I’ll never pass on the chance to revisit a hilarious John Daly story.
The pro golfer is a legendary sports figure, and whether you like it or not, Daly is a glistening representation of the peak male form. He presented himself to the world as a professional athlete in the late 1980s by speaking his mind and wearing bright colored and patterned outfits.
Daly has only grown his reputation ever further by drinking beer, smoking cigs, and parking his RV outside of Hooter’s restaurants to sign autographs (he’s surely going through it right now with the latest news about Hooter’s).
If you haven’t figured it out already, Daly pretty much does anything and everything he wants to, whenever he wants to. That’s why his pre-round routine can sometimes only last one swing, and almost always involves an inordinate amount of Diet Coke.
And sometimes, the loud-mouthed and loud-dressed golfer needs his Diet Coke to be a little stronger… if you catch my drift. The pro golfer loves to tell the story about how he beat beat the GOAT himself – Tiger Woods – at the 2004 Target World Challenge. The limited-field tourney was hosted by the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, and if you know the eccentric (and possibly alcoholic) John Daly, the story he tells about the unlikely head-to-head win versus Tiger is just another classic Daly anecdote.
He told the story once again when he was interviewed by Tucker Carlson last year. Tucker was trying to clarify if he had beaten Tiger while he was hungover, and Daly cleared up the confusion by saying he wasn’t hungover, he was… well I’ll let him speak for himself:
“I was still drunk actually. But yeah, that was a funny story. We had the round table in Sherwood. I got my bottle of Jack Daniels there. There’s a chair and there’s a guitar. I did ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door,’ got a standing ovation. I said, ‘I’ll see you all tomorrow. Tiger, I’ll see you early in the morning.'”
Daly is always willing to bust out “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”
Both Daly and Tiger had fired a 73 the round before and were paired together the next morning, which is why Daly said he’d see him in the morning. And though Daly had an early tee time, that didn’t stop him from drinking the night away. In fact, the drinking apparently never stopped. The next morning, the pro golfer decided to go with the ol’ “hair of the dog” trick when it came time to start his round with Tiger the following day:
“But the funny thing about Tiger was… when I got on the tee, I had my caddie bring me a Jack and Coke. He’s carrying the bag. He’s walking and walking through all of the cactuses and stuff going down this hill, trying not to spill my drink. I grab my three iron and go on the tee. I shoot like 65, Tiger shot 71. He just shook his head the whole day.”
Love that little tribute video of Daly’s greatest hits included after the interview clip.
And to get back to the story, I can’t imagine what Tiger must have been feeling that day. Here’s Tiger doing everything he can to prepare for the tournament from a physical and mental standpoint, and he gets beat (just in that one round) by a guy who stayed up drinking the entire night and then opted to have an early morning Jack & Coke on the first tee.
Just speaks to the legendary status that John Daly carries, and you can hear more from everyone’s favorite drinking golfer in the interview below:
The post John Daly Recalls Beating Tiger Woods In A Tournament, Still Drunk From The Night Before: “Trying Not To Spill My Drink” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.