John Daly smashed one tee shot off the top of a beer can during a pro-am. At another tournament, he returned from a rain delay with Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden as his caddie. And his most memorable photo this year came in an orange jail suit, eyes half-closed.

Daly said yesterday that such unwelcome publicity is why the PGA Tour suspended him for six months.

The two-time major champion confirmed his suspension to The Associated Press, calling this the low point of an 18-year career during which he has made as much news off the course as he has with his prodigious game.

"Is it fair that I got suspended?" he said. "It's not fair in reality, but it's probably fair in perception."

Daly said he wanted to go public to let fans and tournaments know that he wasn't abandoning them by taking his game to the European tour. At least until the spring, he simply didn't have much of a choice.

"I'm not sure this is the smartest thing to do, but I'd rather be honest, especially with the fans," he said. "It's hard for me not to play on the West Coast. I love it out there."

PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw declined comment, even after seeing Daly's remarks, citing the tour's longtime policy of not discussing fines or suspensions.

This is the second time the tour has suspended Daly, along with at least two other times when he agreed to sit out the final few months of a season to get his life in order.