FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – A day after Tiger Woods landed a verbal jab on John Daly’s chin, noting that he walked with a broken leg while playing (and winning) the 2008 U.S. Open while Daly intends to compete in this week’s PGA Championship using a cart, the two-time major winner arrived at Bethpage Black.
Late Wednesday morning, Daly arrived at the course wearing a black windbreaker and green shorts festooned with golf terms written in graffiti.
Walking with a noticeable limp and a woven sleeve over his right knee, Daly carried a large cup filled with what appeared to be cola in a McDonald’s cup. He proceeded from the clubhouse to an area next to the PGA Rules Committee’s trailer. There, in an area reserved for handicap parking, he finished a cigarette and was given his cart, No. 515, along with instructions on where he could drive it.
After his clubs were loaded onto the back of the cart, Daly and his caddie rolled past the practice green and to the first tee to play with Charley Hoffman and Kelly Kraft.
Daly is qualified to play in the 101st PGA Championship because he is a past winner, famously winning in 1991 PGA at Crooked Stick Golf Club after getting into the event as the ninth alternate.
Daly, 53, has said that Woods and others who have criticized his use of the cart, don’t have all the facts regarding his condition. He told USA TODAY on Tuesday, “Osteoarthritis is a tough thing, brother. If my knee was broke, I would have had it fixed. But my situation is totally different. It’s painful as hell is all I can say. As was Tiger’s, I’m sure.”
