Nobody hits a baseball harder than Mark McGuire. Nobody hurls the pigskin longer than John Elway. And nobody drives a golf ball farther than John Daly. The PGA golfer has led the tour in driving distance six times in his career and became the first player to average more than 300 yards per drive for an entire season. Daly entered the tour with a bang in 1991, baffling the golf experts and rising from relative obscurity to capture the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indianapolis, Indiana. As the ninth and final alternate into the field that year, Daly shot an opening round 69 without even the benefit of practice. He then added scores of 67-69-71 for a three-stroke victory over Bruce Lietzky. No surprise that he was the PGA Tour’s rookie of the year. Currently residing in Memphis, Daly attended the University of Arkansas, where he was an All-American in golf before turning pro in 1987. Daly’s other major tournament victory came at the 1995 British Open, making him only the fourth American since World War II to win two major competitions before his thirtieth birthday, joining an elite group of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and Johnny Miller. Daly also won the B.C. Open in 1992 and Tennessee’s BellSouth Classic in 1994. With career earnings over $2,000,000, the young Daly has established himself as one of the premier golfers on the PGA Tour.
