John Daly files for fourth divorce

AP

Golfer John Daly, right, is hugged by his wife, Sherrie, after his playoff victory in the Buick Invitational in San Diego, on Feb. 15, 2004. Lenny Ignelzi The Associated Press

By The Associated Press

By DOUG FERGUSON

The Associated Press

Two-time major champion John Daly and his wife have filed for divorce, four months after she finished serving a federal sentence involving financing from an alleged drug and gambling ring.

Sherrie Miller Daly filed for divorce on Oct. 17, and Daly filed a day later, according to records in Shelby County, Tenn.

“It was kind of a race to the courthouse,” said Randy Fishman, the Memphis attorney representing Daly’s wife.

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Daly’s attorney, Stevan Black, did not immediately return a phone call.

Daly did not play the last two tournaments on the PGA Tour because of a hand injury, although he was expected to play this week in Greg Norman’s Merrill Lynch Shootout in Naples, Fla.

It would be the fourth divorce for Daly, whose life outside the ropes has garnered almost as much attention as his victories in the PGA Championship and British Open at St. Andrews.

Fishman, however, did not rule out reconciliation. Sherrie Daly also filed for divorce in October 2003, a case that was voluntarily dismissed six months later.

The couple met at a golf tournament in 2001 and married seven weeks later. They have one son, John Patrick, who was born a week before Mrs. Daly was indicted on federal charges along with her parents.

Daly has two other children from previous marriages, while Mrs. Daly has a son from a previous marriage.

Mrs. Daly pleaded guilty in November 2004 to a charge of conspiracy to structure a transaction evading the reporting requirement. She began serving a five-month sentence Jan. 25, the day before Daly teed off in the Buick Invitational.

Daly’s autobiography, “My Life In & Out of the Rough,” was released in May. He went into lurid detail about his gambling and drinking addictions, and he devoted one chapter to his three ex-wives that was titled, “All My Exes Wear Rolexes.”

He even mentioned a fiancee – “Almost Ex No. 4” – who later sued him over comments Daly made in another book written by Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly.