Hunter Martin / Getty Images

John Daly told authorities Friday his wife tried to stab him with a steak knife, and the golfer still had red marks on his cheeks when he showed up to play the third round of the St. Jude Championship on Saturday.

updated 9:20 p.m. ET June 9, 2007

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - John Daly tried to focus on golf Saturday in one of his rare chances to play on the weekend this year, a day after he told authorities his wife woke him up by attacking him with a steak knife.

Daly issued only a statement Friday and declined to talk to reporters after concluding a 4-over 74 that tied him for 58th. He had not filed charges Saturday, and the Citizens Dispute Center where people can swear out warrants in Shelby County was closed for the weekend.

His agent said Saturday that what happened speaks for itself.

“It’s in the hands of the authorities,” Bud Martin said. “My only concern is the health and welfare of John and his family.”

The golfer had red marks on his cheeks when he showed up to play Friday at the TPC Southwind, where he has a house. Deputies from the Shelby County sheriff’s department were called around 6 a.m. Friday morning, and Daly said he was the “victim of an assault by my wife.”

But Sherrie Daly and the couple’s children were not there when deputies arrived. Deputies searched the neighborhood but could not find her or the knife Daly claimed she used.

Daly looked as if his cheeks had been clawed.

He is competing in the Stanford St. Jude Championship on a sponsor’s exemption. He was tied for eighth after the first round, but struggled Friday and wasn’t playing any better Saturday — he was 4 over through his first six holes, tied for 74th.

The winner of two majors — the 1991 PGA Championship and 1995 British Open — his play has been overshadowed by two trips to alcohol rehab, outrageous tales of gambling losses, trashed hotel rooms and suspensions.

The timing for this latest incident couldn’t be worse.

The 41-year-old golfer and his wife argued Thursday night at a restaurant near the golf course after an opening 70 had him on the leaderboard in a season in which he has had only one top-25 finish and made three cuts in 11 previous events.

Daly met Sherrie at this tournament in 2001, and they married seven weeks later.

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Their son, John Patrick, was born a week before she and her parents were indicted in Mississippi on charges stemming from what authorities said was a drug ring and an illegal gambling operation.

Sherrie Daly pleaded guilty in November 2004 to a charge of conspiracy to structure a transaction to evade the reporting requirement. She began serving a five-month sentence in January 2006, then filed for divorce in Shelby County on Oct. 17, 2006.

Daly filed himself a day later, then said a month later that things were on hold.