It’s been a rough stretch for John Daly on the golf course in 2023, Father Time perhaps finally catching up with the 57-year-old two-time major winner. In five PGA Tour Champions starts prior to this week’s Senior PGA Championship, his best showing was a T-38, his best round a 69 and his overall stroke average topping out at 74.06. His two starts in PGA Tour events in the 2022-23 season haven’t been much better, missed cuts in Bermuda and New Orleans.

Injury would seemingly explain some of the poor play. During the off-season, Daly had knee replacement on his left knee, and certainly recovering from that kind of procedure that takes time. Daly withdrew from the PGA Championship last week at Oak Hill, citing an undisclosed malady, despite the fact the PGA of America would have been allowed him to use a golf cart citing ADA rules because of his health issues.

“I’m really disappointed to miss the PGA Championship,” Daly said in a quote released by the PGA of America. “This major means the world to me and will always have a special place in my heart. I wish the best to those competing,”

Daly did try to give it a go at this week’s Senior PGA Championship, being held on the Fields Ranch East course at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas. But after 13 holes of Thursday’s first round he decided to withdraw as well, sitting five-over with two double-bogeys on his scorecard. That night, Daly took to Twitter with a post that offered an unusual rant — and photo — that at the same time seemed very much in character for Daly.

So hard to play tee boxes that are down grade. Golf course is great but I wish they would make their tee boxes level! We are not young anymore!! Some guys are ADA and we can not follow through on down hill tee boxes!! I’m sorry @PGA you are going the wrong way in golf but I… pic.twitter.com/Uajbg2HRA4

— John Daly (@PGA_JohnDaly) May 26, 2023

We’re not entirely on the same page with Long John regarding the tee boxes. What exactly does “down grade” tee boxes even mean? Watching some of the coverage, it would appear most of the tees are pretty level. And with Padraig Harrington having shot 64-68 in the opening two rounds to grab a three-shot lead, well, seems pretty regulation to us.

Meanwhile, there’s te knee. Wow … just wow. Again, he had replacement surgery on it only last December, but that does look painful … and a little frightening, too. Maybe “down grade tees” really are a thing?!?

At any rate, we hope you feel better and the knee stops hurting so you can get back out there and play some more. Golf is more fun when John Daly is posting low scores rather than posting photos of body parts.

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“I’m really disappointed to miss the PGA Championship. This Major means the world to me and will always have a special place in my heart. I wish the best to those competing,” Daly said in statement released by the PGA Championship.

Daly, 57, has been a mainstay at the championship since earning his breakthrough win at the 1991 PGA. Getting a spot in the field at Crooked Stick as the ninth alternate, Daly had to drive through the night to reach the course in time and had never seen the property before teeing it up. Playing with Nick Price’s caddie Jeff Medlin (Price’s late WD allowed Daly to get into the field), Daly opened with a 69 and never looked back, winning the Wanamaker by three shots over Bruce Lietzke to catapult Daly to fame.

Though he would win the 1995 Open at St Andrews, Daly never contended for a PGA Championship again, posting just one top-20 finish in 28 following starts at the tournament.

Still, Daly remained a popular figure at the event and had a penchant for staying in the headlines, such as memorably tossing a club into Lake Michigan at the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, and his battle to ride in a cart due to a disability becoming something of a fierce debate at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.

This is only the third time Daly has missed the PGA Championship and first since the 2020 pandemic-delay championship. Recently Daly played in the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic with David Duval, where the former major champs struggled and finished last by over a dozen shots.

Daly will be replaced in the field by Stephen Jaeger.

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From 1991 to 2002, Daly led the tour in driving distance 11 times. The accomplishment makes for an incredible graphic, which the Golf Digest social media team shared on Wednesday:

 

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That’s quite a run of distance dominance right there. So how the heck did Davis Love III lead in 1994? Well, Daly responded to the post with the real story:

Ah, those pesky suspensions. Daly has had a few of them throughout his chequered career, but he’s right to remember being forced to sit out in 1994. In fact, he was suspended for a couple months at both the beginning and the end of that year for different transgressions. He really kept the PGA Tour disciplinarians on their toes back in those days!

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So although he averaged 290.2 yards off the tee that year — 6.4 yards more than Love — in the 17 events and 51 rounds he played that year, Daly’s name is not included among the official stats leaders. Tough.

Oddly enough, Fred Couples, who also played 51 rounds that year, is included on the list at No. 3 with a 279.9 average. Hmm.

Anyway, had Daly not been suspended (twice), clearly he would have had led the tour in distance for a dozen consecutive years.

The post John Daly says he actually would have led the PGA Tour in driving distance 12 straight seasons if not for a pesky suspension (or two) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

On Friday, film news website Above the Line reported that Oscar-nominated actor Jonah Hill will play John Daly in an upcoming biopic about the life of the two-time major champion. This is not a drill, folks.

According to the report, the biopic will examine the excesses, scandals and athletic achievements of Daly, which there are no shortage of. Daly, now 56 and enjoying life on the PGA Tour Champions, would tell you as much.

As of now, there is no script or title for the film, according to the report. It also is not listed yet in the ‘upcoming projects’ section of Hill’s IMDB page, which right now features a film with no title and a film called ‘You People’ that Hill co-wrote and will star in. The Moneyball actor last appeared in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up.

Anthony Maras, director of the 2018 film Hotel Mumbai is reportedly attached to the project. Hill is also set to produce the film via his Strong Baby Productions banner.

The post Jonah Hill on board to play John Daly in biopic, according to report appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Cameron Smith just won the Open Championship at St Andrews two weeks ago via a final-round 63 and the mulleted Australian hoisted the Claret Jug at the Old Course after capturing his first major championship. Shortly after he was asked whether he’ll be joining the LIV Golf circuit and, while he didn’t say yes, he didn’t say no either.

Meanwhile, another man who is known for various stages of mullets, who also happened to win an Open at St Andrews, has said that he does want to play in the LIV Golf series, but was essentially told there was not enough room for him.

John Daly sat down for an interview last week on ‘Piers Morgan Uncensored’ and told the host that he would love to play in the series. The upfront money appealed to him and he loved the idea.

“I begged Greg Norman to let me be on the LIV tour,” Daly said. “You know, we work really hard. I played with Brian Harman in a practice round and some other guys in the practice rounds at the Open and it’s like we play pro-ams. We get it, OK? That’s what is the backbone of a lot of our tournaments. But, Brian Harman says: ‘Give us a box of chocolates for the effort.’

“We make tent visits. We do this, we do that. I play two-to-three pro-ams every week on the Champions Tour and you know we don’t play for a lot of money on the Champions Tour. So I almost feel like: “OK, I’m not getting a lot out of this. What are we doing?’

“We’ve got to get compensated for that. The LIV tour is giving players that. They play pro-ams, it’s a big party and they play for a lot of money. These guys that are on that tour deserve that money. I think there’s a lot of other guys that deserve that money, especially this old man.”

Daly, 56, was asked specifically if he knew why Norman would not allow him to play in the LIV series.

“Well, Greg says he’s not doing any more and I’m too old, so,” Daly responded.

Daly did leave the conversation on a positive note though and wanted peace between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. He’s not a big fan of the consternation that’s hovering over game at the top level.

“To sum this up I wish every tour would get along where everything could work out,” Daly said, “because golf is such a great game”.

Daly missed the cut in both the PGA Championship and the Open this year. He’s played in 11 events on the PGA Tour Champions and his best finish is a tie for eighth place at the American Family Insurance Championship.

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Seve Ballesteros celebrates making the winning putt in the 1984 Open Championship. Tony Roberts

By Shane Ryan
There are a couple things you may not know about the 29 Open Championships played at St Andrews since time immemorial. First, it being only the second course ever to host the Open, it wasn’t until the event’s 13th iteration that it came to St Andrews — the first 12 were all at Prestwick.

Second, despite Tom Morris, both Old and Young, being so closely associated with the town and course — Old Tom was the greenskeeper and pro there for 39 years — neither one of them ever won an Open Championship at the course. Those facts provide a microcosm of everything to come later, in the sense that the history of the Open at St Andrews is both long and glorious, but also a little strange.

With that in mind, let’s look at the 15 best Open Championships played at the Old Course.

1885 — Bob Martin, Champion

There is a piece of fake history here that is so good we wish it was real. The story goes that David Ayton Sr was winning the event, and by a considerable margin, when he took an 11 on the Road Hole to blow it and lose by two shots. Unfortunately, it appears this is not true, as accounts later discovered list him as shooting a 6 and 7 there. Seven is still not great, and probably cost him the tournament, but it’s no 11.

1933 — Denny Shute, Champion

The only reason we mention 1933 is for a small detail about Leo Diegel, who had two putts on 18 to join a playoff with eventual champion Shute and Craig Wood. Diegel left his first putt short, and then … he missed the ball. Yes, he literally whiffed on a putt. How this happened is a total mystery, especially for a guy who was a two-time PGA Championship winner. Later reports cast some doubt on whether he actually whiffed, or how long the putt was (accounts indicate between three feet and a tap-in), but the most common story, and the one we have to believe, is that he somehow failed to make contact with the ball.

1876 — Bob Martin, Champion

This was the second Open ever at St Andrews, and it merits mention here as both the weirdest and funniest. This tournament marks one of the strangest circumstances in major golf history, in that one of the players who qualified for a Monday playoff opted not to play. That’s Davie Strath, and the whole thing came about because, in a situation that seems comical when viewed from the present, St Andrews members were allowed to play the course during the Open Championship. That led to congestion, and on the 14th hole in the second round (there were only two rounds back then), Strath hit a member of the public named Hutton, an upholsterer, in the head, and Hutton fell to the ground. That rattled Strath, leading to back-to-back 6s, and after climbing a wall to play a ball on 17 and hitting a spectator on 18, he finished with a 90, tied for the lead with Bob Martin.
However, it came to pass that Strath likely hit up to the 14th green in frustration before Hutton the upholsterer had finished the hole, and there was an official “objection” that could not be decided on Sunday night, which meant that the playoff would be played “under protest” pending the outcome. This enraged Strath, who flat out refused to play, and Martin won the event just by going out by himself. That was Strath’s third runner-up, and the rest of his life was not happy; he fell ill with consumption in 1878, decided to recover in Australia, and died in Melbourne 20 days after landing, likely only 29 years old.

1882 — Bob Ferguson, Champion

This was a big one, since for the first time ever the prize for the winner topped £10, with Ferguson winning £12. This week, the winner will take home £2.1 million. Clearly, 1882 is where professional golf began to spiral out of control into the big-money behemoth that it is today.

1888 — Jack Burns, Champion

The weird thing here? Burns was almost the original Roberto DiVicenzo. Whereas DiVicenzo inadvertently signed for a 66 at the 1966 Masters, costing him a spot in the playoff when he had shot a 65, Jack Burns originally signed for an 87 in the first round when he had shot an 86. He won the tournament by a shot, but only because an R&A member noticed that his scorecard for the first day wasn’t adding up. So what did they do? Well, they changed the 87 to an 86, rather than making him take the 87 the way Augusta did to DiVicenzo. It’s almost too sane! Burns followed his 86 with an 85 and captured his only Open Championship.

Sam Snead holds the claret jug in 1946. New York Times Co

1946 — Sam Snead, Champion

The best detail here is that upon arriving at the course, Snead remarked that “it looks like an old abandoned kinda place,” and the Scottish crowd, as you might imagine, did not particularly like him. Nevertheless, Snead was the best man for the job when the heavy winds hit in the final round, and he out-duelled Johnny Bulla and Bobby Locke to win by four shots as the only player under par. This was his only Open title, and one of just three times he ever played, and it got Snead three-quarters of the way to a career Grand Slam. Unfortunately, despite four second-place finishes, he never won the US Open, making him the Mickelson of his day.

1921 — Jock Hutchison, Champion

There are always amazing little details in history that show how the importance and status of events has changed over time. Here again, as in 1876, we have some playoff drama around one guy not wanting to play. That person was Roger Wethered, an amateur who tied with Jock Hutchison at 296. The problem? He was scheduled to play for his cricket team on the Monday when the 36-hole playoff was scheduled, and cricket was a priority. Apparently, the powers-that-be had to work very hard to convince him to stay and play. In the end, he was probably annoyed that he did, since Hutchison raced out a three-shot lead on the first nine and widened that lead to insurmountable territory by their second round. Hutchison, though born in Scotland, was a US citizen who was credited as the first American champion of the Open. Wethered went on to win the 1923 Amateur Championship, but never came close in the Open again, though his sister Joyce was a star whose swing was admired by Bobby Jones.

1927 — Bobby Jones, Champion

Speaking of Jones, he was back at St Andrews to atone for what he’d done in 1921, when he walked off the course in anger during the third round. He won by six strokes, and this is the start of St Andrews’ reputation for producing truly great champions. He was so beloved after this win that by 1958, he was named a Freeman of the City of St Andrews, becoming only the second American after Benjamin Franklin to receive the honour. (Jack Nicklaus became the third this year.)

1957 — Bobby Locke, Champion

First interesting tidbit: Cary Middlecoff was so maddeningly slow to the British players that they actually filed an official complaint with the R&A. Middlecoff’s total time on the course? Three hours, 18 minutes. How times have changed. Second interesting tidbit: Bobby Locke, playing the final hole, forgot to move his ball marker back after moving it out of the line of his playing partner. It was brought to the R&A’s attention, and, showing the same as they had in 1888, they decided no harm had been done, and issued no penalty.

But the really dramatic thing about the incident is that the man who ratted out Locke was none other than Peter Thomson, his supposed friend. Thomson finished second and may have been hoping for a big penalty that gave him the Claret Jug. Friendship over. It’s especially egregious because Thomson had won the last three Opens.

1960 — Kel Nagle, Champion

Nagle won by a stroke over a hard-charging Arnold Palmer, but the important thing about this tournament, in terms of the history of golf, was Palmer’s mere presence. The fact that he was there at all made a massive impact in the US, and while only four Americans played in 1960 — a typical number — there were 24 a decade later, and that number continued to grow with time. Palmer was the one who changed that, and even though he didn’t win in 1960 (he would in ’61 and ’62), he set the tone for the modern era.

Jack and Barbara Nicklaus celebrate his 1970 Open Championship win. R&A Championships

1970 — Jack Nicklaus, Champion

You knew this one was coming. This was Nicklaus’ second of three Open championships, but it will always be known for Doug Sanders’ missed putt on the 18th hole on Saturday’s final round. Clad in a purple sweater, with three feet to win the Open, Sanders stalked it like a man on a mission. But when he struck the ball, it slid past on the right, and he almost seemed to reach out for it, wanting to take it back and try again. This video should probably come with a content warning:
Nicklaus’ quote after his first victory must have been a real rub-salt-in-the-wounds moment for Sanders: “How lucky can you get? I never expected to be here now. Doug had it all wrapped up on the final hole Saturday. Then he missed that short putt.”
Nicklaus would win again at St. Andrews in 1978, but the best Sanders would ever do in majors was runner-up … four times.

1984 — Seve Ballesteros, Champion

On the 18th hole, Ballesteros didn’t know that Tom Watson was struggling on the 17th, eventually making bogey to open the door for him to win. His short pitch over the Valley of Sin gave him a seven-footer for birdie. Watson lost the lead on 17, and Ballesteros hit the tricky right-to-left putt for birdie, and gave one of the most famous fist-pumps ever:

Watson was now down two strokes, essentially ending the tournament. At 12-under, Ballesteros set an Open record at the Old Course. And it remains a little stunning that for all the great Open champions at St Andrews, Watson never joined the club. This was his best chance.

John Daly drives during his 1995 Open win. Jacqueline Duvoisin

1995 — John Daly, Champion

Daly emerged in a four-hole playoff against Constantino Rocca, but for anyone watching this tournament will be remembered for Rocca’s improbably tying putt on the 18th after duffing his pitch, while Daly watched in agony.
It’s hard to tell now what’s more miraculous: Rocca’s putt, or the fact that Daly could somehow recover psychologically in the space of mere minutes to go out and win anyway.

2000 and 2005 — Tiger Woods, Champion

Let’s group these together because they are essentially the same. Neither one was close, but both mattered and were fascinating to watch for the same reason: It was Tiger Woods showing the world, yet again, the dizzying levels of his absurd greatness.

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By Joel Beall and Shane Ryan
There was an eerie quiet late on Thursday at Southern Hills Country Club. The afternoon wave at the 104th PGA Championship was playing in 90-degree heat that felt even hotter, but they weren’t playing in front of a whole lot of people. By the time the supergroup of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth had finished up their morning-wave rounds, spectators seemed to say “Catch you later” knowing there were three more days of more fan-friendly conditions coming.

Yet even if the first-round landed with a bit of a whimper, it wasn’t without drama and intrigue. McIlroy ended his infamous first-round major slump by shooting 65; can he keep the momentum going? Tiger hobbled to an opening-round 74; can Tiger bounce back? More difficult conditions in the afternoon meant for tougher scoring; are those from the Thursday afternoon wave victims of the bad side of the draw?

With that, here are the 11 biggest surprises from Thursday at the PGA Championship.

Southern Hills was gettable …

There are rarely course set-up issues with this championship. No integrity of par nonsense or circling a winning score aspiration and doing whatever it takes to get there. The PGA of America officials see what the course gives them and goes with it. They let Bethpage be a beast, allowed the nuances of TPC Harding Park to speak for themselves, were fine with the field burning Bellerive to the ground. Thursday that meant letting the slopes, not the speed, be the greens’ defences at Southern Hills, and the set-up accounted for strong winds in the afternoon forecast with pin placements that erred on the side of caution. The upshot of these decisions made the course was somewhat vulnerable in the morning as the winds decided to sleep in. Needless to say, they should consider themselves lucky; it might not get any easier over the next two days.

… until the afternoon that is

Whether it was the heat (hmmmmm) or the wind (almost definitely), we saw a big disparity in performances between the morning and afternoon waves. According to Data Golf, that disparity was a difference of more than a full stroke, and you don’t have to get too deep into the numbers to see the results. A look at the top 20 shows a full 16 players from the morning wave, and just four — Lucas Herbert, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and Patton Kizzire — from the afternoon. Those lucky players will all start in the afternoon wave on Friday, and while the concept of switching is to theoretically balance the breaks they get from mother nature, we know that Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate. The Friday forecast indicates that the afternoon-morning side of the draw is about to get doubly stiffed — winds gusting to 20mph in the morning will give way to calmer conditions in the afternoon, and late rain may soften the greens for the afternoon wave. So if you’re looking for justice here, look elsewhere.

Tiger looked gassed and hobbled

Tiger Woods. Richard Heathcote

Look, we get it. Everyone is happy Tiger Woods is back, and as an extension, wants him to be “BACK.” But sometimes that collective desire obscures the obvious, so we say this with our respect to those in attendance at Southern Hills — anyone who thinks Woods looked physically fine on Thursday morning is guilty of selective perception. There were instances when he did look OK, where his gait had vitality and purpose and his swing was compact and smooth. There were plenty of other times, however, where he looked very much like the man who had experienced the things he’s experienced over the past 15 months. Which is fine! That he’s even here is a miracle. But, physically speaking, Thursday was a reminder this is still a Woods in the recovery process.

If hell is real it will feel like Tulsa

The fine folks who call Tulsa home are tougher than you, because anyone who willingly sets up shop in this overheated toaster has an inner fortitude that we will never know. We heard the horror stories from the 2007 PGA, but that was August; certainly, May would bring tamer conditions. Technically we were correct, but tame in Tulsa still feels like running on a treadmill in three wool sweaters while shooting back shots of Tabasco.

Cam Smith, a bad man

All right, we should have already known this, but he did stumble down the stretch at the Players Championship (and got real lucky with that Sunday shot at 17) and fell apart on the final nine at the Masters. So when Smith opened with a two-over front that included two bogeys and a double we assumed the Aussie was heading for a quick out. Instead Smith answered, and answered with vigour, making five birdies over his first seven holes to catapult near the lead with a 68. A long, long way to go, but credit Smith for keeping his tournament from going sideways.

Spieth Slam will have to wait

Jordan Spieth. Ezra Shaw

Bad rounds happen. But Spieth came in hot and this course was supposed to be tailored to his game, and though he has a chance to bounce back on Friday, he missed a prime-time opportunity to make a move in the gettable conditions on Thursday morning in shooting two-over 72. Frankly it was just one of those days when even the best players have poor breaks and out-of-sync swings and putts that say the cup has posted a “Sorry, we’re closed” sign. Save for a miracle, his grand slam will have to wait another year.

Brooks Koepka is very much not his old self

There was a time when Koepka seemed to own this event, but that time is definitively past. His titles in 2018 and 2019 felt like a distant memory on Thursday, when he started poorly with a bogey at the first and only got worse, stumbling to a front-nine 40. A late look at his strokes-gained stats is close to agonising; he was 144th in the field off the tee, 137th tee to green and 141st around the green. His best stat was putting, where he was barely average at 67th. It took him four holes to hit a fairway, and though he also managed a green in regulation on the fourth, he three-putted for his third bogey of the day. In all, he hit just two fairways on the front, and though he played better on his back-nine (even-par 35), it was far too late to salvage anything from a disastrous round of five-over 75.

Uh … congrats to John Daly?

There is something beautiful and sadistic about Spieth — who had lost to precisely one golfer in his past two events — getting upstaged by 56-year-old John Daly — who hadn’t made a PGA cut since 2012. For most of the morning Daly hovered near the top of the board, playing his first 13 holes in two-under. Four bogeys on the closing five for a 72 dashed any hopes of Daly relevance going into Friday. But that we’re even talking about a guy who was disqualified from a PGA Tour Champions event last weekend is a testament in itself.

The short game importance was wildly overrated

As a preface this could change as the tournament progresses, but a number of experts believed short-game dexterity — specifically work around the greens — was paramount this week. Instead, Southern Hills proved it remains a shotmaker’s course above all else on Thursday morning, with those on the board making the climb off the tee and in approach. Yes, putting still matters, as McIlroy was lights-out on the dance floors, and missing greens could become more routine with stronger wind. Still, if the first wave is any indication, the tee-to-green game is what will decide this tournament.

Club professional fireworks

The PGA of America is referring to this year’s gang of club professionals in the PGA field as the “Team of 20,” and two of them created some buzz in the afternoon, starting with Jesse Mueller and this extremely memorable first hole of his PGA Championship career:

Incredible start for #TeamOf20's Jesse Mueller!@SWSectionPGA | #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/83sUQpupiq

— PGA of America (@PGA) May 19, 2022

He cooled off on the back nine, but the club pro baton was briefly carried by Alex Beach, who made an appearance on the leaderboard while bouncing back between one-under and even-par through his first 12 holes. On the leaderboard in the media centre, all players are designated by their national flag, with the exception of the club pros, whose “flag” is the number 20 on a black background. If they are something akin to a sovereign nation this week, a few of their members acquitted themselves well … and, as it turns out, more than a few beat Brooks Koepka.

The tournament is over?

McIlroy didn’t close strong. But he took his Thursday skeletons and threw them in the trash, and rather than fighting an uphill battle he now has the ground advantage. In short, McIlroy did a lot to suggest that a fifth career major title is a very real possibility this week. At the risk of jinxing him, how does 2022 PGA champion Rory McIlroy, sound?

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The post PGA Championship 2022 wrap: An on-fire McIlroy, an out-of-sorts Spieth and nine other surprises from Thursday at Southern Hills appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dan Rapaport
ORLANDO — A natural villain emerged on a balmy Sunday afternoon in Central Florida. Tiger and Charlie Woods were hard-charging toward the feel-goodest of feel-good victories at the PNC Championship. Their only obstacle: two large men with the same last name and the same preternatural speed. The Dalys.

Golf fans found themselves in a tough spot. Tiger and his mini-me are golf royalty, and the elder Woods was playing his first (semi) competition after a horrific car accident that nearly claimed his leg. Easy to root for. But rooting for one team means rooting against another, and no one roots against John Daly. This, then, was a no-lose situation. If Tiger and Charlie won, perfect. If John and John II—he’s no longer Little John Daly, for such a moniker wouldn’t fly on an SEC golf team—only slightly less perfect.

The Dalys, playing for the sixth time in this event, did indeed take the PNC title, surviving 11 straight birdies from Team Woods thanks in part to the play of the original John Daly. At 55, he is the same man he’s always been: minimal warm-up, cigarettes on cigarettes, Diet Coke to wash it down and a hugely talented golfer. He was quick to note after Sunday’s round that he made seven birdies on his own ball after being a no-show with his putter on Saturday. Pair him with his son, equally long but free of the vices, and you’ve got a father-son powerhouse. Their 27-under two-day total, after a Sunday 57, in the scramble format set a new PNC record at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

“I’ve always told the media for years the greatest days of my life were seeing my kids born,” Daly the senior said. “You can’t top that. To be here and win a big tournament like this with my son, nothing can beat it.”

John Daly II was a junior Rolex All-American and is now a freshman at Arkansas, his dad’s alma mater. He has played just one event for the Razorbacks, shooting an eventful 83-68-78. He is still 18 and has plenty of time to develop into a professional-calibre golfer, if that’s his thing. What is certain is he has enough power. Daly II lipped out for an ace on a par 4 during a pro-am round and summoned the shot of the tournament, a long iron from a fairway bunker on the par-5 third, over a not-small lip, to 15 feet. His dad brushed in the eagle.

Big John has battled bladder cancer over the past few years but remains competitive on the PGA Tour Champions, where he had three top-10 finishes over the 2020-21 wraparound season. This victory, he said, will occupy a special place in the memory of his golfing life.

“Holidays everything and, just playing golf with my son every day when I can is just awesome. To watch him grow up to do the things he could do with a golf ball and a swing that’s so perfect, but saving my you know what from putting yesterday, and he played phenomenal and I helped him with a few shots here and there. But it was just an awesome weekend.”

Sam Greenwood
It was Team Daly’s sixth start in the PNC Championship before finally coming out with the win.

The post At long last, Team Daly comes out on top at the PNC Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By GolfDigest.com
The unique family atmosphere baked into the PNC Championship makes the two-day exhibition stand out in the minds of most participants. The event is about having fun and making memories. But it got interestingly competitive on Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando when Tiger and Charlie Woods made a seemingly improbably charge on the back nine.

Team Woods made 13 birdies and an eagle for an all-time tournament record 15-under 57, but it wasn’t enough to fend off John Daly and John Daly II. The father-son team shot matched the Woods score to take the title by two shots, posting a tournament-record 27-under 117.

While playing for pride, there was also a financial reward on the line for the victory. The overall prize money payout at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando is $1.085 million with the professional on the winning team earning $200,000 for the victory.

Here’s the prize money payout breakdown for every team at this week’s event. Come back shortly after the tournament end and we’ll update the results with names and individual payouts.

Win: John and John II Daly, -27 $200,000

2: Tiger and Charlie Woods, -25, $80,000

T-3: Justin and Mike Thomas, -24, $53,625

T-3: Stewart and Reagan Cink, -24, $53,625

T-5: Vijay and Qass Singh, -21, $48,500

T-5: Tom and Sean Lehman, -21, $48,500

7: Matt and Cameron Kuchar, -20, $47,000

T-8: Mark and Shaun O’Meara, -19, $45,500

T-8: Henrik and Karl Stenson, -19, $45,500

T-10: Rich and Michael Beem, -18, $44,500

T-10: Gary and Jordan Player, -18, $44,500

12: Nelly and Petr Korda, -17, $43,500

T-13: David and Brady Duval, -16, $42,750

T-13: Bubba Watson and Wayne Ball, -16, $42,750

15: Padraig and Paddy Harrington, -15, $42,000

T-16: Tom and Michael Watson, -14, $40,812.50

T-16: Jim and Tanner Furyk, -14, $40,812.50

T-16: Nick and Greg Price, -14, $40,812.50

T-16: Nick and Mathew Faldo, -14, $40,812.50

20: Lee and Daniel Trevino, -13, $40,000

The post The prize money payout for Team Daly after a surprisingly memorable PNC Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Golf’s distance debate has somewhat cooled since Bryson DeChambeau burned Winged Foot down with a bomb-and-gouge approach last September, but the flames are very much alive with a couple of logs ready to be thrown into the fire. Where that discourse goes is a matter for a different day, yet over the weekend an interesting name joined the conversation … with a surprising take.

That would be one John Daly, two-time major champion and original purveyor of “Did you see that?!?” drives.

Piggybacking off Phil Mickelson’s stance against the USGA’s potential ruling against driver length, Daly offered his support for Mickelson and went a step further, saying it’s not the driver the governing body should be worried about, but the ball.

“I totally agree with you brother but why don’t they just change the cheapest thing made in golf … the golf ball,” Daly wrote on Twitter. “No common sense!”

I totally agree with you brother but why don’t they just change the cheapest thing made in golf……the #golfball #bringthegolfballback NO common sense! https://t.co/3K9pAR0Qv9

— John Daly (@PGA_JohnDaly) August 29, 2021

Daly’s opinion may be somewhat of a shock, as much of his success and fame is partially derived from his ability to hit a golf ball unfathomable distances, leading the PGA Tour in driving 11 seasons in his career. Conversely, Daly has had his own beef with the USGA, saying he’ll never compete in another USGA event again after being denied a cart for the 2018 U.S. Senior Open.

In February the USGA announced a few technical modifications on the distance front, including three specific proposed changes to equipment rules and testing standards. Those proposed changes involve a limit on the maximum shaft length (a previously proposed and tabled 46 inches, down from 48) and possible tweaks to how drivers are tested for spring-like effect and how balls are tested for the overall distance standard. As the modifications come into focus, the comments from Daly and Mickelson indicate they are modifications that will not go unnoticed.

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