John Daly prefers Diet Coke, cigarettes to trendy Paleo diet at Humana Challenge

John Daly, who loves himself some Diet Coke -- a total no-no on the Paleo diet sweeping the PGA Tour and other sports -- finds himself not out of contention at the Humana Challenge after an almost flawless opening-round 3-under 69 Thursday. An example of how he uses Diet Coke to help with his game (via Golf Channel):

The popular two-time major champion, playing on a sponsor’s exemption this week, cruised to 5-under 31 on his opening nine at La Quinta Country Club on the strength of an opening birdie and four straight from holes five through eight. A bogey on the par-4 16th surrounded by pars left Long John, with his fiancée Anna Cladakis looping for him, in a tie for 56th after day one.

Daly, who announced his engagement to Cladakis just before winning his first professional tournament in 10 years, garners attention and fans wherever he goes, so attracting sponsor’s exemptions is not unusual for the five-time tour champion. The human Loudmouth commercial, who guzzles sodas and inhales cigarettes up and down the fairways, and Humana, whose corporate mission is to boost health and wellness, would, however, seem to make an odd couple.

But Daly, as captivating a draw as ever, does his part by entertaining his stalwart followers.

“These people see me as somebody who puts his pants on the same way they do,” he told the Los Angeles Times ahead of the event. “I never lied to them. I never lied to the media. If I screwed up, I fessed up.”

And Daly, who has made no mention of any offseason eating or workout regimen, goes into Friday’s second round in better position than the two gluten-free guys who could be walking ads for Humana. Phil Mickelson and Jason Dufner, each making his 2015 tour debut after going Paleo and hitting the gym hard, stand at T89 (71) and T148 (76), respectively.

The odds, of course, are against Daly clinching his first tour win since 2004, and it would certainly make headlines. But even this early into 2015, far stranger things have already happened (see the mystery of Tiger Woods’ missing tooth, Robert Allenby’s kidnapping/robbery/assault/strip club misadventures).