John Daly to play in Barbasol Championship after withdrawing from Open Championship

John Daly is going to be in action on the PGA Tour next week after all. Except it won’t be at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the 148th Open Championship.

Instead, the two-time major champion will be teeing it up at the alternate-event Barbasol Championship at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Ky. The 53-year-old accepted a sponsor’s exemption into the event.

The news comes just a day after he withdrew from the 2019 Open, which is the final major tournament of the season. Daly withdrew from the event due to a medical condition, according to a statement from R&A officials.

The R&A denied Daly’s request to use a golf cart during the Open, stating that walking is “an integral part of the Championship” and that Daly’s cart use would be unfair to the rest of the field. The Championship Committee also cited the difficult terrain of the course and standing club policy against cart use. Daly was able to use a golf cart at the PGA Championship this past May at Bethpage Black due to osteoarthritis in his right knee.

This past Monday, Daly revealed that he was hospitalized and being treated for sepsis after incurring a spider bite during a family vacation in England.

Barbasol Championship tournament director Bryan Pettigrew said to GolfChannel.com that Daly will be allowed to use a golf cart in next week’s event. Daly and tournament officials had been in discussions for several weeks about the possibility of Daly playing in the event, according to Pettigrew.

“We have been trading emails since then and talking about him coming to Kentucky, and he had interest,” Pettigrew said to GolfChannel.com. “When we read about The Open and his considering to play across the pond, we decided we’d better get our official invite to him.”

Andy Pazder, who serves as the chief tournaments and competition officer for the PGA Tour, told the AP that Daly was approved last year to use a cart through 2019 at PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions events that require walking.

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