Wild Thing back on track

Daly: opening 67

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John Daly has revealed that a minor adjustment in his stance helped him to an opening 67 at the Italian Open.

The 42-year-old has made just three cuts from 10 starts on the PGA Tour this year and failed to make the weekend at last week's Spanish Open.

But he is in contention in Milan after making seven birdies on day one.

"I didn't hit it that bad last week," the two-time major champion told Sky Sports. "I got off to a rough start and had to fight back but it was a good day today.

"Except for the sixth hole (a bogey five) I drove the ball pretty decent."

The 'Wild Thing' put his improvement down to a change in his stance.

"I moved it up in my stance from the driving range today and felt somewhat good," he added. "But I am duck-hooking my three woods so I didn't want to hit that today. I putted okay. I hit a lot of greens, so that helps."

Daly has been bemoaning his displays on the greens in recent weeks and he admitted that may have affected his long game.

"I have been worried about the putter so much, concentrating on that, maybe I faltered a little bit on the longer stuff.

"But it's always something small when it comes to the driver and the longer stuff. You know if you get it back too far (in the stance) you can flip it pretty quick and that's kind of what I was doing with the driver today."