John Daly II looking to follow in his father’s footsteps
Watching the Dalys soothes the golf soul, but there’s still room for competitiveness.
John Daly and his son John Daly II (JDII) are making their sixth consecutive appearance in the PNC Championship. Daly Snr, is a two-time major champion and member of PGA TOUR Champions.
The youngster opened the questioning from reporters in typical Daly fashion: “Hobbies away from golf? Well, I would say the gym, but you know how the Dalys are with the gym.”
Beneath the humour though, is a talented young golfer, and not just that, a determined one.
“I’ve always wanted to be on the Tour,” JDII said. “I’ve been around it for so long. And to get there the next step is making it from junior golf to college golf. Hopefully that goes well and I can reach the professional level.
Progress at the PNC Championship has been good in recent years. Daly and his son tied for second in 2018 and were fifth in 2019 before dropping to eighth last year.
“Right now I’m just learning what I can and experiencing playing tournaments with stronger fields. It’s tough just to get into tournaments at this level,” JDII said.
“It’s definitely my favorite tournament of the year,” JDII said. “It’s fun to be with family around the holidays and meet everybody and have fun with them.
“We’d both get a kick out of winning. The first years I was a bit younger, but from 2018 to now we’ve been up there. We always hit it great. It’s just making more putts, more of those 7- to 10-footers.”
“I do get pissed off about it, but not nearly as pissed off as he gets when I beat him.”
Daly Snr, described how special the event is “I just love playing with my boy, and he’s been working so hard on his game,” the proud father said. “It’s a fun event and they set it up to where really every team has a chance to win.”
JDII was asked about his strengths and weaknesses, and the youngster said the best part of his game is his short game.
In 1991 John Daly won the US PGA title on a course he had never played.
“It’s just because I practice it the most,” said Daly. “Watching the Tour it always comes down to how you can chip it and putt it during the week.”
Being the son of Jon Daly, one cannot avoid comparisons, of which the youngster is open to answer.
“I wouldn’t say I’m as long as he was in college, but I’m trying to get there. I’m just average off the tee, nothing crazy. I can max one at like 310, but I don’t really ever try to hit it that hard. Coming to Arkansas, watching these guys who are a bit older than me, they hit these perfect, consistent drives down the middle. So distance really doesn’t matter that much.”
Watching the Dalys soothes the golf soul, but there’s still room for competitiveness, as Daly Snr explains: “Yeah, he has beaten me recently and I do get pissed off about it, but not nearly as pissed off as he gets when I beat him.”
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