John Daly Exclusive: Career Reflections, Happy Gilmore 2, The Ryder Cup, and Tiger Woods

Golf legend John Daly sat down with Hard Rock Bet and revealed he would love to have a role in the 2027 Ryder Cup with Team USA alongside Tiger Woods as captain.

The Hard Rock Bet ambassador also spoke about his best moments in golf, the chances of Woods winning more tournaments, the dominance of Scottie Scheffler and what it was like to star in Happy Gilmore 2 alongside Adam Sandler.

Career, Casino Slots, John Daly II and Hard Rock Bet

What is it like working with the Hard Rock Bet team? Must have been great fun to star in the Hard Rock Bet Party campaign alongside Mike Tyson, Ray Lewis, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and more.

John Daly: Oh, the commercial—we had a blast. I didn’t get to see those guys because I was on a different day, but you sit there, and it was 110 degrees outside.

It was so hot, but when we got it going, I could tell it was going to be pretty funny, and I saw a little bit of what [Mike] Tyson did and stuff, so it was really cool to see. I wish I could have seen all those guys because they’re all kind of my friends, distant friends.

We’ve all had different paths of our success and what we’ve done in life, and it’s just cool to hang out and hear about their stories as they want to hear about mine, but that commercial—we just had a blast.

How do you pick your slots? And what table games do you play?

John Daly: I’ve just always loved Triple Cash, Double Sevens, and Double Gold Sevens. I’ve always loved them ever since they came out, and those are kind of my machines that I’ve always loved to play.

I don’t play a lot of table games anymore. My son likes to play blackjack. If there was one game I’d play—and it’s so easy—I’d play craps and just bet nine all night long and walk out with a boatload.

What’s it like playing at the PNC Championship with your son?

John Daly: Well, he’s been playing really, really good. He had one hell of a summer—won a few tournaments and played great. He almost won the U.S. Amateur, and he ended up getting beat in the quarters by the kid that won it.

He’s playing good. I’m usually the saddle, he’s the horse. Now he’s both this year because I haven’t really been playing a lot.

My body just doesn’t let me practice the way I want to anymore with the arthritis and all the surgeries and stuff. My career’s kind of declining, and his is just starting.

So if I can help him with a few putts and a few shots [when we play together], I don’t have to do a lot. He’s pretty much the stud, and hopefully we can just make a lot of putts, because that’s what it all comes down to.

You’ve been known for your grip-it-and-rip-it style. How do you think that influenced the next generation of long hitters?

John Daly: It’s hard to tell. I mean, people said it was just me, Davis Love, and Freddie Couples on tour in the ’90s that were the longest [hitters].

If you look at the driving stats, there’s 20 guys averaging over 300 yards, so whether I had anything to do with it or not, it’d be kind of cool if I did. But it was something that I didn’t really think much about, because on tour, if you’re not chipping and putting real good, you’re not going to win anyway.

It wasn’t something that I ever thought was going to be any big deal. But I don’t know, I just came up with that grip it and rip it because that’s all I’ve ever done. I own the patent and trademark on it, and people try to copy it all the time, but I like to protect it because it is something that’s mine, and it always will be.

Looking back at your career, which win do you still think about the most, and why?

John Daly: The PGA was great—don’t get me wrong—but to win at the home of golf at St. Andrews is something that I’ll always [remember].

If you dream of being a major winner or a tour player, the British Open’s one that always sticks out in my mind because the elements change every five minutes. The golf courses are totally different than the other three majors.

You’re playing links golf, you’re playing against the elements of wind. It’s the only tournament that you have bunkers in the middle of the fairway, so it’s something that I’ll always cherish the rest of my life because it is the home of golf, and it’s a place where the R&A would rather see their European guys probably win.

At that time, I was the first one since Mark Calcavecchia won in 1989, so it was a six-year drought that no American had won. I think that’s the one, no doubt. The Open is something that I’ll always cherish. I’ll cherish both of them, but nothing like winning the Open at St. Andrews.

Your son caddied for you at the Open in 2022. How cool was that?

John Daly: Oh, it’s great. We played good. We got the element changes going, obviously, two under par for the tournament going into [hole] 8. I had a wedge out.

Next thing you know, I hit a four iron because the tide turns, and when the back nine plays against the wind, it’s very, very difficult, and I end up missing the cut by one. But, you know, it’s something I’ll always cherish.

I mean, Little John loved it. Hopefully one day he’ll be there playing at St. Andrews and hopefully get him an Open win.

What do you hope fans remember most about John Daly on and off the course?

John Daly: That’s something you have to ask them. That’s the only way I can answer that one.

Did you have any drinking buddies on the PGA circuit?

John Daly: Oh yeah. Me and Fuzzy had a few. When Tim Herron came out, we always had a few. Michael Allen was a good buddy of mine. We had a few drinkers that we’d go out with. When we played back in the ’90s, it was play golf, have a good time, hopefully play good, win, and then have a few cocktails after you get done.

Now these guys get three hours before tee time. They work out. They practice for an hour and a half before they go to the first tee. They play the round of golf, then they go work out again for two or three hours. It just wasn’t in my blood. I don’t work out—I put out.

You mentioned pro-ams earlier, and you’ve hung out with NFL players who love golf. Do you have any memorable rounds with anybody like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or any famous athletes?

John Daly: I play with a lot of them, and a lot of the quarterbacks, hockey players, and baseball pitchers are really good at playing golf. I play with a ton of them, and it’s just been an honor to be around those guys.

Some of them—like a guy like Dan Hampton, who’s a good friend of mine, played for the Bears—I mean, he had more surgeries probably than I did in the last year of his career. But a lot of them love to play golf because they can actually go out and not have to worry about hitting somebody—they get to hit the golf ball.

But I’ve been around a lot of great, great legends of a lot of sports and been honored to play golf with them and get to know them. And not really one story sticks out much, but we just have a lot of fun. We talk about how their families are doing and more into the business side of things, and that’s kind of what I am in my career now—more of the business side.

This Good Boy Vodka has really taken off. Hard Rock Casino needs to put a lot more of it in, by the way. Ran out the other night when I was playing slots—I was a little p***** off—but that’s okay. But no, it’s more about hanging out and just having fun.

All of them are behind Little John, and I’m behind a lot of their kids and stuff—what they’re doing. A lot of them are following their mom’s footsteps or their dad’s footsteps, and it’s cool to watch them grow and just be a part of their lives. It’s pretty cool.

Happy Gilmore, LIV Golf, Scottie Scheffler and Ryder Cup

You appeared in the sequel of Happy Gilmore. What was it like working with Adam Sandler?

John Daly: Me and Adam have been friends forever. I was hoping they wanted me on the first one, but with our schedule, I was overseas, so I just couldn’t do it. And I said, if you ever do another one, I promise you I’ll do it. It was an honor to be a part of that. It was a blast doing it.

Me and Adam have been good friends for a long, long time, and the guy is just one incredible human being. He’s got a heart of gold, and I love that he keeps his buddies in his movies, and they’re all great actors. It was an honor just to be a part of it.

I mean, to have that big of a role for me in a movie that I’m not really a so-called actor—I’ve never really gone to an acting school or anything else—but he made it so easy and comfortable, and I just think it turned out great. I just had a blast working with him.

What do you think about the current state of the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf rivalry?

John Daly: I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s really a rivalry. I just wish both parties would get together and solve it and be one, somehow or another.

I think anytime you’re doing more world golf, I think it makes golf bigger. Now, with our World Golf Championships that started on the PGA Tour, it does go a little worldwide. But with LIV, if we can combine it somehow, I don’t know the answer to that—that’s up to those guys.

But I hate not seeing the best players in the world on a stage of one field, whether it be a LIV event or a tour event or a major. You see them in the majors, at least the guys that play LIV can play the majors.

I don’t know, it’s just separated some really great golfers, and I just wish everybody could get along and get together where everybody’s competing with and against each other, because I think that’s what golf really needs—is seeing the best against the best every week.

I’m not opposed to any tour. I love the PGA Tour, and I love the LIV Tour. I think it’s a great motto for someone who [wants to be a success]. I’ve always believed when you’re born, you live, you try to raise a family, try to make as much money as you can.

But a lot of fans in sports, they don’t see it that way, and I just see it like, “Hey, we’re only here one time. Might as well get all you can and play a game that you love to death like all the guys do.” And when the LIV players are traveling, it’s luxurious the way they travel.

They take care of the caddies, they take care of everything, and it’s something that we’ve always talked about. I wish the tour would take a little more care of our caddies because they’re a necessity—we need them.

That would be a motto. I wish the PGA Tour would look after the caddies a lot more than they do. They do a pretty good job, but they can do a hell of a lot better. The LIV Tour is over the top with the caddies, but it’s a fun tour. They have concerts, they play nine-hole pro-ams. Some of our tour events, I hear they play nine, and another pro steps in, plays a back nine, so the amateurs are getting two pros instead of one, which is a great motto.

I wish we’d do it on the Champions Tour. But anyway, I think they just need to get along and get it together because golf is such a great game, and it’s a worldwide sport now. As you can see, Europe keeps kicking our butt in the Ryder Cup now.

It’s a very competitive game, and it’s a competitive world of golf, and we all need to come together and make it one.

Who would you say had the better season—world number one Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy?

John Daly: I’d have to go with Scottie. I mean, Scottie’s won a few more, and then he won two majors this year. You have to go with Scottie.

What did you make of Team USA at the Ryder Cup, and what went wrong?

John Daly: Well, I just don’t think you should put a long hitter with a shorter hitter. I think your shorter hitters that we have, that I’ve always seen, are grinders, and I’d rather be feeding off a guy that’s hitting as far as I am.

Especially in an alternate shot. They’re going to be a little behind some of the guys, but if you take Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, they’re not the longest hitters in the world, but man, they got it going when they played the alternate shots.

When they were partners, they really did really well. They fed off each other; they clubbed off each other. But if you have a short hitter with Bryson DeChambeau, you can’t club off Bryson. Only a long hitter can.

I think that was a mistake, but other than that, my hat’s off to our team for coming back the way they did with our singles matches. It would have been the biggest comeback ever, and they almost pulled it off, and God bless them.

They were just a point away with the last three groups from really getting back and maybe winning it. It would have been the most incredible comeback. It made the last round—the singles matches—made the tournament for us anyway, to even come back the way we did.

We really, really beat them pretty good that last day, but if we don’t get players together that are hitting at the same distance, I don’t think we’re ever going to win those alternate-shot things or even the better ball.

Continuing with the Ryder Cup, the U.S. crowd took a lot of criticism from the Europeans. Do you think it was justified, or was there some overreaction?

John Daly: Well, New York fans are loyal, man. They love the USA. My hat’s off to Rory McIlroy because they absolutely destroyed him, and the thing is, what they have to understand is, it didn’t bother him.

He played great, and the whole European team played great, and I think what we must realize is the fans are so awesome—they’re going to get behind the U.S., like the Europeans get behind the European team.

It’s probably going to get ugly when we go to Europe again, so our guys are just going to have to be able to put up with it. And the Europeans—my hat’s off to them—the way they dealt with it. I thought Rory was a gentleman the way he handled it, and he kept winning. It’s sport. That’s what it is.

I wish I could have played one, because I would have relished it either way, but you got to give your hats off to those New York people. They are awesome, and they were behind the U.S. like no other I’ve ever seen.

But the favor’s going to be returned, and it’s not going to be too good for us in Europe.

So, do you see Scottie as the new Tiger in terms of dominance, and how many majors do you think he can win?

John Daly: Well, he’s still young. I mean, there’s no telling. The way he’s been playing, there’s always that chance. It’s just amazing to watch him play, and nothing bothers him. And in some of the interviews, it’s not even a big deal.

He just does what he does—he goes out and plays golf and loves the game. Fortunately, he’s putting better, chipping better than everybody else, and he’s hitting it unbelievable. So you put that combo together, and you’re going to win a lot of tournaments.

Can he do it with his game? Yeah, as long as he stays healthy and keeps doing what he’s doing, I don’t see why he can’t, because he’s used to winning, like Tiger was. Tiger got used to winning, and if he didn’t, he’s thinking, “This ain’t happening—I’m a winner.”

That’s what they are, and once they get that in their blood and they keep doing it over and over, they’re going to keep doing it. I think he’s got a hell of a shot at getting it done.

Different Golf Eras

How does the level of competition in golf now compare to your era, and who do you think the next big star in golf will be?

John Daly: I don’t know who the next big star’s going to be, but I think everybody that plays a game on any tour can win.

I think me and Fuzzy Zoeller—God bless his soul—and Hubert Green and Jack Nicklaus, we’ve had some conversations. When they came up, there were a lot of guys that could win. Maybe half the field could.

Then you get into the ’70s, where the game got really, really good. You had a lot more greats, and Tom Watson and these other guys came out. Greg Norman started coming out, and there were a lot more guys that were getting better and better.

The game was growing because of those guys.

Then you hit the ’80s. You had Hal Sutton and Curtis Strange got over $1 million on the money list, and then you got a lot more guys coming through. Then the ’90s—it just skyrocketed.

There was probably 75% of the field who could win. Now you got 100% of the field. These guys think they can win, and they have the game to do it.

Each decade, it just seemed like the players got better and better and better, so that’s why it’s just harder to win right now—on any tour, really. Our Champions Tour, if you’re not shooting 15 to 22 or 23 under par, you’re not going to win.

Everybody’s elevated their games, and the technology’s made it a lot easier. I think the golf ball has helped guys get better quicker.

What do you think of the crowds at Waste Management, and do you think more tournaments should have kind of a rowdy-themed hole going on?

John Daly: Oh, I think it’s great. I mean, I’ve always loved it. I’ve cherished it. When I used to get to go to the 16th hole at Waste Management, I would always go, and I’d just throw my arms up.

I’d rather have them all yell than one person. It’s cool how that hole has gotten so much bigger and bigger every year. It’s kind of a legendary thing now for that tournament.

You have 100,000 people watching golf, and you have about 25,000 to 30,000 of them actually play the game, so you can see it’s a social event, but it’s pretty cool.

Probably 65–70% of people that don’t play the game will start playing the game after watching that tournament, so I think it benefits everything. And I don’t know what they raise in charity, but it ought to be number one, as many people that come out and watch that tournament.

Ryder Cup Ambitions and Tiger Woods

Who could be the perfect captain for the next Ryder Cup in Ireland for Team USA? Do you think it could be Tiger, and would you be open to being a co-captain alongside Tiger if he was?

John Daly: Well, my ancestors are from Cork. I’d love to be a captain one day, but that ain’t never going to happen. But Tiger would be an unbelievable captain. I would love to be a co-captain or just be a part of it somehow.

I feel like I should have been on two teams, but it just didn’t happen. I didn’t play good enough, so I didn’t get on them. But to be a part of the Ryder Cup would be something I would love to do, whether it’s a co-captain or just be a part of it.

I’d love to see it, put my input in, and hopefully help the guys. I think it’d be an experience for me that I’ve always dreamed of doing ever since I won the PGA Championship in 1991.

I didn’t realize the Ryder Cup growing up. It was just USA number one all the time. But in 1993, that’s when they beat us for the first time in a lot of years.

It started getting really competitive, and now that it’s this competitive and the guys are just great—both sides are all my friends—but just to be a part of it and wear something with the American flag on it.

Me, personally, I could care less about getting any gifts. I play for the flag of the United States, and I think that’s what I would put more into our team, like the European guys do.

They’re playing for Europe, but they’re playing for their country, too. We play for one country. There’s probably 15 or 20 different countries represented in the European Ryder Cup, and they relish it.

They get behind it, they take a week off, and they all go practice, and they get used to that better ball. I think our team just needs to become more of a family and really get behind the United States of America—the flag—and not worry about what we can get out of it. For me, personally, I just want that Ryder Cup trophy.

Speaking of Tiger, you’ve played with him multiple times. How would you describe your rivalry and friendship over the years?

John Daly: I’ve just always respected him. I was 21 when I first met him—he was 12. We were playing the Big Insurance Youth Classic at Texarkana Country Club, and he shot 72. I think I shot 69.

For us, I think it was a Ben Hogan event back then. Then it became a Nike, and now it’s Korn Ferry. But I just knew this kid had something special. And we haven’t gone out to dinner all the time and all that, but we text a lot.

I always ask him how his health is and how he’s doing. Hopefully we’ll see him on the Champions Tour a few times this coming year. But if he could just get healthy, Tiger probably would have broken all of Jack’s records.

Are there more wins in Tiger?

John Daly: I ain’t doubting that man. He’s too good, and the thing about him—he only needs to be about 75% healthy to pretty much kick everybody’s ass out here.