{"id":641883,"date":"2026-03-08T22:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T22:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/641883\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T22:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T22:39:17","slug":"john-dalys-son-in-contention-for-near-1m-payday-on-first-ever-pga-tour-start-after-coach-reveals-he-messed-him-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/641883\/","title":{"rendered":"John Daly’s son in contention for near $1m payday on first ever PGA Tour start after coach reveals he ‘messed him up’"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Daly II enters the final round at the Puerto Rico Open within reach of the lead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Arkansas senior carded a two-under 70 on March 7 to finish the day tied eighth and three shots behind leader Ricky Castillo heading into Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"Amateur<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Daly is three shots behind leader Ricky Castillo entering the final roundCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s round unfolded in windy conditions, with the 22-year-old recording 15 pars and an eagle on the 11th.<\/p>\n

It was almost a flawless run until the 18th, where he made his first bogey of the tournament since the opening round.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was solid,\u201d Daly II said at his third-round press conference.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure it was the windiest day of the week so far and it was really hard to get the numbers right.<\/p>\n

READ MORE GOLF<\/p>\n

\u201cStayed in it and played some good shots, sucks to make my first bogey in a while on 18, hit a good second shot, just the wind let it rise in the air. Oh, well, it was a good day.<\/p>\n

\u201cGameplan is the same thing, I will go get some food, get a good night of sleep in and just go as low as I can tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winner of the event will receive $720,000, and eligibility for the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass next week.<\/p>\n

This is Daly\u2019s first PGA Tour event, but he already has massive expectations attached to his name, being Hall-of-Fame John Daly\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

He is ranked 54th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. He reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club last summer and won the Southern Amateur.<\/p>\n

A win would place him among the few amateurs to capture a title at a PGA Tour, the most recent golfer to achieve this was Nick Dunlap at the 2024 The American Express.<\/p>\n

\"Amateur<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

A win would see Daly become the ninth amateur to win on a PGA TourCredit: Getty\"Amateur<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Daly is ranked 54th in the World Amateur Golf RankingsCredit: GettyArkansas coach admits to too much tinkering with Daly II\u2019s swing<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Daly aiming to add his name to a piece of golfing history, things were much different just over a year ago.<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t crack the starting lineup at the University of Arkansas as he battled with his swing, something which his coach admitted to tinkering too much with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started jacking with his swing, saying you need to fix this and this, and I probably messed him up,\u201d Arkansas head coach Brad McMakin told Golf Channel.<\/a><\/p>\n

McMakin conceded his mistake: \u201c<\/strong>I\u2019ve left him alone, and I\u2019ll take the blame.\u201d<\/p>\n

After working on the basics with his dad and former Arkansas assistant Barrett Lais, things suddenly clicked for Daly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last spring, Daly posted three top-10s, including his first college victory at the Columbia Spring Invitational.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Daly also won the 2022 PNC Championship with his father in 2022Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my 30 years of coaching, this is the most satisfying thing I\u2019ve ever seen from a player,\u201d McMakin added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went from being a bad driver of the golf ball, to now he\u2019s hitting these tight draws, hits it high, has great control.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been one of the biggest improvements I\u2019ve seen in a player in that short amount of time. I couldn\u2019t be prouder of that kid, and I\u2019m telling you, that kid is the greatest kid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a Christian kid, does everything right, his clothes in his closet are all color coordinated, he\u2019s got everything organized, and he loves the Razorbacks more than anything in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Daly II enters the final round at the Puerto Rico Open within reach of the lead. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":641884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[47],"tags":[1430,27431,273146,273145,28728,273151,273153,273154,273155,273156,273152,1456,249937,158743,273147,273148,273150,273149,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-641883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-golf-news","tag-golf-rumours","tag-golf-updates","tag-john-daly","tag-john-daly-career","tag-john-daly-ii","tag-john-daly-ii-golf","tag-john-daly-ii-puerto-rico-open","tag-john-daly-john-daly-ii","tag-john-daly-majors","tag-pga-tour","tag-pga-tour-card","tag-pga-tour-events","tag-pga-tour-winners","tag-puerto-rico-open","tag-puerto-rico-open-card","tag-puerto-rico-open-course","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116195961606729253","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}