Sizzling 63 gives Daly reason to smile

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - John Daly had good reason to smile after surging up the leaderboard with a scintillating nine-under-par 63 in the Las Vegas Open second round on Friday.

The burly American, who has struggled on and off the course for the last two years, covered the back nine in a blistering eight-under 28 to finish seven strokes off the pace.

"It was a shock to me," the 41-year-old told reporters after posting a six-under total of 137 at the TPC Summerlin.

"I felt really good today. I mean, only one bad hit because we couldn't find my ball on two. The guy said it ended up in the hazard."

Twice major winner Daly missed the fairway to the right at the par-four second and ran up a bogey after taking a penalty drop.

"Other than that, my wedges were great today and I made a lot of putts," he added.

The big-hitting Tour veteran, watched by surprisingly sparse galleries at Summerlin, charged into contention with 10 birdies, one eagle and three bogeys.

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