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The golf world is unpredictable these days. Just when you think you've got a tab on who the top players are in the sport, a 42-year-old who hasn't posted a competitive major finish in six years goes out and wins his first Claret Jug.
Normally, a story like Darren Clarke's Open victory would be a rarity, but for some reason, 2011 has been the year of the dark horse on the PGA Tour. Rookies and relative unknowns have been winning on a consistent basis, as well as golfers we assumed had already passed their prime.
But one week after Clarke shocked the golf world, we could be on the verge of seeing an ever bigger shocker: John Daly win a PGA Tour event.
Daly still has 18 holes left -- he carded a 3-under 67 on Saturday -- at the RBC Canadian Open, but through three rounds he's only three shots back of the lead, and hasn't made a major mistake on a golf course that some players in the field are comparing to a mix between the conditions you'd find at a U.S. Open and PGA Championship.
Nothing about the way he's played recently would have made you believe he stood a chance this week, but here we are, folks, talking about John Daly possibly winning his first tour event since he captured the Buick Invitation back in 2004.
If he can somehow find a way to keep the ball out of Shaughnessy's ultra-thick rough and make a couple of putts on Sunday, we could be looking at something special.
If this were any other golf season, I'd expect Daly to come unglued tomorrow and shoot in the 80's, but there's something about this year that makes you believe he's got a legitimate chance to hang around and be in the mix on the back nine.
This is the year of the dark horse, after all, and at the moment, the biggest dark horse of them all has a shot on Sunday to pull a stunning upset.