It’s safe to say, John Daly II couldn’t have done this a couple years ago.
The 22-year-old Daly, son of legendary pro John Daly, enters Sunday’s final round of the Puerto Rico Open just three shots back after briefly tying the lead Saturday in what is his PGA Tour debut. But just over a year ago, the younger Daly couldn’t crack the starting lineup at the University of Arkansas as he battled his golf swing.
“In my 30 years of coaching, this is the most satisfying thing I’ve ever seen from a player,” Arkansas head coach Brad McMakin said of Daly’s rise, which has him on the cusp of being a top-50 amateur in the world, at No. 54 in WAGR.
A diehard Razorback, Daly wasn’t going anywhere else out of high school. Not even after shooting 83 in the opening round of his only tournament as a walk-on freshman and redshirting that next season. Unable to strike the ball at a Power-4 level, Daly couldn’t get by with just his silky short game and mental toughness.
He finally cracked the lineup for Arkansas’ fall opener as a redshirt-sophomore and proceeded to rattle off six consecutive top-20 finishes. But a T-64 at the 2024 Seminole Intercollegiate spooked McMakin enough where he recommended some significant tweaks to Daly’s swing.
“I started jacking with his swing, saying, you need to fix this and this, and I probably messed him up,” McMakin said.
Eventually, McMakin conceded his mistake – “I’ve left him alone, and I’ll take the blame,” he said – and Daly got back to the basics while working with both his dad and former Arkansas assistant Barrett Lais.
It didn’t click until last spring. But boy, did it click. After averaging 75.7 in two fall events, Daly ascended into a top role for a struggling Razorbacks’ squad that was teetering around the .500 mark. Daly posted three top-10s, including his first college victory at the Columbia Spring Invitational, and had one round in the 60s in six of seven spring events to help Arkansas squeeze into an NCAA regional, where they nearly advanced with a seventh-place showing in Amherst, Virginia.
“We weren’t going to make regionals, but he carried us there and almost got us through with a very young team,” McMakin said.
Daly wasn’t done, either. Last summer, he placed third at the Northeast Amateur, won the Southern Amateur on Arkansas’ home course and then advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club. He backed up that run by placing second at the Bearcat Invitational and winning again at the Blessings, this time Arkansas’ annual fall tournament.
While Daly has cracked the top 25 just once in six college starts since, his play in Puerto Rico continues to show just how far he’s come since his early college years when he’d aim way left, hit massive pull-cuts and rarely knew exactly where the ball was going. McMakin said Daly’s ball-striking improved 100% from the end of his junior fall to last summer, and he pointed to a shot at the Southern, where he hit 4-iron at the 265-yard, par-3 17th to 10 feet to help polish off that title.
“He actually looks the part now,” McMakin said. “He went from being a bad driver of the golf ball, to now he’s hitting these tight draws, hits it high, has great control. This has been one of the biggest improvements I’ve seen in a player in that short amount a time. I couldn’t be prouder of that kid, and I’m telling you, that kid is the greatest kid. He’s a Christian kid, does everything right, his clothes in his closet are all color coordinated, he’s got everything organized, and he loves the Razorbacks more than anything in the world.”
Daly arrived at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande on Wednesday, a day removed from wrapping play at the Cabo Collegiate; he wasn’t going to ditch his team at one of the season’s biggest events. He was so tired after Thursday’s opening 70 that he blew off practicing for a well-deserved afternoon at the beach. He fired 5-under 67 on Friday and went bogey-free for 17 holes Saturday before a closing bogey capped a third-round 70 and knocked him back to 9 under for the week. Ricky Castillo leads at 12 under.
Ricky Castillo posted a bogey-free round of 4-under 68 in strong wind Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round.
“It was the windiest day of the week so far, it was really hard to get the numbers right, but stayed in it well, hit some good shots,” Daly told reporters afterward. “Yeah, 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.”
Daly’s pops won five times on the PGA Tour, including two majors. Daly II, better known to his friends as “L.J.,” said he didn’t expect Daly Sr. to fly in for Sunday’s final round, as he was out west with some buddies and sponsors.
As for his goal for Sunday, Daly has remained consistent all week: “Just go out there, try to make a lot of birdies and hit some good shots.”
Unlike a couple years ago, he’s fully capable.
