John Daly really outdid himself this time – no, he really did.
The former major winner bested his personal record for worst score on a single hole while competing in the first round of the Sanford International at Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
It took the 59-year-old Daly 19 strokes to finish the par-5 12th hole on the Champions Tour after already being four-over par for the round on Friday.
The 12th is not an easy hole, as the players must clear a significantly long creek running along the fairway. But it was not just the water that did Daly.
After sending his tee shot into the rough, the former PGA and British Open champion hit his ball out of bounds and astounding seven times in a row. That included shots into the water and surrounding woods.
Even more amazingly, he needed just one put to close out the hole after finally putting his ball on the green. He finished 18-over for the round and 24 strokes off the lead heading into Day 2. Angel Cabrera leads the tournament at 6-under.
The meltdown bested Daly’s previous single-hole high score of 18 strokes on the sixth hole at the 1998 Bay Hill Invitational in 1998.
Scores like this are nothing new to Daly.
He needed 14 strokes to complete the 18th hole at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and 13 for the fourth hole at the 2011 John Deer Classic at TPC Dear Run in 2011.
His 19 strokes, however, would not come close to breaking the PGA Tour’s futility mark.
Tommy Armour, a three-time major winner, used a whopping 23 strokes to finish the 17th hole at the Shawnee Open in 1927. He hit 10 shots out of bounds during his effort.
