But I switched him towards the middle of the course and when I got the split he was really travelling.”Top Banana, backed to take more than pounds 1m out of the ring on-course and in ante-post liabilities on one of the season’s hottest handicaps, held 20-1 shot Jayannpee, the best of the low-drawn finishers on the far side, by a short-head for second, with Espartero fourth.Hughes, with two winners at Royal Ascot and another at Goodwood on Friday, is one of the rising stars of the weighing-room. He said: “He is not a horse you can hustle to the front, and the worry was that I would not get a run. White’s has a fine record with his Flat runners, and Shikari’s Son followed Imad in the Goodwood Stakes on Tuesday as his second strike at the big midsummer festival.
Richard Hughes, putting up 4lb overweight, brought the winner through a line of horses 50 yards from the line, having been last half-way through the six-furlong cavalry charge. And the gelding’s three-quarters of a length victory was not only a surprise for punters but also a 42nd birthday present for his trainer, John White, who was at Newton Abbot, saddling two jumps winners. For Daly it could well be the start of a barely recognisable life, and he will not forget to whom he owes the debt..

UNCONSIDERED Shikari’s Son sprang a 40-1 shock here yesterday when he beat the hot favourite Top Banana in the Stewards Cup. His anxiety to please them by reaching for his driver on most tees may even have delayed his development. St Andrews gave him the opportunity to deploy his driving strength and display his new maturity.For many, winning the Open has been the culmination of a career. Lanny Wadkins, the captain, may feel that one of the two wild cards should not necessarily go to someone who answers that description better than anyone.But his worst enemies wouldn’t describe him as unpleasant. Indeed, watching his rapport with spectators during pre-tournament practice days on both sides of the Atlantic, it is hard to think of a more appealing member of his profession. It was a clumsy attempt to mitigate his own problems but he has not been forgiven and this may count against him if he doesn’t qualify automatically for a place in the American Ryder Cup team.

If his Open victory marks the turning point in his attitude towards authority he may take a little longer to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of his fellow professionals, many of whom are still upset by the remarks he made last year about drug- taking. As recently as last September he voluntarily banned himself for three months after a car-park scuffle with a spectator. Any golf club member can relate stories of how the most spoilt and selfish of young men have been made almost bearable by the simple disciplines of club life.Daly has been suspended twice by the US Tour for misbehaviour and it was at their instigation that he began his alcoholic rehabilitation in 1993. It is as well that golf has an unparalleled ability to live with excess.The presence of such an eccentric spirit inevitably invites comparison with Andre Agassi, but Daly is by far the rougher diamond and, although he won the Open wearing a windproof smock that might have been designed for a pregnant lady jogger, his is not the sophisticate’s pose.

There is a strong conformist atmosphere in golf which has brought the essential patience to Daly’s game and which will eventually get to his personality. It may be too fanciful to imagine him playing to a standing ovation in his last Open at St Andrews when he is 65 in the year 2031 but the progress he has already made puts him on course for more respectability.One of the main advantages of being the most orderly, best- governed sport at all its levels is that it turns out fine upstanding citizens as a by-product. Scores of cigarettes every day, a dozen or so cans of Coke and unlimited chocolate have flooded his system to the extent that his caffeine and sugar levels are a medical problem and give him headaches that alcohol never did.Some of the excitement no longer supplied via his bloodstream has been replaced by a passion for gambling and a large proportion of the pounds 125,000 prizemoney he received for winning the Open has already been converted into a top-of-the-range Mercedes. Not everyone, however, would be advised to follow the Daly cure too closely. In the two years since he stopped drinking, his thirst has moved into other areas. But isn’t this the strength of sport at its highest level; providing examples of achievement fit to encourage us all in our daily grind? And isn’t golf, with its self-regulating code of discipline and sportsmanship, the prime supplier of such examples? In many ways, what was a triumph for Daly was also a triumph for golf.There are reports that Alcoholics Anonymous have noticed an increase in inquiries since Daly’s spectacular demonstration that life beyond the bottle need not be a monotonous, monochrome existence.

In June, Corey Pavin finally secured his first major by winning the US Open and, as a born-again Christian, acknowledged his debt to the good Lord. Now comes Daly, who is probably the finest sporting example of a repenting sinner in the modern age and has received his reward in a lump sum now rather than a place in paradise.In a game noted for the raffish nature of many of its favourite sons, this is a glaring switch to the straight and narrow and will alert thousands to the prospect that next time their pathetic swings are analysed a sharp reduction in elbow-bending might be recommended. Crenshaw’s coach and mentor, the revered Harvey Penick, died just before the tournament and, according to the American press, added heavenly guidance to Crenshaw’s armoury. Curtis Strange (US Open), Mark Calcavecchia (the Open) and Payne Stewart (USPGA) were the heroes in that year but, admirable as all three are, I fear they lacked the divine links of this year’s threesome.Ben Crenshaw won the US Masters in April amid hallelujah scenes. Had he not agreed to fight and overcome his destructive addiction or, indeed, had drugs been the cause of his problems, he might even now be back in a humble dwelling in his native Arkansas indulging in the enormously popular local pastime of hog-calling.

As it is, his victory last Sunday brought the Americans their third consecutive win of a major championship this year; the first time they have managed to string together a hat-trick since 1989.