Has John Daly had personal problems? Yes.
This story, until now, has gone largely unreported.
Yet, 30 years ago, in 1991, John Daly emerged as the long-hitting “grip-it-and-rip-it” folk hero when he won the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana.
Then 25 years old, Daly was the ninth alternate, only getting into the field after Nick Price withdrew for the birth of his first child on the eve of the first round. So Daly made the 7-hour drive from his home in Memphis to Indianapolis, arriving in town about midnight and without a practice round. The next morning, guided around the course by Jeff “Squeaky” Medlin — Price’s usual caddie — Daly opened with a 69, then powered his way to an improbable victory and became a household name.
But that is only part of the story of that week, one lost amid the disbelief of Daly’s achievement and forgotten with the passage of time. There was tragedy that intersected with triumph that week at Crooked Stick.
During the first round, a weather delay required that the course be evacuated. Tom Weaver, who lived in nearby Fishers, Indiana, and had recently gotten into golf, was there with two other friends. Weaver was walking to his car and was struck in the chest by lightning and died at the scene. He was 39 years old. He left behind a wife, Dee, and two daughters: Emily, who was 12, and Karen, who was 8.
Days later, having just won his first major championship, going from obscurity to stardom, Daly (who had won $230,000) quietly, without fanfare, wrote a check for $30,000.
ht/ joe6pack
I think John Daly is just a Good Ol Boy. Sure he has used some bad judgement, and made some mistakes, but he obviously has a heart and it’s in the right place. He’s been good for the game of golf.
I loved that story. Somedays saints. Somedays sinners.
I always viewed him as an every man.
What else I like about that story is that Daly has not been tooting his own horn about it. In fact, it sounds like nobody would have heard about it if the lady’s husband didn’t reach out to Daly. I have read a fair amount about John Daly, but this was the first I’d read about this.
Got something in my eye, may be dust, sure, that’s all it is…
What a great story.
Just think of all the lives Daly has actually affected. A doctor who helps people every day. Six kids between the girls who will affect lives. And on and on.
I always wondered what happened to John Daly after he hosted What’s My Line?…
A VERY decent guy, warts and all.
u r old viet!!! lol
I love watching that guy play golf. In fact, he’s the only reason I’d watch a tournament. Which I guess is why I never watch them. I do like watching Furyk too.
Furyk? That’s funny. That guy has the most convoluted hitch in his back swing, I’ve watched it a hundred times, and I still don’t know what he’s doing. I wonder if anyone is hiring him for a swing coach.
joe6pak
That’s why I like him.
He was the first guy to “Grip it and rip it”.
Loved watching him play.
Smoked on the course, just like Fuzzy,drank beer and just had a good time,what’s not to love about the guy.
If you want to watch a real heart break. watch Hale Irwin wiff a 6 inch putt in the British Open.
The 70’s and early 80’s had some of the best golfers ever.
If those guys had the clubs that today’s guys do all of the courses would have been rebuilt years ago.