Inside Scoop on Vijay and JD

Last September, my wife and I spent a few days at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, which is an over-the-top resort about 90 minutes southeast of Pittsburgh. It's also where the pros are playing the 84 Lumber Classic this weekend.

There are three separate hotels on the grounds. The newest and fanciest one is called Falling Rock, and it was designed by one of Frank Lloyd Wright's proteges. We had dinner over there one night, and the waiter was eager to give us the skinny on the Tour players who frequent the tournament.

I asked him about John Daly, who is sponsored by 84 Lumber and a good pal of the company's founder, Joe Hardy. Usually you'd expect waiters to be discreet, but not this guy. He told us a story about how JD would get hammered and drive around the grounds in a golf cart with a bottle of booze in one hand and the steering wheel in the other. He took his antics a little too far one night when he drove the cart right through the lobby of the hotel and into the restaurant. He was out of booze and was hoping the bar could hook him up, which they did. Not surprisingly, they took away his cart.

The waiter said that most of the pros are pretty cool, but most of them don't say too much to staff. The one guy who stood out as a "true gentleman" was Vijay Singh. This guy couldn't say enough nice things about him. He said Vij is super polite, always talks to the staff like they're real people, etc. It was good to hear that about Singh, as that's not always the way he's portrayed in the media.