John Daly recorded a 19 on a single hole at the Sanford International, setting a PGA Tour Champions record for the highest score ever on one hole
John Daly has made a career out of living boldly on and off the golf course with countless great shots and just as many fines, but Friday at Minnehaha Country Club might go down as one of his most whimsical days in competition.
The two-time major champion recorded a 19 on the par-5 12th hole during Round 1 of the Sanford International, a number so wild it instantly became PGA Champions Tour history. Daly, playing in a field featuring Angel Cabrera, Robert Karlsson, and other legends of the game, was already fighting his swing when he stepped onto the 501-yard hole.
What followed looked more like a scene from a cartoon ᵴtriƥ than a professional golf round. Daly lost multiple balls, dropped repeatedly, and stacked up penalties like poker chips.
The less-than-desirable hole still didn’t throw Daly off his rhythm.
He made par on both 13 and 14, then bounced back with a birdie on 15. He steadied himself with two more pars before closing with a bogey on 18.
On the same day of the tournament, Daly made a post on Instagram promoting Good Boy Vodka. He added, “looking like a good weekend,” to the post which showed the beverage being produced.
On the front nine, he had four bogies, and the internet was all over him.
One fan wrote, “I would’ve run out of balls.”
Another joked that they once played with a guy who shot a +27 on a par 3 and that he was an unnamed professional golfer, in defense of Big John, who was “always grinding.”
Some critics were harsher, with one saying, “They need to cancel his membership. He’s nothing but a joke now,” while another theorized Daly was “just trolling at this point.”
This was Daly’s only event on record for 2025, according to his PGA Tour Champions profile.
He played three tournaments last season, including one infamous round at Timuquana Country Club, in which he made a six-shot bogey on the eighth hole.
Daly’s lone win on the Champions Tour came back in 2017 at the Insperity Invitational, far removed from his days winning at The Open Championship at St Andrews in 1995 or his upset 1991 PGA Championship victory.
Across a career that has spanned three decades, Daly has amassed over $10 million in PGA Tour earnings, five PGA Tour wins, and four international titles. He has 23 top-5 finishes and 35 top-10 finishes to his name.
While Daly’s PGA Tour mainstay days are far behind him, his son John Daly II has carried on his namesake and legacy.
