcome of a hearing Wednesday as to whether to extend a temporary restraining order, Sherrie remains barred from the course.
Which, frankly, ticks her off.
"I live at (TPC) Southwind (site of this week's St. Jude Classic)," she said. "If I want to go visit with friends over the weekend, I should be allowed to go. If I want to follow Doug Barron, well, he's a friend. But I assure you, the last thing I want to do is get involved with John and his mistress."
John Daly makes a fresh start at the St. Jude Classic this week. This is what all the headlines say.
He is playing better golf. He had lap band surgery to help him lose weight.
This is all great, truly. One can only hope that, at age 43, coming off a six-month suspension, Daly has finally found some degree of balance.
But there's no surgery that can help Daly avoid the inevitable consequences of the life he has led. There's no medical procedure that can lift or tuck away four failed marriages.
That's why security accompanies Daly as he walks the course this week. And that's why Daly sent his lawyers into court to ask for an order keeping Sherrie away from the course.
This struck Randy Fishman, Sherrie's lawyer, as curious at best.
"We're talking about John Daly here," said Fishman. "The idea that there will be ruckus on a golf course by someone named Daly and it won't be John doesn't make much sense to me."
Which is, of course, just one side of it. Daly's lawyer, Steve Black, said he was prohibited by court order from making any public comment on the case.
Sherrie would seem to be violating that court order by talking now. Beyond that, she has baggage of her own.
Sherrie spent five months in jail for, in essence, money laundering. People close to the Tour say she is every bit as volatile as her husband.
She met Daly at the 2001 Memphis tournament and married him at a casino 53 days later. She disputes the validity of their prenuptial agreement partly on the grounds that "we were both drunk." So what exactly did she expect from this union?
"I was probably the biggest enabler there ever was," she said. "I have hid him -- not hit him, hid him -- from media groups when he's gotten drunk and passed out places. Lied for him, hid for him, hid stuff. It's always cover up, cover up, cover up."
OK, so, again, why blast Daly now?
"I'm so sick of this good guy image, this sweet guy who just loves kids and is so good to charity," Sherrie said. "If you're this nice guy, and you care all about these stranger kids and now you're wearing pink pants for Amy Mickelson, how come you have ... "
And here Sherrie launches into a sordid tale, the tale of a horrendous divorce, and you know how that goes.
He did this. She did that. Who knows where the truth lies?
Sherrie says John allowed the bank to foreclose on the home she occupied with their son. That seems to be true.
Sherrie says John had enough money to rack up $70,000 in new gambling debts but failed to pay the power bill multiple times. Sure enough, the court ordered Daly to continue to pay the power bill earlier this year.
But what if John left a wad of cash to pay the power bill? He's not talking, remember. Every fight has two sides.
And this is a fight, no question. This is as ugly as it gets. And it's the backdrop -- the unspoken backdrop -- to John's tour return this week.
Have sympathy for one or the other, if you prefer. Have sympathy for neither of them.
But, by all means, have sympathy for the other John Daly living through this.
His name is Little John.
He's five.
(Contact Geoff Calkins at calkins@ commercialappeal.com.)
(Geoff Calkins writes for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis.)
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