John Daly Fires Career Low at Dick’s Open

“I hit it a little closer today,” he said. “I hit the ball pretty good yesterday, just couldn’t get anything out of it, just couldn’t get anything close. But today, chipped in twice and made a 60-footer, that always helps. Hit the ball good today, hit a lot of fairways and made a few putts.”

Daly’s career twilight has been defined more by injuries than results. He underwent a full knee replacement in 2022 and 16 surgeries to repair tangled tendons in his hand in 2025. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2020, but has since remained in remission.

“I’m like Lazarus, I keep coming back from the dead,” Daly told the Associated Press in 2025.

Daly has just one win to his name since joining the Champions Tour in 2016, but is coming off his best result of the season with 17^th place at the American Family Insurance Championship. He returned this week to En-Joie Golf Club, where he took the second of his five PGA Tour wins at the 1992 B.C. Open in Endicott, New York.

Now, 34 years later, Daly finds himself in contention once again.

“When I won here in ’92, I was hitting about a 20-yard draw and hitting it about 360 off the tee, which this really favors a draw. It’s tougher for me because everything sets up for a draw. Like the par 5s draw right to left, so it’s harder for me. Plus, I don’t hit it as far as I used to, so I’m not hitting 8-irons in these par 5s like I did back then. I’m barely getting to them.”

His yardages may be diminished, but his routine remains the same as always.

“I haven’t seen a driving range in five years,” Daly said. “I don’t work on my golf game.”

Some things never change.