Daly risks injury to play in Moscow

By Gennady Fyodorov

NAKHABINO, Russia (Reuters) - Twice major winner John Daly is defying doctors' advice and risking serious injury to play in the Russian Open this week.

The 42-year-old American played at last week's British Open, the tournament he won in 1995, despite a painful elbow injury before flying into Moscow to make his first appearance at the Russian Open.

"It's hurting pretty bad, but luckily the ground here is soft so I can get through the ball," Daly said after shooting a two-under-par 70, five strokes behind early leader Joakim Backstrom of Sweden in the first round on Thursday.

"That wasn't possible last week. If the course had been hard this week I probably wouldn't have been able to play."

Describing his opening day performance, Daly said: "I had some bad shots and some decent ones and then made a few putts coming down the stretch so I am not too disappointed.

"It's probably the best that I could have got considering how badly I hit it at times.

"I probably hit two of the worst iron shots that I have ever shot on tour. They just went dead right off the tee on two of the par threes. I made a good bogey on one of them and just missed my par on the other.

"But I hope to get it better. We'll come back tomorrow and see what happens."