One.

Of the great ironies of living in a world that fetishizes diversity is how similar everybody. Everybody in charge is exactly the same. They have the same opinions, they wear the same clothes, they even look the same physically. So when you see somebody in the public eye who doesn't look the same, it tends to stick out and you don't forget it. If you've watched professional golf anytime in the last 35 years, you may have noticed, Golfer, Golfer, Golfer, Golfer. Guy smoking Marlborough Red. Golfer, Golfer. Who is that guy? And that, of course, is one of the most famous golfers in the history of golf, John Daly, who doesn't look or act or think like pretty much anyone else who plays the game. So we thought it'd be really interesting to sit down with him and find out what he's like. He joins us on set. John Daly, it's an honor to have you here.

Honor to see you, too.

Are you kidding? So you said you started at Arkansas like 40 years ago. Yeah. So you're still playing?

Yeah, I'm older, but I played the Champions, too. We have a blast. It's one sport you can play all your life.

All your life. Do you ever think of yourself as the one guy who doesn't seem like everybody else on tour?

Kind of fit that mold. I didn't have really a pot to piss in when I grew up.

Where did you grow up?

In a little town called We had nine holes in...

Arkansas.

We had nine holes in. I'd wait in the pons in the first hole and sell the good balls to the club and take the old balls. I wasn't old enough to play the course. On Sundays, I could go out and play. Some of the members would let me play with him. But I learned how to play on a baseball field just right down from our house.

How did you pick golf? Was your dad a golfer?

I saw it on TV. My dad played a little bit, but it wasn't his A-game sport. But I just fell in love with it watching on TV.

Were you good at it right away?

I was natural at it, but I'd learned the Jack Liffis came out with these golf digest lesson T's, how to grip it, how to hit a cut, how to hit a hook. And so when I learned I'd sit on the home plate, I'd grip it and I'd hit a cut to right field. I'd hit a straight shot to center, hit a draw to left, flop shot to the pitcher's mound, chip and runs to first base, third base, flop shot to second base, flop shots over second base. I mean, I just learned it from a cartoon that he did back in the early '70s. That's how I learned the interlock and grip, everything from Jack Nicholas.

So you didn't grow up in a country club, is what you're saying?

No, it was a nine-hole course. And then as I got older, I played there, and we lived there for a long time as I grew up, I just fell in love with the place. It's very quiet and peaceful there, and I don't want it to be.

What did your parents think?

I pretty much played all sports, played football, basketball, baseball, everything. But the one thing I loved about golf, you didn't have to run in it. I'm very flat-footed. I couldn't run for anything. I'm trying to play football as a field goal kicker, and I could throw it a mile. I just couldn't run. I'm fortunate to kick football at Elias High School, where I finished my two and a half years of kick football at Elias High School in Jeff City, Missouri, and then finished up in Arkansas to get instate tuition in Arkansas because I just couldn't afford to.

How long were you in Arkansas?

Three years.

Then you went pro?

Yeah.

How is it different then for professional golfers like the tour?

It's tough. Back then, it was all state opens. You didn't have the Korn Ferry tour. You didn't have these tours. I ended up playing. My first tournament was Missouri State Open. It was in August, I think, of '87. I borrowed $300 from my mom, paid their entry fee, won the tournament, won $6,800, and never looked back. I tried to get mom to check. She says, You take it and do what you got to do.

With it. So you've never had any other job?

No, I have to clean carts and stuff and pick rangeballs.

No, I mean, as an adult, once you left college. No. You still like it?

I love it. I love to play. I love it. But when you're hurt and things, you just can't play this game hurt. And basically, the last seven years, I've had both knees done, both feet done. I've had shoulder problems. I've had back problems. I got diagnosed with bladder cancer four years ago, so right now, it's benign. But it's part of getting old. Everybody knows me saying this. They think I'm fully you know what? But I do like to practice. But when you can't, that's what sucks. I like to go out and hit 500-weighted wedges. I don't sit on a driving range, and I like to hit into greens and stuff. I'm a player practice guy. But when you can't do that to your ability, it's tough to compete because these guys on this champion story and all over the world are so good. They're unbelievably good.

I think one of the reasons people are mesmerized by you and have always been is because clearly, you're succeeding through natural talent. I mean, it's not like... What are we looking at here? Just to give the audience some perspective.

This is.

What you would consume over 18 holes.

Well, I used to. I drink a lot of John Deilly Good Boys now.

What is that? Is that a health drink?

No, it's my sweet tea, Lindley, vodka. I can't drink it while I play, but I drink a lot of it now.

But you still have played at the highest level.

Yeah, I still played the British Open. I'm still in that time 60, in the PJ till I'm 65, the regular ones.

I guess what I mean, you see some athletes and you feel like they were trained from birth, almost like the Soviet block used to do in the Olympics.

Oh, yeah. Well, look at Michelle. What a great human being she is. I mean, her Papa's honor. I remember we played at the beautiful, Nimmy, Colin, Woodlands, Joe Hardy's place, Maggie's 84 number. I was fortunate enough when she came out, everybody said how long she was. Maggie set it up where I could play nine holes with her. What a great girl. But she hit balls seven hours before she played nine holes with me. I would have to get the stretcher. I had to hit that many balls for seven hours. That's the mentality of the game now. These guys work and they work and they work. And all of them have teachers and and they're food guide, food girl, whatever. They have psychiatrists? Yeah, I think all have them. I grew up taking golf serious, but not taking it that serious. When we're at Fuzzie, Zeller, Tom Watson, Arnie, Jack, and all of us, we go play a practice around. We go to the bar and have a drink. All these guys go work out. Well, we hit some balls, but maybe hit some pause. But then we go to the bar and have a drink, go to dinner.

I wasn't going to work out and all this stuff. It's a 10-hour day job for all these guys now. That's what they put themselves through.

There's something cool and old-fashioned about the man who doesn't do that, who doesn't have a problem pausing for a cigarette mid-game and still wins.

Well, it's been a while, but I still compete. Was there.

Ever a point when you thought, I'm getting out. I can't do this anymore?

Yeah, I think a lot of us go through that. You're not playing good. These last seven years have been tough. I really have not played one Champions to 100 %. And I was fortunate to win in Houston, I think, in 2016. But just trying to be healthy, giving yourself a chance to compete really well is what you want. But I've had both knees done, full replacements. And this will be the first year I've actually been able to have two good knees. So hopefully, '24, without any other stupid crap, maybe I could actually get through a year without limping.

Are you sick of being on tour?

No, I love the game. I love to compete, but I just want to compete the way I know I can compete.

So when you're playing on tour, do you go to dinner with the other players at night?

A lot of times, yeah. A lot of us hang out on the.

Champions League. So you're open in your politics. You're pretty direct.

About it, I'd say. Yeah. We're just common sense in our country.

Do you think you've got the majority of you among the solvers?

Yeah. I think all of us on the tours and everything, we all want Daddy Trump back.

Really? Why?

Because he was a great president. He's a great guy. Once you get to know him, I've known him since the early 90s. And it was funny. I can't remember the tournament. He flew his helicopter and we played a pro-am. We went out back. We talked a little bit. And when he stood up, he says, Mark, my words, I'll be President of the United States one day. This is back in '92, '93, '94 maybe. How?

Did you believe him?

I did. I did. Interesting. He's an unbelievable, smart individual that people got to get behind him. We've got to do something.

But among professional golfers, that's a pretty common view. No doubt. How is his golf? How would you assess it?

I got to work with his chipping a little bit, but he hits it good. He puts it good. We just got to work on this chip.

What's wrong with the chipping?

I could keep telling you we've got to move the ball up. Everybody thinks when you chip, you got to move it back. You actually need to move it up a little bit. If I don't see him for a while, it goes back to that bad habit again.

So when you correct him...

He chips at a tiger or Phil.

Why not be a full-time Trump golf coach?

I don't think he has the time to play.

That much golf. He does seem serious about it.

He loves it. He's passionate about it. What I love about him, he plays quick. We'd go out and play golf. We'd go out and play with him, and we're done in three hours. Really? He don't mess around.

Did Clinton cheat in golf?

Is that true? Oh, yeah. I mean, Bill, he would take the club back and say, Oh, shit, give me another ball before he even hit the first one. He'd throw another one down. But he never kept score. Did you.

Ever play with him?

Yeah, I had to play with him one time.

What did you think?

He needs to take up tennis. He's horrible.

Really? Yeah. What about Obama?

I didn't play with him. I never got to meet him or play with him.

But Clinton's that bad. But he.

Loved it, right? Yeah, that's okay. I mean, hey, there's a lot of people that never get it, they're never good at it, but they love it, keep playing. If it's something you love to do and go out and do it, it's a great game. But these guys, they don't have the time to really work on their game and do the things they want to. A lot of them are running the country. Yeah, that does get in the way. Some did a good job, some did a shitty job. We all know who did a great job.

Do you think Trump is going to win?

He needs to win. I pray to God he would.

Why?

Just for the satisfaction of bringing our country back together, get some common sense going in here again, and Look what he did. The four years, how great was our country? In the four years he was in office. Now look at it. No secure borders, placings out of the roof. I mean, what the hell happened? Where did it go? I was the four years that Daddy Trump was in. And it's all gone to hell. In two years, three years, it's just... What happened?

Did you see it coming?

We all did. When Biden got elected, I definitely saw that. A lot of our corporate people that were around all the time. Launch our tournaments, we all saw it happen. They knew it was going to happen.

Have they ever leaned on you to shut up?

No, why would they? It's free speech.

Well, because if you're in the NBA, you can't have your opinions.

That's their problem. That's stupid. They should. They when they were kneeling national anthems and all that, that was telling us to tell America to kiss our ass. What was that all about?

You tell me.

I'd like to know because I don't understand. Our football players were kneeling, massed at them. I'll never forget one game in the NFL, there was the Steeler guy that served, was the only one that came out of the locker. Yeah. What happened?

I don't know. I think it was obvious that certain people wanted Americans to hate their own country, and so they used sports figures to send that message. Your country is embarrassing. It's immoral. Give it the finger. Hate it. That's how much power athletes have. Yeah. You don't.

Have so much power, athletes... Yeah. To be able to go that. I don't know if it's that left or just that stupid. I don't know.

Well, they're being used.

Yeah, but then they're the ones who are looking like idiots doing it.

But you never felt that in golf at all.

No, not with our guys. We believe in the American flag. We believe in our freedoms, and we believe in what... We travel probably more than any athlete on the universe. And we have to show our passport, we have to get visas, and look at our border. We're just coming in, truckloads. And the Biden administration has done nothing but says all the borders, it's under control.

Just seven million people whose identities we don't know living here.

And what they say in his term, there's over I don't know how many that they found that were felons or they were terrorists or whatever more than any other presence.

Why do you think they're doing that?

Votes.

Votes?

All he wants is votes. They just want to stay in office.

You think they're going to make the illegals into voters?

I heard they're giving him voter cards and anything anyway they come in. I don't know if it's true, but that's what I've heard. I would think that's the only... Why else would they let them in? What is the reason Democrats want all these people to come in free? I got a guy that plays our senior, Tarell, Mitz's name, been here forever, won majors, on the tour, and couldn't get a visa. Really? Yeah. But yet you're letting all these illegals come in, giving them whatever they want, makes no sense to me.

But there's got to be a reason for it. Votes.

I think it's votes. I don't know any other reason. I don't know.

And that happened instantly. Second Biden got there. Yeah. And no one says anything about it.

I feel bad for Arizona, the good California, the Texan, I mean, that whole border, man. I feel bad for the farmers and everybody. You see it every day. The stories of these cutting their fences, raiding their homes. Why would they be to the President of the United States let these people do that to our own Americans?

Maybe if you hated the country and wanted to destroy it, you would do that.

Apparently, we got up there right now. They must hate our country.

Yourth, you think there's a chance Trump could win with a system like the one we have?

I don't know. I'm looking at Iowa. I'm looking at some of these states that are changing that are wanting to vote for him. But all I know is I hope he wins. Yeah. All I have is back till I die. He's one of the greatest human beings I've ever met. The family is awesome. Once you get to know him, they're just good-hearted people. And he only wants to help Americans. He doesn't want anything out of it. He wants to protect our country, which I think Putin never would have invaded Ukraine if he'd have been in it. I don't think Thomas would attack Israel like they did if Trump was in office. I truly believe that. I think.

There's probably.

Something to that. I brought you some.

Cigarettes, by the way. You make cigarettes?

Yeah, my buddies in New York, they're a Dominican. They're handmade. I got the shorts. I call the short game, and I call the longs the long game.

Do you think that tobacco helps your game?

It relaxes me. It's a stress relief.

I mean, that's your signature on the course? Yeah. Is a marbara?

Well, it takes us a while to play, so it's usually a pack around. Have you.

Ever been under pressure not to do it on the course?

No, the tour has been pretty good. I mean, there's been places that we go when there's a drought or whatever. They said you can't smoke. But I get these little things. I never throw one on the ground. What is that? It's a little pouch that you put them in. This one's a little older. I got some new ones, but it's what the fire department wear.

You.

Just stick it in there, throw it in there, put it in your pocket, and empty it in the trash can. When you own a golf course and you see cigarettes and cigarettes on your greens and they get in the green mowers, it tends to.

Piss you off. Yeah, I believe that. You think Tiger Woods would be better if he smoked? Tiger is off.

I feel bad he's hurt.

You beat him hungover once.

I was still drunk, actually, but yeah, that was a funny story.

I don't know when and where?

That was at. The early 2000s. There's only like 12 or 15 pros, but we didn't play too good the first day. I'm sitting there with all my buddies. One is Chris Legu, who's been a sponsor of mine since then. It was like '94. Yes, it had to be '94. It's been a long time ago. We have the roundtable in Sherwood, and I got my bottle of Jack Daniels then and all our guys. I just meet these guys. Chris Legu is a car dealer in Ontario, California. We became good friends. He's been sponsoring me since then. Tiger came in and I go, T, come have a drink with us, man. Come on. No, I'm going to go hit some balls. Two hours later, we're still in there. T. W. Come on, man. Come have a drink with us. No, I'm going to go work out. And this is going on for about five or six hours. We're still there just pound and getting drunk, having a good time. I got a sponsorship out of it, which I was happy. And T. W. Comes out in the suit, the tucks. And I go, Where are you going?

He goes, I got a guitar on stage for you. You got to go to dinner. I didn't know anything about a dinner. I didn't even know about a dinner. He always tells me when there's a dinner. He says, You got to go. I'm still in golf shoes. I got no shoes on. I got my golf shoes off. I'm barefooted. I got my shirt tucked up. I got shit spilled all over me. I said.

All right. Reaking of Jack.

Daniels and Marble. Oh, yeah, just drunk. He's played a trick on me. So the ballroom wasn't very far, so I stumbled over there. There's a chair and there's a guitar, but I had nylon strings like Willy plays, right? He didn't know. You get your phone and you can little guitar tune and tune it up. I did knock on heaven's door, got a standing ovation. I said, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Tlc early in the morning. We tee off. My caddy was drunk with us. There's only two times I've ever drank on a golf course. One, I had a few course lights. We had a long weight, played the back night at Riviera. We had a long weight. I'd down four or five quarter lights. I was playing like shit. And there's like four groups where you tee off on the front. I'd down those, shoot four or five under on that side and make the cut. I think I finished in third. But the funny thing about Tiger was when I got on the T, I had my caddy bring me a crown or a Jack and Coke, and he's carrying the bag. If you never played true with the first toll, he's walking and walking through all the cactuses and stuff going down this hill not to spill my drink.

I grabbed my three and go on the tea. Make a long story showed I shoot like 65, Tiger shot like 71. He just shook his head the whole day.

That's.

Incredible. That's fun.

Wasn't the last thing you should drink more in the golf course?

Well, I'm not saying you should, but I've only done it twice. But there was only that one drink. I think the statute of limitations are out for fine with me right now.

Oh, is there? You're not allowed to do that?

No. Like the pro ams on our tour, Champions tour, you can have a few in the pro ams. Yeah. But no, you can't drink them during the tournament.

Would you change that if you could?

Hell, yeah. I'd probably play better.

Do you play in your private life with a beer?

I drink these. I drink our Good Boy vodka. I like to drink it straight with a little Diet Coke on the side.

You drink the vodka straight with Diet Coke? Like a Diet Coke chaser? Yeah.

All right. Drink Good Boy vodka and now chase it with this.

You make your own vodka.

Yeah. Alex Pratt owns it. We got a lot of great friends and investors, and we're in a lot of stores now. We're in Kroger, Walmart, Circle K just took us on. A lot of local in Florida, we started in Florida. We're Key West all the way to Jacksonville with Circle K. Kroger is huge in Kentucky. We're in about 26 states now. Total Wine ABC has been wonderful. Yeah, this is going to be my true retirement for my kids.

How many kids do you have?

Four I know of.

Have there been hints that you have others?

No, not yet. Bud would have told me if I did.

Your agent keeps track of paternity claims? Pretty much, yeah.

Now I got three beautiful kids, blood, and then I got an honest child, Karissa, that she's been with me since she was two. I feel like she's mine.

I can see why. Are any of them golfers?

Little John, a place for the University of Arkansas. We won the PNC a couple of years ago. We finished second last year. Hopefully, we're going to do good this year.

Does it surprise you that Arkansas, which was always insecure, let's be in Arkansas, is now this popular state? Your property values are dramatically higher and people are moving to Arkansas.

Yeah. I mean, Fable is probably one of the Darnell, Fable, a lot of towns in Arkansas are voted. That population, number one, number two, safest places to live. Yeah. Fable, Arkansas is just you come see our campus. It is unbelievable. Our sports stuff is bar none. This football is just as big as NFL. Thewith the stuff that we have for these kids are basketball, musclemen, coach, home, baseball. I mean, every sports ranked, we just got to get football back. It'll happen.

What did you make of live golf?

I think it's great. I would have played it.

Why the hostility tournament?

That's something that I was hoping that Finshy would say, Okay, look, guys, you play your 15 tournaments, go play it. We have to play 15 on the regular tour, and I think 11 and 12 on the Champions tour. Once you do that, then let us go play wherever you want. I think golf is a growing game. I'm not going to sit here and deny. I didn't get paid to go play Europe. I got paid a lot of money to go play European events. What's the difference? There's no difference. But I think golf is a growing game. I think Lives looks like it's a lot of fun. Yeah. I would be perfect. They have concerts. The guys have fun. They can wear shorts. The program is like we can now. They ride around on carts. I mean, it's almost like playing the champion story. Three days of golf, no cut. But we'll say that Liv's got a little bigger purses than we do on the Champion Store. Yeah, it's good to have four million. I mean, to win four million dollars for playing 54 holes. That's pretty good.

I'm not good at math.

But that's a lot. And then you got your team. If you win your team, I think it's 900. That's 3.6 million. You get 900 extra thousand. Your team wins.

Is it true? Someone once told me that guys on the PGA tour can actually wind up in the red at the end of the tour from transportation costs. Some people on the tour lose money.

Oh, yeah. That's one thing that Jay Monohan did. I think if you got your tour card, you're guaranteed to get 500 grand, I think, bud. I think you're guaranteed.

He's rolling with it.

Yeah, I think they give you 500 grand no matter what. You get your card, I think now you get 500 grand, which can pay your expenses.

Easily for a year. But some of the people are not making big money.

At all. No, you lose your card in 126 to 150. You might get a few. But after 150, you're on your own.

I read that you lost a ton gambling. Yeah. How did you do that?

I had fun.

What game like?

It was blackjack back in the days. You could play all seven hands. They've changed it now. You can only play three. I'm glad they did because I quit Blackjack, and I just play slots.

Have you ever won in slots? Yeah.

Really? Yeah.

How much do you think you lost in Blackjack?

I probably lost over 90 million, probably won over 57. What is that? 39, 40, 50 million.

Seriously. Yeah. You don't sound bitter.

I did it. I got to get over it. Move on.

What casinos did you lose.

At it? I went everywhere. I love Vegas. I went to a lot of them. I had such great contracts, good marker anyway. A million here, a million there, a million there.

What's the most you let right on the hand?

Probably around 400 to 550,000.

From one hand?

Yeah, I had splits and double downs and all that.

Did you win it?

Sometimes. Sometimes I lost. More loss than I want.

I think it's supposed to.

Work out that way. But you're talking about some of the drilling now.

Really?

That's how people do it. I mean, 20,000, that's 140,000 up right there. So you're getting double downs and splits. Shit adds up quick.

Did you play the odds, like play the card? I mean, or did you go by gut?

A lot of times, if you got a feeling you're on a roll, sometimes I would hit a hard 12. Really? I would hit a 12. Yeah, I would not hit it because you see a bunch of pictures on there, and I'm thinking, There's got to be. Just give me anything less than a 10. I don't care if it's a two. And most of the time, the dude that would break. But they say don't hit on 12. I know. The six or less is showing, but unless it's an ace.

But you would play by intuition sometimes. And do you think that worked better or not as well?

A buddy of mine said it's all feel. Two-decker goes really fast. So you really can't get in the rhythm. You do a six-decker shoot and you get on a run. That's a home run. But it only happens about one out of 10 times.

What's the most you won in one night?

I won 3.2, 3.3 million. I was on slots, valleys one night.

What did you do that night after?

I was sitting with a buddy of mine that was repping, and it was me and Cherie got married. And I went to a $25 machine. It was a 10-time machine and hit two tins on the Red 7. I go, on $75, 360 grand. Immediately went to the 500,000 and kept hitting 80,000, 100,000. It was the greatest night I've ever had in slot.

Where was that?

Valley.

In Vegas? Yeah. Did you cash out and walk out?

Actually, I took it and paid off markers and other casinos. I got out of there free, though. I got out of there.

That's like signing up for a new credit card to pay off the other ones.

Exactly. Rob and Peter to pay Paul.

Did you still go to Vegas?

Yeah, I go there. But I don't gamble like I used to. I love playing the slots. If you come off the road three or four weeks, you're just tired. I just want to sit there in front of the machine, smoke cigarettes, drink John Dailies, and hopefully hit a jackpot. I go to Hard Rock in Tampa. I love it. Hit my machine 240 grand twice in the last week.

In this week?

Last week. Yeah, 240 grand.

Seriously.

Twice. Which doesn't happen often. What did you.

Put into it to get that?

Probably 150. I mean, who knows? I said you're Robin Peter to pay Paul. But it's fun.

Well, does anyone... What does your agent say? I'm looking at him.

He don't like it too much. He doesn't. I don't like it too much, but hey, it's a bad habit that I could get my drilling going again.

Have you thought about skydiving or anything like that? No, not.

The only diving I do is like I'll belly flop in the pool. I'm good at that. But I don't go to the beach. They don't allow whales on the beach, so I don't go there. I'm not going to wear a speedo with this gut.

Even though you know the odds are stacked against you, and in the end, you'll lose, it's still worth it for the adrenaline.

Yeah. It's just a bad habit that I love to do. But I don't... I don't get markers. I don't do that crap anymore.

What happens? I've always wondered if you're a whale in a casino and you start losing big and you can't pay, where does that leave you?

That's why I don't get markers anymore.

But what do they do?

Well, you can do a down payment as long as you pay something, they're fine with it back in the day.

No threats?

No. If you don't pay anything, you don't know who's going to come be knocking on your door.

Is that true?

I don't want that to ever happen to me. No, it's true. It can be.

Do you know people have gotten in trouble.

In gambling? A few, yeah. What happened? Well, most of them go to the legal department and they get lawyers now. But can you imagine back in the day what they probably did? I think some knees would have been busted up.

Are the odds better in foreign casinos? Do you play Monte Carlo?

It's all the same. It's all stacked to the house to the casino itself. Why you think they got so much money?

Do you ever play Pike out?

No, never got into it.

Crabs?

A little bit. When I was bored, I bet nine for some reason all the time on crabs. Actually did pretty good.

Is there anything you regret from your career? No. Really? No.

We all do stupid things, but that's part of life. The problem is doing them over and over again. Right. I might regret on some of that stuff I might have done, but no, I really don't. I think everything is just part of life, what we go through. Not everybody's perfect. We're all going to make mistakes. But one thing I've always done is I've owned up to mind. Bud's never had to lie for me. I've never had to lie. I've never lied. I don't never lie in front of my fans and stuff because if I screw up, I'm going to admit I screwed up. I'm not going to hide it. Because sooner or later, it's going to get out. And then it just makes you look like a liar. That's pretty much the administration is right now. No, it's totally right.

Is that why you're still around after all these years and all the drama? You're still popular, you're still working.

Because you didn't lie to that. I love people. I love my fans. I love them to come out and watch me play. And it's been disappointing these few years because I've been hurt and I haven't been able to play to my potential, but they still come out and I love them for it. And the one thing an athlete, if golfers are athletes, I guess they are now because they work out, but this is... You mean if they're athletes? I don't work out. I put out.

You don't think of yourself as an athlete? No. I mean, the hand-to-eye coordination required to hit a small ball down range, doesn't that qualify you as.

An athlete? I guess. I don't know. I'm not a guy that's going to go work out after a round or anything like that. There's been that talk if golfers are athletes. But I will tell you this. I guess I am because all the swings that we've taken, I'll never forget playing a pro am is 120 degrees in Memphis with Brett Farf. And we're on the- Great guy. Great guy. We're on the 16th of I think it's a par-5 at the TPC course with the southwind, and it's hot, and he's miserable. And he's just slow. He looked at me, says, Man, I'd rather have a 350-pound limon come at me right now than doing this shit. But it is. We're always battling weather. We're always playing in different places that the weather is good or bad. It's a tough sport. And the swings and tolls that you take on this, your bodytakes on the swings that we do. It catches up.

Oh, yeah. What's the best course in the United States?

I'm a favorite. Well, Augusta is one of them, of course, but Tori Pine South is one of my favorites. Bay Hill was always one.

Of my favorites. Fort Pines in La Jolla?

Yeah, I was fortunate to win. I think it's just a good classic long, hard golf course, and it's public. I've always loved Tori Pine South. Interesting. And what was the second one? Bay Hill, Augusta. There's a ton of them, but those are my three favorites. I used to love to play for Arnie. I'd always love to go to Bay Hill, play his tournament.

Who are your favorite golfers?

Well, he's one of them, Jack. But he's probably my best friend or whatever. He took me on his wing when I didn't even have my card.

Really? Why?

I don't know. He just liked me for some reason. We became great friends, and he was a true friend. These guys out on Tour N'Au, they don't seem to do that as much as they used to.

They hang out with each other.

No, just like they talk about who their idols were, but a lot of them didn't hang out with them down to date. I love hanging out with Fuzz. I love hanging out with Arnie. Just the stories. Bay Hill Locker Room. I was time to Stather, and my halfie, me, Fuzzie, Tom Watts, and Jack McLean. I was just sitting there. Some of us were having a cocktail, some were drinking soda, but they'd sit and tell the stories.

So when famous golfers get together over a drink to tell stories, they tell stories about women or golf?

A lot of it.

Can you be more.

Specific, Mr. T? No. That's that lawyer-client privilege talk. Some of the stories were amazing. Really? I can't tell them. But just to be a part of looking at Legends like that, idolizing these guys, to me, it was the greatest time. That's probably not just because Bay Hill is such a great golf course, but just sitting with these guys in Artie's Bar in the locker room. And to me, that was the ultimate.

And you think that's gone now?

I don't see it happen. I don't know. I haven't played the tour much. They took away, can't play cards in the locker rooms anymore. A lot of guys don't hang out in locker rooms anymore.

Why can't you play cards.

In the locker room? I don't know. The tour just doesn't like us playing cards. Might have been a little gambling going on there.

Well, I would think.

Yeah, but we couldn't do it. That's probably when I first came out, I think that they had stopped it.

Last question. The caddy relationship. How important is that?

It's very important. That's got to be your best friend out there. You got to know the win. They got to know how far you hit this each and every club. They got to line you're putting, they got to know everything about you.

How good are caddies on average, as golfers?

Some are great, and some are friends that don't help. They're there just to carry the bag. But some players are fine with that. I'm my own man. I need help sometimes in the wind. But other than that, I'm pretty much whoever carries it. I don't really need a lot of help.

You're not taking strategic advice from your caddy?

No, I will, but will I listen? Most likely not. Interesting. John Daly.

It was great to meet you.

You too. About time. It's been forever.

It certainly has. I've been a fan for a long time. Let me go smoke yard in a minute. Let's do it. -hey. -hey.