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"How are you feeling these days?"
"I'm getting there," he said while scribbling his signature on golf flags, shirts, hats, programs, pictures and magazine covers. "I had rib surgery two months ago. I just had a cyst in my right hand and they finally got that out. Now I've got tendinitis in my left elbow."
A youngster probably not yet born when Daly outplayed Costantino Rocca at The Old Course listened to his litany of woes and shouted, "You're my favorite player, Mr. Daly. I love you."
Daly just flashed a smile while he moved along the metal railing, signing everything that was thrust in front of him.
He has not been to Oakland Hills since the U.S. Open in 1996, which featured one of the more peculiar groupings. Daly played the first two rounds with 20-year-old amateur Tiger Woods - they represented the two longest hitters in golf - and defending champion Corey Pavin, one of the shortest hitters. Daly tied for 27th that year.
He has not won since the 2004 Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, and some lobbied for him to be a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup held at Oakland Hills. He didn't make it, and remains the only two-time major champion to have never played in a Ryder Cup.
Not that it would have mattered - Europe won, 18 1/2-9 1/2. Eight players from that team return to Oakland Hills with fond memories, boosting the odds that a European will end the 78-year drought at the PGA Championship.
Since Daly last played a competitive round at Oakland Hills at the '96 Open won by Steve Jones, some new bunkers have been added, some trees taken out and a few minor tweaks made elsewhere to what has always been a classic design.
As Daly headed out for a practice round, he said the course had fit his game back in 1996. He wasn't sure if it would again.
Maybe it's just that the course hasn't changed nearly as much as Daly and his game have.
