John Daly, who needs a solid tournament to keep his spot in the Masters, opened the Tournament Players Championship with a strong round of 69 (-3). Daly is currently 9th on the money list and 53rd in the world rankings. He needs to be in the top ten in the money list or top 50 in the world rankings after this week to qualify for the Masters.
He is $150,000 ahead of Maruyama and $260,000 ahead of Verplank in the money list. There are a lot of scenarios in which he could be passed by two players. The most likely would be for someone well below him to win first ( with this week's purse they would shoot straight into the top ten) and either Verplank or Maruyama finishing in the top 5. It's possible he could be passed, but if Daly has a top 20 finish this week, he will most likely stay in the top 10 in the money list and move into the top 50 in the World Rankings.
Golf's not on the top of my list of sports to watch this weekend with the NCAA tourney going on, but I will be rooting for Daly to make the Masters.