Daly back in contention

Kiawah Island, SC – John Daly shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday at the PGA Championship. He is two back of another portly, fun golfer named Carl Pettersson.

With half of the field still on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Daly could find himself more strokes behind, but it's unlikely.

Granted, the wind hasn't really started blowing, but the safe bet is that Daly will be two behind after the round is completed.

Is this an amazing occurrence?

Maybe, but there have been some signs.

Last week, in a rare appearance on the PGA Tour, Daly tied for fifth at the Reno-Tahoe Open.

The rarity stems from the fact that Daly has no status on the PGA Tour. He hasn't won on tour since 2004 and must rely on past champions status, or sponsor's invites.

Daly has taken to playing some on the European Tour to get into competitive form.

"Don't get me wrong, I love the European Tour, but it would be great to play at home," Daly said after his round Thursday. "Either way, it doesn't really matter to me. I love playing both tours, but like I said, my goal would be to be back on our Tour, no doubt. But there's that option, and it's not a bad one to be honest with you."

Daly started his 2012 season with a fourth at the Qatar Masters on the European Tour.

Last week, Daly tied for fifth at the Reno-Tahoe Open, an event played opposite the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Firestone Country Club.

"Last week was great. I know it was opposite of Firestone, but still," Daly said. "As good as all the players are these days, it doesn't matter where you play good, you're still playing against some unbelievable players. No, I just want to play. It doesn't really matter."

It would be easy to dismiss this 68 on Thursday as an anomaly. Daly's earned those questions, but would it shock you to know that he has one round in the 80s this year?

Or, would it surprise you to know that Daly has four rounds of 67 or better in the final round in four of his last eight starts? He doesn't always seem to have much of attention span when things aren't going his way, but those four rounds show you something.

Remember a few more things about Daly.

He only has five PGA Tour wins, so the number of public embarrassments are greater than wins, but he has two major titles.

That is one more major than Hall of Famer candidates Davis Love III, Jim Furyk, Fred Couples, Ian Woosnam or Justin Leonard.

It's two more than Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia or Steve Stricker.

And this wouldn't be the first career resurgence for Daly.

After he fell into an abyss after his Open Championship victory in 1995, Daly rebounded to win the 2004 Buick Invitational. It came at the end of his 10- year exemption for the victory at St. Andrews and he got two more years on tour.

In 2005, he handed the WGC-American Express Championship to Tiger Woods when he missed a 2-foot par putt in a playoff.

Daly's been down before and came back.

You shouldn't be remotely stunned if Daly falls down the leaderboard on Friday. Just don't assume it will happen.