He has had no place to play since 2007.
He has, by his own admission, gambled away between $50 and $60 million at the peak of his earning years.
He has been in and out of alcohol rehab multiple times.
He has gone on rampages where he ended up destroying the inside of his house.
He has been married four times.
He smokes two packs of cigarettes a day.
He has had various health problems.
Other than that short list of life’s problems, John Daly is just another guy hoping to push the “reset button” in a big way and his last and final stand, his final chance for a HUGE MULLIGAN comes this week in Texas.
Daly thrilled the world of golf back in 1991 when he sported a mullet and pounded drives so long that he made Crooked Stick look like a 6,200-yard course on his way to victory at the PGA Championship. At the time, it was golf’s huge Cinderella Story, the seventh alternate wins with Nick Price’s caddy — Jeff “Squeaky” Medlen simply telling him: “Kill it!”
And that’s exactly what young John Daly did. He killed it, time and again and walked off with a major.
Over the next two-plus decades, he did his best to “Kill It” when it came to his personal life and golf career.
Still, people gravitate to John Daly. Maybe it’s his penchant for big numbers. He once scored an 18 on the par five sixth hole at Bay Hill in 1998. He made a 14 at the iconic 18th hole at Pebble Beach in 2000. Last year at the PGA on the par three seventh hole at Whistling Straits, he made a 10 and promptly helicoptered his six-iron into the nearly lake.
Same old John.
The last time he did anything of note at a PGA Tour event, he lost a playoff to Tiger Woods at the 2005 WGC American Express. Speaking of Woods, the story is well-documented how Daly was sitting in a clubhouse, drinking beer and Woods was passing through. “Where are you going?” Daly queried, thinking Woods might sit down and have a beer with him. To which Woods quickly responded: “To practice, I don’t have your talent John.”
And therein lies the life story of John Daly:
Talent squandered and a lot of life squandered by his own documentation in his book: “My Life In And Out Of The Rough.”
Truth be told, Daly’s life story has been rough, too rough for most to imagine.
Still, here he is, still alive and kicking to the surprise of many including Daly’s old buddy Fuzzy Zoeller who once offered to bet Daly $150,000 that JD wouldn’t live long enough to see his 50th birthday. Daly never took the bet. John knew John and maybe at the time it wasn’t a great bet.
Yet here he is, ready to join the old guys on the Champions Tour at the Insperity Championship. The Woodlands, just north of Houston is the setting.
“John Daly is a huge draw. Deep down he’s a wonderful guy. He’s going to love this tour,” says “this tour’s” dominant player — Bernhard Langer.
The greens are a little slower, the holes a little shorter and the competition has age working against, rather than for it.
Still, like every other tour, you still have to make putts to matter out there.
Langer’s right. Daly is a draw but given where he is in life, he may be more of a giant curiosity.
He has to prove he can still shoot a score. He has to prove that there is still some gas left in his talent tank.
And most of all he has to understand that this is his last shot at a professional golf career.
