1995 / 77th PGA RIVIERA : Daly Still Looking to Make Ryder Cut : Golf: He needs a top-three finish at Riviera, however, because Wadkins probably won’t give him an at-large berth.

Here’s a scary thought: John Daly, official hairdresser of the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Daly, poster boy for the grip-it-and-shear-it look, is more aerodynamically correct than a dimple-less balata. He shaved his head two weeks ago in the Netherlands and now is offering his hairstyling skills to Ryder Cup captain Lanny Wadkins. Daly also is available as a U.S. team wild-card selection, but he probably shouldn’t hold his breath.

“If Lanny picks me, it would be great,” Daly said Wednesday. “I still have somewhat of a chance if I play real well here to get in, but it’s not going to be a big heartbreaking thing if he doesn’t.”

Entering today’s 77th PGA Championship, Daly is 16th on the U.S. Ryder Cup points list. The top 10 players qualify for the team and then Wadkins adds two more picks of his own Sunday night. Daly isn’t considered one of the at-large favorites, which means he probably has to finish in the top three this week to earn enough points to make the team.

History isn’t on Daly’s side. In 1991, the same year Daly won the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick, he missed the cut at the L.A. Open played, of course, at Riviera. The next year at Riviera, he tied for eighth, but since then has a tie for 26th in 1993 and a tie for 41st here last February.

King of kikuyu he isn’t. Then again, nobody thought he could win a British Open, and look what happened.

If Daly makes the team as a wild-card choice--and at the moment, Fred Couples and Lee Janzen are on Wadkins’ short list--hairlines could go into hiding. That’s because Daly thinks the cue-ball look is cool.

“I’d shave their heads even if I wasn’t on the team,” Daly said. “I think it would be intimidating as hell if 12 guys show up at the Ryder Cup with shaved heads. People think I’m crazy for shaving my head. Can you imagine all 12 guys doing it?”

Can you imagine the PGA of America having a cerebral hemorrhage?

But Daly wasn’t finished.

“Can you imagine Peter Jacobsen with a shaved head, though? I mean, look at some of the names on here,” he said, while going down the list of Ryder Cup locks. “God, it would be great. [Phil] Mickelson. I don’t know, he puts that mousse on his head. I don’t know if he would let me do it. Corey Pavin’s hair, hell, his wouldn’t grow back. Loren Roberts’ wouldn’t grow back. Ben [Crenshaw’s] probably would. That would be awesome. We could do a Lays commercial if we did that.”

They also could pluck their eyebrows, but that’s not going to happen, either. At least, not as long as Wadkins is captain.

“I think most of the guys are happy with their personal barbers,” Wadkins said. “I don’t want any part of John’s barber . . . not that it doesn’t look good on John.”

The real question is: Does Wadkins want any part of Daly’s game?

Wadkins is setting up the Oak Hill Country Club course in Rochester, N.Y., as if it were the U.S. Open (high rough, narrow fairways, fast greens). Daly’s “Kill-Bubba” mentality isn’t supposed to be suitable for such layouts.

“I think John’s got a great attitude,” Wadkins said. “I think he’ll make a terrific Ryder Cup player, whether it’s this time or sometime down the road. I think making the Ryder Cup team would be a wonderful experience for John and could do a lot for his career.

“I think spending a week, living on the same hall with these guys, eating dinner with them for five, six straight nights, playing crack of dawn with them, he would make a lot of really good friends with them during that week.

“I think a lot of guys would end up respecting John a lot more. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for John. It might enhance his career, his image. I really think it would.”

Said Daly: “Hopefully, I can maybe get something going this week. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. And if it’s not, it’s not.”