Nick Piastowski
John Daly last month at the PNC Championship.
Getty Images
Go, go, go, one voice advised.
Another believed he should wait.
John Daly then went with the former — and ripped a ball teed between bricks across a street and over what appeared to be a two-story building, on what sounded like New Year’s Eve. Shortly before contact, a voice that sounded like Daly’s said: “Twenty twenty-five.”
Some toast Dec. 31 with champagne. Others with “Auld Lang Syne.” Then there’s Daly, who’s fifth major may very well be the day of revelry that marks a year’s final hours. You know his stories. Notably, the PGA and Open Championship winner has previously been seen hitting over a highway. In 2022, he was recorded hitting a ball over cars and onto what was noted as a high school football field in Akron, Ohio.
His latest off-course shot was captured by “chicubsramzing” on Reddit, and it was widely circulated by the Golf on CBS X account. Over the 19-second recording, you can spot:
— Daly with a cigarette in his mouth, goldish shoes on his feet and what appears to be a driver in his hands. A white kickstand bag is to his left, and a headcover is on the ground, and behind that is a bag showing University of Michigan colors. He’s standing over a white golf ball pegged between two bricks, and a three-lane street is about 15 feet in front of him. It’s also nighttime, and streetlights are lit, as is Daly’s Good Boy Vodka RV, which is parked behind him.
— Daly waggling his club once before a voice shouts: “Hang on, one more car.” Daly has to wait for traffic to clear. He turns around, and two cars, moving in opposite directions, are seen.
— Daly turning back to the ball and taking another club waggle after the cars clear. Here, he hears the advice noted at the top of the article.
— Daly swinging. His ball clears the building about 50 yards away as voices scream. “Yaaaay,” one says. “Oh s**t,” another says. “Wooooo, come on,” another says.
— Daly and some folks celebrating. After the shot, Daly hands his club to a man in a white shirt, who later pats him on the back. Another man has his hands raised, and Daly eventually slaps his hand. In the background is a woman and another man, who is recording the action. The end of the video shows four more onlookers.
Was it safe? Not really, though the Reddit poster said the building isn’t in use and that there is water behind it. Should you try it? No, you shouldn’t. Did you laugh? Perhaps. Let’s keep the Daly conversation going, though. At last month’s PNC Championship, this site wrote an article headlined “Tiger Woods greets John Daly at PNC — and they talk ‘3-letter words’” and you can read that story by clicking here, or by scrolling immediately below.
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Tiger Woods, upon seeing John Daly, seemingly didn’t forget. This time, though, the invitations were reversed.
The first time? For that, we must refer back to an article published by this site in 2016. Its headline was wonderfully: “That time John Daly asked Tiger Woods to get a beer.”
Below is the text of the story:
When it comes to training, Tiger Woods and John Daly might have what you call different approaches.
In an interview with Golf Channel, Daly recalled a time in 2004 at the Target World Challenge when he was enjoying some adult beverages after the Wednesday pro-am. Daly was with some friends and was in the clubhouse drinking and telling stories when Woods walked into the room.
“Tiger’s there in his workout clothes, and I said, Tiger, come have a beer with us, man,” Daly said.
Woods told Daly he couldn’t because he was headed to the gym, but Daly didn’t relent.
“I go, man, you don’t need to work out,” Daly said. “You need to drink a little bit with us.”
Woods’ response may not be what you’d expect.
“[Woods] said, ‘If I had your talent, I’d be doing the same thing you’re doing,’” Daly said. “I’m looking at him thinking, ‘You’re crazy, man.’”
With that setup, we go to Friday and the PNC Championship, the (mostly) friendly pro-relative scramble event that wraps up the golf year. Woods, the 15-time major winner, and teenage son Charlie are playing; Daly, the two-time major winner, and college-golfer son John Daly II are playing; and they spotted each other at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., the moment captured by the PNC Championship social media team.
Shouted Woods, before smiling and laughing: “I’ll meet you in the gym.”
In the video, he then walked up to Daly, they hugged — and they had this exchange:
Said Daly, laughing: “At least our gyms are three-letter words. Yours is g-y-m. Mine is b-a-r.”
Responded Woods, also laughing: “Right.”
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Nick Piastowski
Golf.com Editor
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
