John Daly, ahead of this week’s event on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, was asked to throw out the first pitch for the home team of the host city, the St. Louis Cardinals, and did so in this fashion: He walked to the mound, turned around toward home plate while still in stride and clocked 72 on the gun, while in shorts and sandals, at the age of 56. That’s impressive.
But should that either not do it for you, or you want to hear another feat, Daly’s got one more.
On Friday, during the first round of the Ascension Charity Classic, he shot a four-under 67. Only seven players were better. But Daly was hurting.
From here, this was his exchange with reporters after his round. We’ll let him take over.
“John, before the round started, you were contemplating not even playing, weren’t you?
“Yeah, yeah. I actually don’t want to talk about it, but the L-2, I guess I pinched it yesterday on No. 2,” Daly began. “The pro-am was so long and I waited and I kind of went at a drive and the L-2 kind of goes to your private parts and I’ve been hurting since then.
“I mean, the guys stretched me and gave me some pills to take. It hadn’t happened to me since I kicked football with him when we played at Helias. It’s a lot of water and just kind of rest it a little bit.”
“Can you elaborate on the actual injury?”
Before he does here, we’ll share this. The website healthline.com describes the L2 this way: “The L2 vertebra is located in the lower curvature of the spine, and the portion of the spinal cord that it protects is known as the lumbar cord. Injury in this area can cause nerve damage, loss of feeling in the lower extremities, and difficulty with walking and movement.” And Daly is an honest man.
Let’s continue.
“Your L-2 goes to your … [nods]”
“Oh, yeah.”
“And I guess I pulled a muscle in it and it went to my [grunts],” Daly said. “I feel like somebody kicked me in the n**s, is that the way I want to say it? Yeah, it’s been like that ever since I played the pro-am yesterday. Painful last night, then I saw the guys this morning and they kind of stretched me a little. It was brutal.”
“How did it feel throughout the day?”
“I was very careful sitting on the golf cart, let’s put it that way.”
OK then.
To recap, Daly is playing with the world’s best players above the age of 50, is just two shots out of the lead and did so in the above fashion. That’s at least notable.
